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. HTMLHelp.blog : The HTMLHelp.blog Theme and Plugin Page said,

    April 16, 2007 @ 04:39

    […] Wikipedia Nofollow - Searches for links to Wikipedia.org, and adds a rel=”nofollow” tag. This is in response to Wikipedia’s nofollow policy. By Ken Yasumoto-Nicolson. […]

  2. Die besten WordPress Plugins - Post » Tipps zur Suchmaschinenoptimierung said,

    April 22, 2007 @ 20:06

    […] Wikipedia-NoFollow Adds a rel=”nofollow” to all outgoing links to Wikipedia. […]

  3. WebmasterWorld Nofollow » JLH Design Blog said,

    May 5, 2007 @ 04:25

    […] just modified the Wikipedia nofollow plug-in by Ken Yasumoto-Nicolson, which was based on Identify External Links by Mark […]

  4. WP Plugins DB » Blog Archive » Wikipedia-NoFollow said,

    May 20, 2007 @ 16:57

    […] Visit […]

  5. Three-quarters of Japanese know of Wikipedia » 世論 What Japan Thinks said,

    May 28, 2007 @ 23:01

    […] think my opinion of Wikipedia is best expressed by the Wikipedia Nofollow WordPress plugin I developed. I feel it pollutes search results as bloggers tend to lazily quote it as it is the […]

  6. Lazar said,

    June 4, 2007 @ 04:50

    This plugin is such a GREAT idea! Even before Wikipedia introduced it, I noticed what effect if would have by being used on other major (social) web-sites, forums, and blogs, like YouTube, StumbleUpon and many others, including WordPress. I also write little about it on my web-site, ‘…concentration and capitalization of PageRank is in progress…’ I think that it is unhealthy for the future of the way internet is functioning in general, meaning, where in the past it was just natural thing to link, link, and link more to other cool web-sites, now it is becoming the ‘property/business’ thing. However, since WP is build by MILLIONS of users, it has much greater responsibility than other sites, and it should never have put ‘nofollow’ tags. SLASHDOT solution is much more honest and good, they actually try to detect real spam and put only these tags on those links, while links posted by ‘trusted users’ are allowed without these tags.

    What I started doing when ‘nofollow’ tags appeared is this: i would put them on links to major sites that were easy to find, and didn’t need additional PR, while for obscure sites that I liked and have found with difficulty I put links without this tag, as they actually needed PR in order to be found easier.

    Disadvantage of this is that not many people would actually do the search in google for the sites they are linking to in order to see how high they rank and whether they need additional PR, but that is what I am usually doing. Instead of giving that modest PR fraction that I have to Wikipedia, I give it to xyz.com that noone heard about and yet has some good stuff.

  7. Wikipedia link to my logo designer article : David Airey :: Creative Design :: said,

    June 14, 2007 @ 19:20

    […] fact, there’s even a Wikipedia nofollow plugin available that changes all of your external links to Wikipedia to nofollow […]

  8. Search Engine Optimization Tips 4 WordPress Blogs at Online TV Links, Video, Game Links.com said,

    June 21, 2007 @ 00:58

    […] in external links, comment links, post links, on-site navigational links, or even only links pointing to Wikipedia. In case you wonder how I dealt with the moral issue mentioned above, I have this tag on links to […]

  9. Lazar said,

    June 26, 2007 @ 03:46

    Hi,

    I expanded your plugin to include many ‘bad’ big web-sites that use ‘nofollow’ tags in their external links.

    http://www.inverudio.com/programs/WordPressBlog/NofollowReciprocity.php

    Also, I wrote a small social bookmarks script that puts ‘nofollow’ tags on all bookmark buttons. Reasons for doing this are explained at the script download page:

    http://the-best-ofthe-best.com/SEO-Social-Bookmarks-nofollow.php#sbn

    Cheers

  10. World Wide Web-ul Zilei 27 Iunie 2007 | Bani pe net - by Cotiso said,

    June 27, 2007 @ 12:46

    […] Atasati nofollow la linkurile spre Wikipedia, ca si ei fac la fel cand citeaza o sursa. Aveti aici un plugin care ataseaza automat nofollow spre siteurile care deja si-au luat portia de link love de […]

  11. Backdate Nofollow On Specific Domains | Andy Beard - Niche Marketing said,

    July 12, 2007 @ 00:01

    […] There are times when you might want to retro-actively add nofollow to links you have given freely in the past. As an example some time ago I started using the nofollow Wikipedia plugin. […]

