Wikipedia nofollow for WordPress

Note I have also developed the Recommend Google Pack plugin

Following the recent announcement of Wikipedia adding nofollow tags to external links, basically saying that Wikipedia cannot guarantee that outgoing links are not spam, I think we bloggers can retaliate by flagging all our links to Wikipedia as nofollow. Therefore, I have developed a small WordPress plugin that automatically adds rel=’nofollow’ to all outgoing links to Wikipedia.org, regardless of language.

Download my plugin, and install it in the usual fashion. This has been a quick hack, so please use at your own risk!

Why rel=”nofollow” to Wikipedia?

Just in case you are wondering why I would release a plugin that adds the rel=”nofolow” tag to all links to Wikipedia, here is my justification. I knocked up the plugin rather rapidly this lunchtime, so didn’t have time to describe it properly then.

First, what is rel=”nofollow”? It is a hint to all the major search engines that link that I am making should not be counted when calculating search engine ranking. In practise it means either that the link is user-generated, such as blog comments, thus may be spam or not approved by the page owner, or that I do not like or approve of the contents of the page that I am linking to. For instance, if I were linking to an extremist group for the purposes of illustrating a viewpoint I found objectionable, I’d add the rel=”nofollow” tag to indicate to the search engines that they should not credit my link to the target site for the purposes of boosting the target site’s search engine ranking.

Now, what does Wikipedia adding rel=”nofollow” tell me? First, it appears to me as if they are taking a point of view that their links are not trustworthy or cannot be guaranteed, but whilst Wikipedia does not offically claim to be trustworthy or definitive, the common perception is that it is. Thus, by adding this attribute, they are bascially saying that even if the article is as correct as it can be, the source material they referenced to produce the article (remember there is the “no original research” edict in Wikipedia) is not being fully credited!

Second, rel=”nofollow” has not stopped spammers spamming blog comments, so if they think spammers will lessen up on Wikipedia they are kidding themselves. In fact, knowing that I get a reasonable amount of traffic directly through their kimono article, more than through kimono searches on Google, et al, perhaps spammers may even start hitting Wikipedia harder since rel=”nofollow” may be taken as a white flag, and with the overworked editors less worried about giving search engine boosts through bad links, perhaps they will slacken off.

Third, a lot of blogs link to Wikipedia as an easy reference point for various terms, so with no outgoing links from Wikipedia, search engines will raise Wikipedia even higher in the ratings. With the rumours that Wikipedia may soon start accepting advertisements, one could even conclude that this is not much more than an attempt to boost their revenue.

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190 Comments

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  1. Wikipedia nofollow Plugin for WordPress » 世論 What Japan Thinks - Japanese Opinion Polls and Market Research Translated into English said,

    January 23, 2007 @ 12:54

    […] A quick note that I’ve just hacked up a plugin that you may like to use in response to this news. Read more on: wordpress, plugin, wikipedia […]

  2. Wikipedia NoFollow Plugin : Blog Archive Andy Beard said,

    January 23, 2007 @ 19:51

    […] Wikipedia Nofollow Plugin […]

  3. Mark said,

    January 24, 2007 @ 01:14

    Awesome…I will install this plugin immediately. BTW, I caught this off of Andy Beard’s blog.

  4. Mike Linksvayer said,

    January 24, 2007 @ 01:45

    There is no rumor that Wikipedia will soon begin accepting ads.

    I and some other people have advocated that Wikipedia should do so, but there’s no hope for it in the near term.

  5. Wikipedia Hates SEO | Macalua.com said,

    January 24, 2007 @ 04:00

    […] If you feel like returning the favor, here’s a plugin that puts a condom on all Wikipedia links from your Wordpress blog. Did you like this post? Please consider subscribing to my blog feed. […]

  6. Alfredo said,

    January 24, 2007 @ 07:12

    This is nice but I prefer adding nofollow on all external links. Soon site that have external links will have nofollow. hehehehe

  7. Get The Wikipedia rel=”nofollow” Widget at A Mash Of Blogs said,

    January 24, 2007 @ 12:03

    […] Get the wikipedia no follow Widget. Why read the following from whatjapanthinks.com A quick note that I’ve just hacked up a plugin that you may like to use in response to this news. […]

