I received a comment from a reader who seemed disappointed that my blog comments are nofollow.

For those who don’t know, nofollow means that my site’s PageRank is not transferred to your site when you leave a comment along with a link to your site.

In other words, the link from my site to yours, has no influence on your backlinks and PageRank in the eyes of Google.

To make a link nofollow you simply add rel=”nofollow” inside the href HTML code of your hyperlinks like this…

<a href=”http://www.anysite.com” rel=”nofollow”>Name of Site</a>

I’ve never even considered making my comments dofollow (the opposite of nofollow).  In fact, WordPress 1.5 and higher automatically assigns the nofollow attribute to all comments, and most bloggers never bother to change this.

The major benefit of having a dofollow blog is you may get more comments.  Many bloggers seek out these blogs, and there are numerous directories that list dofollow sites.

The downside to using dofollow, however, is that you could be inundated with spam.  This also means you are flowing PageRank to potentially spammy/inappropriate sites, and this could hurt the reputation of your site in Google’s eyes.

So to preserve and protect my reputation and PageRank with Google, I use nofollow for my comments and sponsor ads.

The Obsession Continues

My personal opinion is that the dofollow/nofollow issue is blown out of proportion.

Of course, a few dofollow links from some very relevant sites can positively impact your backlinks and PageRank, but is it worth spending hours per day looking for these sites when you could be using that time to focus more on building quality content?

At the end of the day, if your site is useful, fresh, unique and you are promoting it effectively, you will naturally earn plenty of voluntary dofollow links from other site owners who value your content.

There’s nothing wrong with keeping track of your PageRank and backlinks, but when it becomes obsessive, you could be putting too much attention in the wrong areas.

Let’s also not forget that you can still generate plenty of traffic from commenting on nofollow blogs.  Even though you may not be earning a backlink for SEO purposes, you can still build quite the traffic flow if you perfect your commenting strategy.  (See How to Write Killer Blog  Comments.)

Remember, you are not just working to please spiders.  Humans read blogs too, and capturing their attention is just as important.

I wish people would stop obsessing over dofollow links (especially on blogs).  Posting solid comments on nofollow blogs can still lead to dofollow links in the long run simply because people may value your site and recommend it to their readers.

The case study I posted last week is a great example.  Because Kiesha has an outstanding blog that I wanted to feature, she still earned a voluntary dofollow link from a relevant blog.

Why did I feature her?  Because she has an outstanding blog with fabulous content.  Thus she was rewarded with a dofollow link.  These are the results you get when you publish quality content.

You’ll also find that you won’t have to spend so much time actively seeking out dofollow links.  Instead, they will find you.

Even though my comments are nofollow, most links in my posts are not.  So I’m happy to reward and recommend sites that are worthy of a mention.

What Does Google Say About This?

Matt Cutts (Google’s lead engineer) published a video about this a few months back, and it made me even more confident that I made the right decision about nofollow comments.

What’s your blog’s linking policy?  Why did you choose it?

Do you spend an excessive amount of time checking your Alexa rank?

Do you often wonder how long it will take your PageRank to go up to the next number?

Are you stuck in the site brainstorming phase until you find the the perfect supply/demand combination in the AdWords Keyword Tool and WordTracker?

If you can relate to any of the above activities, chances are you may be expending a lot of energy in the wrong places and not focusing on what really matters.

Alexa

I remember when I first learned about Alexa. I was fascinated that it displayed my site’s ranking and I could compare my site to other competitors.  I watched webmasters proudly display their Alexa widgets and badges to let people know their site was in the top 1%.

Even though Alexa has improved their ranking algorithm, you still have to remember it’s largely based upon people who have the Alexa toolbar installed on their browser.  This opens the door for a lot of skewed data.

I’ve watched my site’s Alexa ranks go up and down like a yo yo, but the most important thing is my traffic has steadily increased. And in my opinion, THAT is what counts more than anything.

PageRank

Ahhh yes… Google’s measurement of your site’s quality backlinks. This pesky little green bar has caused more frustration, exhilaration and confusion over the years, leaving people obsessed with their own PR and how to improve it.

Many people are stuck on the idea that improving their PR is the best way to get more traffic from Google. What they don’t realize is that your PR is more reflective of the traffic and quality backlinks you already have. So it’s more of a reaction to your site’s existing activity.

So rather than worrying about what it takes to improve this number, work on producing a quality site and delivering solid information, features or products to your target audience.  Your PR will take care of itself.

PR seems to have little or no impact on your traffic potential from Google.  I watched my PR drop from a 5 to a 4, yet my traffic from Google doubled since that time.

Keyword Tools

While tools like The Adwords Keyword Tool and WordTracker can be quite useful to help you determine your niche, focus, keywords to bid on for PPC, etc., they can also overwhelm you if you let them.

The Internet is saturated with blogs and websites on thousands of different topics.  It’s going to be insanely difficult to find the perfect topic with high demand (number of monthly searches) and low supply (existing competition).

So when you’re using these tools, you should definitely take the supply and demand into consideration, but if that’s the only thing you look at, you may find yourself spinning your wheels and never making a decision.

I’ve noticed that Site Build It! customers often suffer from decision paralysis because of the brainstorming phase.  Don’t get me wrong, SBI! probably has one of the most comprehensive brainstorming tools available, but that also makes it easy to get stuck.

Take the numbers into consideration, but also do your homework.  Don’t let these tools do all the work for you. Physically research your competition by typing in the keywords you want to target. Look at the quality of sites that show up.

If they are sub-par then that may leave the door open for you to compete in this niche — especially if you work on developing a good spin on the topic.

So it’s important to look at the overall picture — the supply, demand, your passion, topic interest, and potential competition before making a decision on your topic.

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There will always be tools available for you to compare, monitor and gawk over.  But don’t let them paralyze you and cause you to lose focus.  Tools may develop, change and evolve, but one thing has always remained the same…

People who succeed online produce quality work that meets the needs and desires of a specific audience.  When you do this well, it will be hard to lose, no matter what the measuring and ranking tools say about your site.

They’re everywhere…

Blog posts, forum questions, emails, website articles, etc… all about improving your PageRank.

Google is clearly the front runner in driving free, targeted website traffic, so everyone wants their site to rank well in any measuring tool Google produces.

First of all, I’ve seen no indication that your PageRank affects the amount of traffic Google sends you.

My site, 2 Create a Website, has gone from a PR5 to a PR4 in the last year, yet the traffic I receive from Google has doubled.

PageRank merely reflects the number of quality backlinks to your site (in Google’s eyes). Of course it would be great to have a site with a PR8, but if you don’t, it’s not a reason to stress.

It’s reasonable to believe PageRank is one of the factors Google uses to determine rank and relevance, but that’s just one piece of the gigantic ranking puzzle.

Continue to build useful content, market the heck out of your site, stay away from linking schemes, find ways to reinvent your site and you’ll be fine.

Keep an eye on measuring tools like PageRank and Alexa for informational purposes, but it’s not the end of the world if those numbers aren’t as high as you’d like them to be.

If I stressed or panicked every time my PageRank or Alexa numbers dropped, I’d be in a loony bin by now.

Focus on things you can control, and let the PageRank numbers fall where they may.