  12. » 'No Follow' tags removed from comments & trackbacks on the Social Media Experience :: The Social Media Experience :: said,

    July 19, 2007 @ 07:43

    […] he utilizes (and recommends to others) a plugin for slapping the ‘no follow’ onto your outbound Wikipedia links as Wikipedia shares no link love. I’ll be setting up that plugin soon […]

  13. SEO said,

    July 22, 2007 @ 14:10

    NoFollow is a ridiculous concept that just refuses to go away. The more high profile projects buy into this, the longer it’s going to take to finally die out. As far as I’m concerned, Google is doing the web a great disservice spreading this idea.

  14. Lorna Li | Green 2.0 » Blog Archive » Why Wikipedia Dominates SERPs said,

    July 26, 2007 @ 15:47

    […] Download this Wikipedia NoFollow plugin designed for WordPress. […]

  15. 50+ Tools For The WordPress Admin said,

    July 26, 2007 @ 21:23

    […] Wikipedia-NoFollow - Written in response to Wikipedia’s implementing a “nofollow” rule to their outgoing links, a plugin to add nofollow to links you give to Wikipedia pages. […]

  16. 50+ Tools For The WordPress Admin — Scott Fish said,

    July 27, 2007 @ 02:03

    […] Wikipedia-NoFollow - Written in response to Wikipedia’s implementing a “nofollow” rule to their outgoing links, a plugin to add nofollow to links you give to Wikipedia pages. […]

  17. The sky of Daemon! » Blog Archive » 译文:50多个Wordpress管理员使用的插件 said,

    July 27, 2007 @ 10:42

    […] Wikipedia-NoFollow - 在外链到Wikipedia页中的链接中添加”nofollow”属性。 […]

  18. WordPress管理人のための便利なプラグイン - | 臨機応変？（WP版) said,

    July 28, 2007 @ 11:54

    […] Wikipedia-NoFollow - ブログの文章を書くときにWikipediaを参考にして書いたりリンクを貼ったりすることも多いのですが、このプラグインをインストールしておくと、Wikipediaへのリンクに対しては、「rel=”nofollow”」を自動的に付けてくれるようです。このnofollowを付けると、グーグルなどの検索サービスではリンク先のサイトに対して特段の評価をしなくなります。（逆にnofollowが無ければリンク先のサイトはページの評価が上がる）　Wikipedia向けだけに何故このようなプラグインがあるのか不思議です。このプラグインを配布しているページに行って見ると、その理由が書かれていたのですが、英語が今ひとつわからないので、訳さないでおきます。 […]

  19. Paradise Philippines said,

    July 28, 2007 @ 18:16

    I wonder, why is it there is no rel=nofollow in this blog?

  20. Backdate Nofollow On Specific Domains said,

    July 28, 2007 @ 23:17

    […] July 28, 2007Backdate Nofollow On Specific Domains There are times when you might want to retro-actively add nofollow to links you have given freely in the past. As an example some time ago I started using the nofollow Wikipedia plugin. […]

  21. 译文:50多个Wordpress管理员使用的插件 | Iread said,

    July 29, 2007 @ 22:27

    […] Wikipedia-NoFollow - 在外链到Wikipedia页中的链接中添加”nofollow”属性。 […]

  22. 译文:50多个Wordpress管理员使用的插件 | wordpress blog xqxp.com said,

    July 31, 2007 @ 12:51

    […] Wikipedia-NoFollow - 在外链到Wikipedia页中的链接中添加”nofollow”属性。 […]

  23. [轉貼] 50多個Wordpress管理員使用的插件 | 艾德的部落格天空 | 亂寫、亂拍、亂來。 — 持續亂改更新中 — said,

    August 3, 2007 @ 18:12

    […] Wikipedia-NoFollow - 在外鏈到Wikipedia頁中的鏈接中添加」nofollow」屬性。 WordPress Mobile Edition - […]

  24. [轉貼] 50多個Wordpress管理員使用的插件 « 艾德的部落格天空 said,

    August 4, 2007 @ 10:06

    […] Wikipedia-NoFollow - 在外鏈到Wikipedia頁中的鏈接中添加」nofollow」屬性。 WordPress Mobile Edition - […]

  25. Paradise Philippines said,

    August 13, 2007 @ 18:35

    Thanks for the info on that topic. great site btw. :)

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