  8. Plugin para Wordpress: Agrega nofollow a los enlaces hacia Wikipedia « Javier Aroche said,

    January 24, 2007 @ 15:00

    […] Plugin para Wordpress: Agrega nofollow a los enlaces hacia Wikipedia Published 24/01/07 wordpress , OpenSource , Tools Wikipedia ahora ofusca los enlaces externos con nofollow, porque no hacerles lo mismo y agregarles nofollow a todos los enlaces que publiquen en sus blogs de ahora en adelante hacia wikipedia? con este plugin para agregar nofollow a todo enlace hacia wikipedia (sin importar el idioma), un pequeño mod a otro plugin ya existente, pueden hacer esta tarea de manera automática.  Ojo, solo funciona para los nuevos enlaces que publiquen, ya publicados deberán editarlos de nuevo para que el plugin haga los suyo. […]

  9. Wikipedia to add Nofollow Attribute to Links - RL Digital said,

    January 24, 2007 @ 20:07

    […] Reference Links: Nofollow notice on Wiki Post on Google Blogoscoped Info on the nofollow attribute WordPress Plugin to add nofollow to Wikipedia links Related Posts: […]

  10. Wikipedia usando nofollow? Revide! em Cada Bit said,

    January 26, 2007 @ 13:50

    […] O plugin Wikipedia nofollow para o Wordpress foi lançado dia 23 de Janeiro, com o objetivo de adicionar rel=”nofollow” em todos os links para a Wikipedia contidos no seu site, com isso o troco vem na mesma moeda. […]

  11. Weblog Tools Collection » Blog Archive » WordPress Plugin Releases for 1/26 said,

    January 26, 2007 @ 14:30

    […] Wikipedia-NoFollow will add a a rel=”nofollow” to all your outgoing links to Wikipedia. This is in retaliation to Wikipedia adding a rel=”nofollow” to outgoing links. […]

  12. Auge um Auge? | nanoblogs[.de] said,

    January 26, 2007 @ 17:38

    […] Auge um Auge? 26. Januar 2007 Da die Wikipedia ja auch alle ausgehenden Links mit dem Attribut rel=”nofollow” versieht, kann sich die Blogosphäre, die u.a. dazu beigetragen hat, dass nahezu zu jeder Suchanfrage ein Wikipedia-Eintrag in den oberen Rängen erscheint, mit dem Wikipedia nofollow-Plugin für WordPress “rächen”. […]

  13. WP-Wikipedia No-follow, ni tu ni yo | aNieto2K said,

    January 26, 2007 @ 17:44

    […] desde nuestro blogs si que lo permiten, ya que nosotros no aplicamos no follow a sus enlaces…. ¿o si? # « Controla tus miniaturas, de una vez por todas(2.1) […]

  14. GO! FLAViEN said,

    January 26, 2007 @ 18:13

    也对Wikipedia说nofollow

    最近Wikipedia宣布对其站上所有对外链接添加nofollow标签，称因无法保证外出链接不是spam而为之。根据规则，链接被添加nofollow之后，搜索爬虫将不再从此处访问，这意味着Wikipedia今后将“…

  15. » Wikipedia Nofollow Implemented. Let’s Nofollow Wikipedia too! said,

    January 26, 2007 @ 19:00

    […] Get the plugin here if you want to add nofollow on all your site’s external links to Wikipedia by Ken Yasumoto - Nicolson The only people concerned about Wikipedia imposing the nofollow rule on external sites are people adding links on Wikipedia for SEO reasons. Like me! hehehehe […]

  16. dandyna said,

    January 26, 2007 @ 19:29

    very useful. thanks, just installed

  17. Freakitude Technology Blog » Blog Archive » Wikipedia Nofollow Plugin said,

    January 26, 2007 @ 19:49

    […] You can download the plugin here. […]

  18. Googlebomben Vergangenheit? » Sebbis Blog said,

    January 26, 2007 @ 22:56

    […] Und weil ich in diesem Artikel schon wieder auf Wikipedia verlinke. Sollte man diese Links mit einem rel=”nofollow” versehen? Die machen das ja auch so … Popularity: 1% […]

  19. The Wikipedia nofollow brouhaha continues » 世論 What Japan Thinks - Japanese Opinion Polls and Market Research Translated into English said,

    January 26, 2007 @ 23:28

    […] Not that this has anything in particular to do with Japan, but since I wrote my Wikipedia NoFollow plugin for WordPress there’s been quite a bit of action. […]

  20. TimSD said,

    January 27, 2007 @ 02:57

    Most pointless plugin ever. Do something more creative with your time.

