A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Business.com’s practice of using “nofollow” attributes on editorial listings within their directory but did not use them on the paid listings, a backwards procedure for what the attribute was originally intended for.
Today they have decided to stop using the attribute altogether. Via Threadwatch, Todd Sims who is Vice President of Business and Corporate Development at Business.com, makes the following announcement:
As most of you know, Business.com recently added “No follow” tags to some of the listings in our directory. From the debate that followed, it became clear that there is a lack of consensus about the proper use of these tags right now within the search engine community. Because of this, we’ve decided to remove the tags.
I would like to reiterate that all listings and links in the Business.com directory are reviewed by our editorial team and are placed in the most relevant of our 65,000 B2B categories. We have spent the last 6 years building the most comprehensive and trusted B2B directory, and we will ensure that our users enjoy a relevant, spam-free experience through our ongoing and continually evolving editorial review process. A process which will no longer utilize “No follow” tags.
This is a good move on their part after they received criticism from many in the SEM community. It was the general consensus that they were placing the “nofollow” attributes on non-paid listings in order to entice more people to pay for listings. This latest move to remove the links seems to be well received thus so far.
David Wallace, co-founder and CEO of SearchRank, is a recognized expert in the industry of search and social media marketing. Since 1997, David has been involved in developing successful search engine and social media marketing campaigns for large and small businesses.
