Apply "rel=nofollow" attribute to all parsed URLs

In the first cooperative move for nearly ten years, the major search engines have unveiled a new indexing command for web authors that they all recognize, one that they hope will help reduce the link and comment spam that plagues many web sites....due to removing the point of doing it in the first place.

The new "nofollow" attribute that can be associated with links was originated as an idea by Google in late 2004 and MSN and Yahoo, as well as major blogging vendors have jumped onboard.

The Nofollow Attribute

The new attribute is called "nofollow" with rel="nofollow" being the format inserted within an anchor tag.
When added to any link, it will effectively serve as a flag to tell the search engines that the link has not been explictly approved by the site owner, and therefore "not follow" it, or not use the referring page's (on your site) Page Rank in any way.

For example, this is how the HTML markup for an ordinary link might look:

<a href="http://www.somedomain.com/page.html">My forums are the best lol lol lol click here!!</a>

This is how the link would look after the nofollow attribute has been added, with the attribute portion shown in bold

<a href="http://www.somedomain.com/page.html" rel="nofollow">My forums are the best lol lol lol click here!!</a>

Once added, the search engines supporting the attribute will understand that the link has not been approved by the site owner.

Think of it as a way to flag to them, "I didn't post this link -- someone else did, don't associate me with it."

Originally Posted by Alkatraz

If Google sees nofollow as part of a link, it will:

1. NOT follow through to that page.
2. NOT count the link in calculating PageRank link popularity scores.
3. NOT count the anchor text in determining what terms the page being linked to is relevant for.

The site that is being linked to will gain nothing from the link, so the whole point of doing it in the first place is removed.

This will affect URLs in posts, as well as signatures...anything that goes through the bbcodeparse function as far as I can tell/guess, and will work recursively, or whatever the word is that means 'it will affect all existing posts and signatures'...or it did for me anyway.

To change the conditional number of posts, alter

PHP Code:

OR $post['posts'] > 50) 


to whatever you like.

I can't see how this could be done as a plugin, but if anyone wants to point out how, that would be nicer....YAY Kirby!

Now all you need to do is unzip the attached file, upload the plugin using your Admin CP - Plugin System - Plugin Manager!

Relax, safe in the knowledge that spammers linking from your site are doing so for no reason whatsoever.

To remove the old version:

File to modify: 1

1/ Open your includes/class_bbcode.php file

Find:

PHP Code:

        // standard URL hyperlink
        //return "<a href=\"$rightlink\" target=\"_blank\">$text</a>";

        global $post;

if (is_member_of($post, 6) //Admins are exempt
OR is_member_of($post, 5) //Mods are exempt
OR is_member_of($post, 7) //SuperMods are exempt
OR $post['posts'] > 50) // People with over 50 posts are exempt
    {
    // standard URL hyperlink
    return "<a href=\"$rightlink\" target=\"_blank\">$text</a>";
    }
    else
    {
     return "<a href=\"$rightlink\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">$text</a>";
    }
    } 


Replace with:

PHP Code:

// standard URL hyperlink
        return "<a href=\"$rightlink\" target=\"_blank\">$text</a>";
    } 


2/ Save and Upload.

[Treasure Quest]

Still trying to get this working.
I'm not clear, is there a file edit or is this just a plugin or both??

[kall]

It's a plugin.

It should work retrospectively, as per my comment in the first post.

[Paul M]

Greg,

I checked this on your site tonight and it's working fine - I think the problem is the way you are checking - you must view the page source to see the nofollow tag, hovering over it in IE/FF will not show the tag.

Paul.

[Treasure Quest]

Well I'll be dog
Thank you paul and sorry about that Kall.

Thanks again for this hack.

Greg

[Pathor]

This plugin doesn´t work with Andreas 'Extended Signature Limits'.
If I disable Andreas product, the plugin works well.

How can I solve this problem?

[dead7]

Originally Posted by Pathor

This plugin doesn?t work with Andreas 'Extended Signature Limits'.
If I disable Andreas product, the plugin works well.

How can I solve this problem?

Dang, I just logged in to post that same question..

[ErikTheRed]

I just installed this plugin and it seems to work fine in conjunction with "Extended Signature Limits". What problem are you guys having with it?

By the way, I think someone already mentioned this, but it appears the only links that don't get the rel="nofollow" attribute are user's home page links. Since those show up in thread displays it would be cool if a future version could attach rel="nofollow" to those links as well, if it's even possible.

[dead7]

It does work fine with it, however when Extended Sig limits is turned on, the rel=nofollow (a previous hack) is removed on signature URLS.

[ErikTheRed]

That's not the case for me. Nofollow is attached to all member's signatures and Extended Sig Limits are on.

[dead7]

Originally Posted by ErikTheRed

That's not the case for me. Nofollow is attached to all member's signatures and Extended Sig Limits are on.

Which nofollow hack are you using?