  21. yashke.com » 26-01-2007 - Przegląd sieci said,

    January 27, 2007 @ 07:05

    […] Odwet na Wikipedii - plugin do Wordpressa automatycznie dodający mikroformat rel=”nofollow” do linków wychodzących do Wikipedii. Ostatnio bardzo trendy.  […]

  22. +++ Wordpress Ticker (3) +++ — Software Guide said,

    January 27, 2007 @ 07:12

    […] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Wikipedia-NoFollow Gerade Weblogs haben dafür gesorgt, dass aufgrund vielzähliger Verlinkungen in Google Wikipedia-Artikel in den meisten Fällen in den ersten Treffern zu finden sind. Wikipedia “dankt” dies nun allen Webseitenbetreibern, indem externe Links auf Wikipedia mit Nofollow ausgezeichnet werden. Siehe dazu auch Zwei-Jahrestag von Nofollow und leider immer noch existent. Es gibt nun aber mit Wikipedia nofollow ein Plugin, das bei jedem Link, der auf Wikipedia verweist, automatisch ein Nofollow setzt, nach dem Motto “Auge um Auge, Zahn um Zahn”. Witzigerweise sei hierbei noch erwähnt, dass Spammer selbst NoFollow nutzen, so zumindest die Feststellung von Perun, siehe Spammer nutzen selber NoFollow. […]

  23. dwvd.de: no no no no no nofollow?! - Der Wunderer von Deutschland said,

    January 27, 2007 @ 18:35

    […] Update: Ich hatte – wieder einmal – Recht, ein solches Plugin gibt es hier bereits. …denn ihrer ist das Himmelreich. […]

  24. Wikipedia Nofollow Plugin für Wordpress & much more … - SEO Marketing Blog said,

    January 27, 2007 @ 21:39

    […] Nofollow und kein Ende. Nun gibts auch noch eine kleine Arbeitserleichterung für mich. Links auf Wikipedia-Artikel muß ich das Nofollow nun nicht mehr manuell verpassen, da es ein entsprechendes Wordpress Plugin dafür gibt ;-) Hier gibts den Download des Wordpress Plugins, auf welches mich ein Trackback von alleswasbewegt.de bei mir aufmerksam gemacht hat. Dann hat Perun ein Thema aufgegriffen, welches mich auch schon länger irritiert - warum benutzen einige Spammer eigentlich (auch) Nofollow-Links? Ick wes es nich - werde jetzt aber doch gleich jetzt mal einen kleinen eigenen Test starten, um herauszubekommen, wie Google das Nofollow nun tatsächlich wertet, da es auch dazu unterschiedlichste Aussagen gibt. Siehe die konträren Ergebnisse bei Nofollow=Nocomment, Link in Nachtrag 4 & der Link im Kommentar von “der Klempner”. Ergebnis meines kleinen Tests folgt die kommenden Tage … Ojeoje, und beinahe vergessen & vielleicht schon zu spät - Tadeusz hat freundlicherweise einen meiner Nofollow Artikel geyigged, damit sich eventuell noch ein paar weitere Leser durch meine argumentativen No-Nofollow Textwüsten durchkämpfen. Wäre schön, wenn ihr für meinen No-Nofollow Artikel einfach mal mityigged (wat ein beklopptes Wort ;-)), wenn euch das Thema am Herzen liegt - ist ja schließlich keine Adsense-Klickaufforderung … Danke für die Social Media Optimization (also called SMO) Anregung per Kommentar an Tadeusz, habe ich in der Form bisher “gar nix mit am Hut” & bin neugierig, ob und was es im deutschen Sprachraum bringt? Damit´s hier nicht zu ernsthaft wird, noch ein zum Nofollow-Thema passender SEO Cartoon, wo Matt Cutts als “Web Dominatrix” dargestellt ist - sehr schick ;-) Abschließend noch der Hinweis darauf, daß mit ner ähnlichen Idee, wie meiner Kategorie Googlevil zugrunde liegt, nun unter gevil.org ein neues Blog-Projekt gelauncht wurde, welches auch die “dark side of Google” hinterleuchten will - good luck to you … […]

  25. Recognize Design :: Design, Marketing and Beyond said,

    January 27, 2007 @ 23:28

    Wikipedia and the nofollow brouhaha

    This post isn’t going to say much about the issue, other than (if you don’t already know) Wikipedia is using ‘nofollow’ tags on outbound links, which means they won’t help the recipient in terms of SEO.
    So, why should we h…

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