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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167 Comments
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Auge um Auge, Zahn um Zahn beim nXplorer SEO & Marketing Blog said,

January 28, 2007 @ 00:14

[…] Ganz nach diesem Motto haben Marcus, Goatix und Mark über das Wordpress Plugin Wikipedia Nofollow berichtet. Mit dem Plugin werden alle Links aus eurem Blog zu Wikipedia mit dem Attribut Nofollow belegt. Auslöser für das Bestreben vieler Blogger Wikipedia keine Linkpower mehr zu geben ist, dass Wikipedia auch nur noch mit Nofollow nach außen linkt. […]
Rene Kriest said,

January 29, 2007 @ 05:40

Nasty controversy about wikipedia. Your argumentation is good. I am still fighting with myself to use your plugin. After all it is good no know that there is resitance.
Money Conciousness said,

January 29, 2007 @ 15:12

Continuing on the Wikipedia Nofollow Story…

It looks like somebody has already written a plugin to add a nofollow tag to all wikipedia links (to be honest, I did not expect it that quickly).
You can get it here.
I am still not sure if I will use it on this blog, but for some reason I find the wh…
Globalwarming Awareness2007 makes Wikipedia use Nofollow said,

January 30, 2007 @ 01:11

[…] If you are a blogger and using wordpress there’s already a plugin wich adds nofollow to all link pointing TO wikipedia from your blog […]
» Don’t Get Mad, Get Even said,

January 30, 2007 @ 08:26

[…] On the heels of Wikipedia announcing that it would set all of its outgoing links to rel=nofollow, effectively knocking out a good bunch of backlinks for many, someone decided to return the favour. Enter the Wikipedia nofollow plugin for Wordpress. If you believe in what this individual is doing, go download it and enjoy the satisfaction that you’ve fought back in your own way. […]
Wikipédia e o “nofollow”. Só ela ganha com isso » Memórias Fracas said,

January 30, 2007 @ 11:37

[…] Plugin » Já tem plugin que promete colocar o nofollow nos links da Wikipédia. Pode ser acessado através deste link. Não testei, portanto não garanto a eficiência. Technorati Tags: wikipédia, no follow Categorias: Opinião, Internet […]
» Nofollow para você também, Wikipédia »» Blog da Maysa said,

January 31, 2007 @ 05:19

[…] Instalei este plugin em menos de 2 minutos. Basta baixar, descompactar e mandar para a pasta /wp-content/plugins via FTP. Depois vá até o editor de plugins do seu blog /wp-admin/plugins.php e ative-o. Pronto. Funciona que é uma maravilha, pode ver o código fonte desta página. […]
about:blank » Blog Archive » Wikipedia e nofollow: a palavra final said,

January 31, 2007 @ 12:34

[…] Wikipedia nofollow for WordPress […]
Wikipedia Watch » Blog Archive » Opiniões said,

February 1, 2007 @ 18:22

[…] Para quem tiver um blogue em Wordpress: este plugin faz o mesmo que a Wikipédia nos faz: aplica automaticamente o rel=”nofollow” aos links para a Wikipédia. Technorati Tags: wikipédia, wikipedia […]
Social Media Optimization - SMO - SMOmashup » Wordpress makes your comments suck. said,

February 2, 2007 @ 22:18

[…] but what about bitch-slapping the whore of the internets smoMashup? […]
WP plugin stops plugging WP -- Chip’s Quips said,

February 3, 2007 @ 05:46

[…] Just activated a new plugin for WordPress: wikipedia-nofollow. Ken Yasumoto-Nicolson (aka seron) says he whipped this one up over lunch, but it’s well written (for PHP) and succinct. It adds rel=”nofollow” to all links to wikipedia.org in your posts (and optionally in the comments as well) if they don’t already have that attribute. Rather than modifying the database, it operates when content is rendered — so you’re not making permanent changes. […]
gio said,

February 5, 2007 @ 15:57

i think this is unfair for most contributors of the Wikipedia.
Wikipedia Nofollow Plugin für Wordpress @ Brandt Aktuell - Webentwicklung said,

February 13, 2007 @ 03:05

[…] Das WordPress Plugin wikipedia-nofollow steht hier zum Download bereit. […]
the tweney review » Blog Archive » How to strike back at Wikipedia’s silly nofollow policy. said,

February 17, 2007 @ 03:35

[…] So Wikipedia is adding nofollow tags to all its links? Fine, then. We’ll all just add nofollow tags to all of our links that point to Wikipedia. (And yes, there’s a Wordpress plugin.) […]
Ultimate List of DoFollow Plugins - Banish Nofollow From Comments and Trackbacks : Blog Archive Andy Beard said,

February 17, 2007 @ 10:39

[…] Wikipedia NoFollow - want to reclaim the Google Juice you send to Wikipedia that currently stops flowing, and turns Wikipedia into a black hole - this plugin is the perfect answer - if Wikipedia turn the flow back on, you can reciprocate just by switching the plugin off. […]
Shoemoney Nofollow Plugin : Blog Archive Andy Beard said,

February 24, 2007 @ 23:25

[…] Searches for links to shoemoney.com, and adds a rel="nofollow" tag if necessary (based on Wikipedia Nofollow by Ken Yasumoto-Nicolson and Identify External Links by Mark Jaquith) Author: Andy Beard Version: 1.0 Author URI: […]
Doug Karr said,

February 25, 2007 @ 05:46

Could you please put a release version on the page prominently so that we can check fo the latest update? Thanks!
Ultimate List of DoFollow Plugins | Latent Semantic Indexing said,

February 25, 2007 @ 23:03

[…] Wikipedia NoFollow - want to reclaim the Google Juice you send to Wikipedia that currently stops flowing, and turns […]
kukuman said,

February 27, 2007 @ 13:25

yeah… those stupid wiki’s!
wonder what happen if we all use nofollow to them?
Jakub Friedl said,

March 1, 2007 @ 19:00

What I find disgusting is the fact, that despite wikipedians democratically voted AGAINST this feature, NOFOLLOW was still activated because of undemocratic request from Jimbo Wales (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Nofollow ).
keso：Nofollow的伦理问题 - IT 口水站 said,

March 5, 2007 @ 18:41

[…] 有一种观点认为，大量来自外部的链接，推高了Wikipedia的PageRank，Wikipedia却拒绝平等地链接其他网站，这让Wikipedia成了一个只进不出的不道德的黑洞。有人报复性地开发了一个WordPress的插件，它会自动在所有Wikipedia的链接上加上nofollow属性。果然是以牙还牙。 […]
Mickey J Barczyk said,

March 9, 2007 @ 01:42

I think this plugin is great.
Just tell me what I have to do to add few more sites to that script.
Wikipédia e o “nofollow”. Só ela ganha com isso » Memórias Fracas said,

March 20, 2007 @ 05:09

[…] » Já tem plugin que promete colocar o nofollow nos links da Wikipédia. Pode ser acessado através deste link. Não testei, portanto não garanto a […]
» Wordpress Nofollow Plugin für Wikipedia Links Suchmaschinen News said,

April 11, 2007 @ 05:36

[…] Zum Plugin wong it! | del.icio.us this […]
WordPress: What Plugins am I Running? | The Marketing Technology Blog said,

April 13, 2007 @ 10:59

[…] Wikipedia nofollow […]