BlogCatalog Blog Directory has been around for some time. They have now become a popular social networking site for bloggers. It might be a shock to know that one of the oldest operating blog directories uses dishonest linking methods. While BlogCatalog may drive traffic to your blog, they don’t pass Pagerank.
It was Phil Weaver of belt-buckle-knife.com who tipped of the blogosphere that once again BlogCatalog was using methods that only benefited their pagerank. (Thank you Phil)
By adding rel-nofollow to the hyperlink at BlogCatalog the links are not given any weight or ranking in Google. You can see this if you view the source of the page.
Mat Cutts of Google says “The rel=nofollow” attribute is an easy way for a website to tell search engines that the website can’t or doesn’t want to vouch for a link.”
The NoFollow link attribute was originally created to block search engines from following links in blog comments, but now blog directories like BlogCatalog are using the NoFollow link attribute to benefit themselves.
Nofollow means no PR from that link. It as if the backlink doesn’t exist.
In case you doubt me whether or not your link receives PR from Blogcatalog
Posted on the Google Blog-
“From now on, when Google sees the attribute (rel=”nofollow”) on hyperlinks, those links won’t get any credit when we rank websites in our search results.”
What BlogCatalog is doing is stealing your PR. You link to them therefore their PR increases.
BlogCatalog will likely say that it isn’t about leaching them for links, but the community. If you don’t care about your Pagerank then by all means be a part of their community.
I think I’ll stick to blog directories that pass Page Rank. Remember that there are some good directories out there and they are passing PR.
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22 responses so far ↓
Wrote: Jun 3, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Hi Rose,
Yes I absolutely agree with you. The nofollow attribute is being used in a way that was not it’s original intent.
Google based it’s algorithm on linking. It provides quality SERPs by using this algorythm. Linking is so basic to the web that it seems to me that not passing link authority is messing with the web. Some really big sites, such as Wikipedia, do this. I think that it’s pretty easy to see that the whole page rank algorithm is skewed by this. Think of the influence of a site a s huge a wikipedia.
There are movements about which are suggesting not liking to any site that uses nofollow properly.
I do use nofollow on my site. But only on pages that have no value to the search engines. Contact us pages and such. I think this is a good use of the attribute.
If I were to link to a site that uses nofollow improperly I would use it myself. An eye for an eye I guess.
If you use firefox as your browser there are several methods of setting it up to alert you to nofollow links. You can dig into your settings and do it yourself or just do a search on firefox nofollow addon and you’ll come up with a few possibilities.
I keep mine set to highlight nofollow and I don’t participate on blogs and sites that use it improperly.
Join the “I comment, u follow movement” by adding the dofollow, the comment luv, or the keyword luv plugins to wordpress.
Thanks
Phil
Wrote: Jun 3, 2008 at 7:24 pm
I gotta say, I don’t understand any of this … link, no follow … it really doesn’t mean anything to me and I’ve never been able to grasp it. The idea of linkbacks, I don’t get that either. Overall, I guess page rank doesn’t mean anything to me, I base my “success” on how much fun I’m having.
Wrote: Jun 3, 2008 at 7:34 pm
DrowseyMonkey – Then might I asked why you joined and submitted your blog to Blog Catalog?
Wrote: Jun 4, 2008 at 12:47 am
Rose, You left a comment on my Blog about how Blog Catalog did ‘no follow’ code on their links. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll investigate further especially since I paid for advertising on their site.
It’s odd that they do that since outgoing links don’t reduce their PR unless they are linking to what Google calls a bad neighborhood or link farm.
You are a great consumer advocate.
Thanks You, Glen Woodfin
Wrote: Jun 4, 2008 at 6:57 am
So what directories would you suggest
Wrote: Jun 4, 2008 at 7:39 am
So I don’t think I understand what your saying.Should we not be on blogcatalog? Is it hurting us to be on it?I don’t mean to sound like an idiot but can you please explain it to me like I am.Thanks!
Wrote: Jun 4, 2008 at 10:46 am
Any of the directories listed in this Blog Directory Resource Section.
Wrote: Jun 4, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Wrote: Jun 4, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Rose,
Thank you for the heads up. Being new to blogging I’m not sure what a lot of this means, like Phil’s comment “Join the “I comment, u follow movement” by adding the dofollow, the comment luv, or the keyword luv plugins to wordpress.”
I would love to have that explained to me so that I can understand it.
It sounds like blog catalog is a site that I want to stay away from.
Wrote: Jun 4, 2008 at 5:03 pm
I’ll explain it in another post Tammy.
Wrote: Jun 4, 2008 at 6:20 pm
I’d appreciate that. I’m finding out that there is a lot that I need to learn.
Wrote: Jun 6, 2008 at 6:55 pm
It’s a silly reason not to be part of blogcatalog as they are more a social community of bloggers than a blog directory.
Wrote: Jun 6, 2008 at 9:14 pm
That’s Funny Ian. They list themselves as a Social Blogger Community & Blog Directory.
Mybloglog is a Social Community of Bloggers yet their links are follow.
Wrote: Jun 7, 2008 at 9:50 am
SO who’s doing what now, do I get credit for linkbacks to my favorites on the side of my blog or not, I have to put a BC link as part of my deal thing, the linkbacks are how you get PR, I was just watching a show on google on biography
Wrote: Jun 7, 2008 at 10:17 am
Bob, Well you’re not getting any PR from their link to you, but your link on your sidebar to them is passing them PR, therefore increasing their Pagerank. So, who is doing what? They are playing dirty.
Wrote: Jun 10, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Hi Rose,
Thanks for the great info. I went to BlogCatalog and removed 2 of my 4 blogs (my 2 with PR). What a dirty trick!
I tried viewing the source on a number of their pages but it wouldn’t allow me to. Normally I can just right click and view the source of a page. Do I need to look somewhere else on BlogCatalog?
Thanks,
Jan
Wrote: Jun 11, 2008 at 12:15 am
Jan at the top of your browser bar it is under view then source if you are using IE. IF you are using Firefox it’s at the top of your browser- View- Page Source.
Wrote: Jun 11, 2008 at 12:43 am
Hi Rose,
Thanks! If I go to my own blog page, for instance, I can go to Page and then View Source (I am using IE7) but if I go to any page on BlogCatalog I cannot get any source to come up. Do you think they are blocking the source code?
Thanks again! You’re terrific!
Jan
Wrote: Jun 11, 2008 at 12:53 am
That’s strange Jan as I can view it. Your link looks like this:
<a href = “http://serendipitycollectionshandmade.blogspot.com ” onclick=”o (’serendipity-collections-handmade’);” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”> http://serendipitycollectionshandmade.blogspot.com </a>
Try refreshing and letting the page completely load before viewing source.
Wrote: Jun 11, 2008 at 11:09 am
Hi Rose,
Sorry for the delay – connection problems! LOL Oh how weird! I couldn’t see it at all. I can see every other page I have gone to except BlogCatalog. Thanks for posting my links! Jerks!
Thanks for the alert on this!
Jana
Wrote: Jun 11, 2008 at 11:42 am
haha – I was looking at Blogging Fusion to see if I could see the source on there and sure enough I could. As I was scrolling down the source code page, I saw your blog!
Anyway, don’t know why I can’t see it on BlogCatalog but thanks again!
Jan
Wrote: Jun 11, 2008 at 11:59 am
That is strange. Yah- Blogging Fusion doesn’t use No Follow.