Marketers who generate substantial inbound links from inclusion in other publishers’ blogrolls may soon lose some of their links, as WordPress is said to be eliminating the page element from its latest iteration. According to WPBeginner, WordPress 3.5 will likely only allow blogrolls to be used after installing a plugin. Under this setup, bloggers could include blogrolls, but they would have to integrate them using the plugin, rather than having the option to seamlessly use them as a standard feature of the content management system.
Marketing Land highlighted the potential move recently, reporting that it’s unclear if this is a definite WordPress change. However, the potential loss of inbound links for some sites may negatively impact search standing.
Developing content that warrants placement in another site’s blogroll often helps organizations improve the authority of their brands on the web. Additionally, the traffic gained from these links helps drives leads and sales.
The motivation for WordPress to even consider the move is unclear, given the popularity of the blogrolls as a standard element of blog design. It could signal WordPress’ belief that the feature is sometimes abused, making this an effort to contribute to the ongoing shift of web content focused solely on what’s best for the user. Brafton has frequently detailed new Google search quality algorithm updatesthat the company believes will deliver the most relevant content to users.
