Just a note on using the link:www.site.com directive in Google. Watched a Matt Cutts seminar which stated that by design, it doesn't list all in-bound links, for some obvious reasons like making it too easy to get the same links as your competitor but that also they didn't waste their storage space on storing 100% of back-link date, just enough to represent it...

thanks

But ... what I don't understand is why you don't nofollow the forums or personal profile pages, but you do nofollow the company ones.

This seems the wrong way round to me.

If a small business adds a tradespace, they run the risk of your pages outranking their 'real' site (as their tradespace is covered in their company name, but the link to their site is nofollowed).

Whereas you currently allow people to stick what links they like in their personal profiles and don't nofollow them (despite all the issues you raise above). (NB not advocating you add nofollow there!)

This is obviously a conscious decision, and it just seems to smack a little of those free directory sites who want you to link back to them or pay them before they'll make the link to your site a hyperlink or followed.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you have to pay to have the nofollow lifted from your company tradespace it seems to me (or is there some other way to remove it ...?)

PS And thanks for the reminder - I have now turned my dofollow plugin back on (turned it off when switched theme recently).

I thought I'd reply to your post about 'nofollow' links following Dan's comment about their use on BT Tradespace.

I can start by saying that BT Tradespace doesn't always use nofollows, as you can see by the full links on your own profile page:
http://communities.bttradespace.com/Member/malcolmcoles/About-me/Default.aspx

And on many other sites like these:
http://juliekouamo.bttradespace.com/
http://arenaflowers.bttradespace.com/
http://everywoman.bttradespace.com/

Nofollows are only used in specific areas of the site for good reasons:

Unfortunately, as you know, there are many people who attempt to manipulate the search engine dependency on links by trying to get as many links as possible from any site that allows a contribution from the public. It's difficult to tell if these people are adding useful or spam content with links to 'good' or 'bad' sites.

For a large site driven by member content (particularly in the case of BT Tradespace, where some members are paying for premium features), this can lead to a number of issues:

1. As a quick way to get links, empty pages are created containing only links to other (sometimes 'bad') sites. This leaves the site with a poor user experience.

2. The site can become cluttered with keyword spam. If random nonsense is constantly added to a site that otherwise has genuine interest, it will begin to lose its attraction for real readers.

3. Brief blog comments or short pages about 'the best car insurance' or 'cheap mobile phone deals' are not always relevant to the blog post or the site they are added to. This makes it harder for search engines to understand what the primary content is about. Irrelevant content dilutes the tone and value of quality content added by other (sometimes paying) members with good intentions.

4. Links are added that point to irrelevant content. Links to other sites don't just indicate sources, they can create an association. If a comment on a 'school dinners' news story on the BBC website included a link to another site about 'My fast-money secrets' it would not be seen as a relevant connection and the page may not rank as highly as a similar story on another site with appropriate links.

5. Links can be added pointing to pages the site would not want to be associated with - see Google's information about not linking to bad neighbourhoods: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=66356

6. As the number of followed outbound links from a site increases, the value they transfer will diminish. Allowing a site to become a link free-for-all would reduce the value of its links to zero. This would mean the members who do take the time to add quality content are punished by those that simply seek as many links as possible.

I’m guessing that one or more of these issues are the reason you’re using nofollows on this blog.

In general, the opportunity to have your name in front of a large, attentive, targeted audience should be taken to promote yourself or your business, not just seen as another place you could get a link from.

As you mentioned in your post, most sites usually do show a link to the URL you provide when adding a comment or building a profile so the audience can click to read further information about you or your business. If you add interesting content, more people will follow your links and may become customers or repeat visitors of your site or blog. This may not be the main reason for making a contribution, but it could become the biggest benefit.

I'm not saying that all sites should, or even need, to use nofollow links to avoid these types of issues. People are free to build a website about whatever they want and link to any page they like. If it's your site, it's up to you. If you're running a shared site that some people pay to use, you need to consider the implications.

BT Tradespace was built as a virtual meeting place for businesses and shoppers to do research, discuss and do business, not a website directory offering free 'link juice'. If it were, people would probably not visit it. When was the last time you visited DMOZ.org to find or review a local shop or business? Many members using the site as it was intended are seeing great benefits – finding new suppliers, attracting new customers AND getting more traffic to their websites.

I hope you'll understand why the use of nofollow links is necessary at the moment and is only in the best interests of our members.

Cheers
Nils