Removing NoFollow from Blogger styled layouts

Blogger by default, and other blogging software such as WordPress, automatically adds the "nofollow" microformat extension to all links from user generated content. User generated content is defined as comments or external sources such as linkbacks and trackbacks.

I support the people of the blogging community who have chosen to remove NoFollow for blog comments and linkbacks/trackbacks. If you are reading this right now, you too are probably thinking about joining us yourself. It would be a good move, read on to find out why.

Before we begin

First, this removal procedure applies to the New Blogger styled layout. It is impossible, at this time, to remove NoFollow from Classic styled Blogger templates. This is due to the fact that those templates use the variable {$CommentAuthorName$} which encapsulates the anchor link around linking text. I am working on getting around this, because I have another blog using this style.

There are a number of tip sites out there explaining how to accomplish the removal of NoFollow -- and every one of them did not get it completely right. I have not found one yet who has addressed the issue of backlinks which also have the NoFollow extension added to it.

I have seen numerous comments left by readers of the tutorials stating that they could not find the NoFollow referenced in their layout template. Two reasons for this. They either are using the Classic template or more probably it is the same problem I encountered when I first went looking for it. I will explain why below, and it will be very clear as to why they missed it too.

Properly removing NoFollow from the template

Warning: Before beginning this procedure -- backup your template
.

Login to your dashboard and click on the Layout Link. If you are already managing your blog, then click on the Template Tab. Confused, don't be -- there really is a reason for that.

Click on the Edit Html Sub-tab for Templates.

Here is the important part. On the upper right of the template edit area, there is a checkbox labeled Expand Widgets. Make sure it is checked.

[ Click for larger version ]

Every tutorial I have read failed to mention the checkbox. The items we will be deleting are inside of sections, which in turn are inside of a widget. If the widget is collapsed, then we will not be able to see anything inside of the widget.

Now do a search for nofollow in your expanded template. You can either use your browser menu by clicking on Edit>Find in page or via the keyboard Ctrl-F. When the dialog box comes up, type in nofollow, and enter.

You should come across a line of code that looks something like this:

          <dt class='comment-author' expr:id='"comment-" + data:comment.id'>
            <a expr:name='"comment-" + data:comment.id'/>
            <b:if cond='data:comment.authorUrl'>
              <a expr:href='data:comment.authorUrl'  rel='nofollow'><data:comment.author/></a>
            <b:else/>
              <data:comment.author/>
            </b:if>
            <data:commentPostedByMsg/>
          </dt>

Delete the portion of the code that says rel='nofollow' and Save Your Template.

Optionally remove Nofollow from backlinks

By doing another search for nofollow in your expanded template, you will find another one for your backlinks. You can choose to delete this as outlined above -- or not.

If you do delete the reference, do at your own risk. Backlinks are outside of your control and cannot be moderated. You can turn them off altogether via your Settings>Comments Tab. It is up to you.