Are Blog Comments now useless?
-
Hello
I see there is much debate on this issue of Blog Commenting. Is it still a useful way to get a backlink? Would you suggest only using 'No follow' blogs to leave comments?
Many thanks
-
Eliathah - I agree. Blog commenting is extremely inefficient use of time. I wonder how many of the people who promote blog commenting as a method to obtain traffic would pay someone else to put "meaningful comments" on relevant (no-follow) blogs. I wouldn't and I doubt many people would.
-
Yes I'm afraid they are useless when it comes to incorporating them into your SEO stategy.
Better to take the energy you would have expended tracking down do follow comment opportunities and spend it creating rich content like posts, guides, infographic(high quality only) and useful widgets.
Yes it's harder now than pre Panda but good in a way because the barrier for entry is that little bit higher and that gives you an advantage over new starters who want to cut corners and steal your customers.
Good luck, you're going to rock!
-
Blog commenting is a crappy way to spend your time if your goal is to get quality backlinks for SEO purposes. With that said, I have clients that receive substantial (relevant) traffic on a daily basis from blog comments they posted a while ago, so i know first hand that blog comments can drive traffic.
Is it ever the MOST productive and efficient use of your time? Probably not. Not unless you're commenting on blogs you already read regularly. Going out of your way to search for relevant blogs, reading articles you have no interest in besides getting traffic from the comment link, and crafting comments that grab peoples attention and encourage click throughs...? I can only speak for myself, but that doesn't sound like the most effective use of my time.
-
I agree, Simon pretty much summed it up pretty well. I was thinking the question was asking "Is it still a useful way to get a backlink?" which it is but only if done right and not a one time action. We're obviously on the same page though. Thanks for the clarity in your answer.
-
Hi Darin,
We might've gotten confused with the OP's question.
I agree with you of course in marketing terms but the OP's question is referring to backlinks. Backlinks as in SEO not PR. Hence my answer commenting for SEO purposes are useless and not a good idea.
Commenting for marketing and PR is good, but be selective.
-
Comments from William and Darin show the two different types of blog commenting. Let me expand:
Type 1:
Commenting on any blog you can get your hands on linking back to your site (those that will let you): This is the kind of blog commenting that you should avoid like the plague. It will do you no good and will simply be a waste of time these days.
Type 2:
Commenting on blogs that mean something in your industry and commenting with content people want to read: Like with any kind of content, if it is content people want to read it can be valuable. If you are selling running shoes and you build your authority on an athletics blog and your comment is contributing to a conversation and a link to your site is relevant and valuable to the users then by all means this is the kind of blog commenting you want to involve yourself in and can be very beneficial in the long run.
Hope that helps.
-
I have to disagree with William Lau.
I think that blog commenting has changed a bit. It think it is still relevant. I prefer the term Comment Marketing and Link Earning because that is my goal, to market my site and earn links. Here is how I do it now.
I find blogs that are relevant to my industry and of people who I really want to have link to me (authority figures). I follow their blogs and comment regularly on them. My goal is to build up enough trust and awareness of what I am all about. I have two goals here. 1) if my comments are good then people will want to learn more about me and click on my profile/link to go to my site (not so much for SEO purposes but for site traffice) ( I don't care if I'm number one if no one goes to my site. Traffic is important to me. Even better, relevant traffic.) and 2) I want to be able to eventually earn the right to become a guest blogger or have that person read about me and link to my site because of it's good content.
I think the idea of posting a comment for the sake of posting a comment is pointless. SEO is changing (for the better) and SEO now should stand for Search EXPERIENCE Optimization and not Search Engine Optimization. Comment Marketing is relevant if you use it to help build traffic and not to earn "traditional SEO links".
-
Yes, blog spamming is not really a smart idea. Plus majority of blog platforms nofollow comment links.
The only way you will benefit from blog comments are if they actually help the reader and is more of a marketing tactic than SEO.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Blog commenting for SEO - Useful practice?
With most blog comments being no-follow, I was just wondering whether blog commenting for an SEO campaign these days was actually a worthwhile practice. Would love to get some insight on this.
Link Building | | Gavo0 -
Content - Onsite Blog vs Article Submission
Hey Folks, First post! I have a 4 year old site with reasonable authority (49) and lots of content. Easy first question. I plan to create lots more unique, useful and relevant content however I'm in a quandary as to whether to: A. Post the content on our sites blog or B. Submit the article to an article directory like ezine-articlesand backlink to my site. Is one better than the other? Thanks, Richard
Link Building | | Rich-O0 -
Backlinks In Blogs
Hello! A direct competitor of my has a ton of backlinks exact anchor text on their inner pages coming from blogger blogs. How can they get away with this? Are they using different C blocks? Or are they paying for these links? The anchor text is Not anywhere in any of the blogs but it the side/bar colomn which follow through the entire site, so when I analyze the link anchor text OSE show ups several different pages from the same blog. Any help would be Greatly Appreciated!!!!! Thanks
Link Building | | TP_Marketing0 -
Guest blogging company - yay or nay?
I'm considering working with a guest blogging company. The quality of the writing seems to be decent / not spammy. The types of sites they're guest blogging on are... http://theblogabouteverything.com/ http://globalgoodgroup.com/ I know these are fairly generic blogs. Is there any chance of a manipulative link penalty with these types of sites? Thanks!
Link Building | | joshuakrafchin0 -
Good guest blogging communities?
Besides My Blog Guest, does anyone know of any good guest blogging communities? The aforementioned, based on my few weeks of use, seems like a great community for guest blogging. Curious if any similar sites exist.
Link Building | | Greg_Gifford0 -
Want to Add Already Distributed Content to My Internal Blog
I want to add already distributed content to my internal blog. I have very useful articles on different topics which I have submitted to different article directories. Yesterday, I have started my internal blog and want to add all content which I have submitted to different external websites. So, Can I do it or not? I have confusion about duplication between my site and external websites.
Link Building | | CommercePundit0 -
What after I place a blog comment
I have started commenting on high PR DoFollow blogs more strongly off late. I don't do it just for the heck of it. I comment on relevant posts, go through them nicely and make sensible comments. This way I make sure my comments are not removed by the admin, What I want to know is... What after I make the comment and put my website's URL there? Does that mean I have got a backlink already? Or do I need to do something else too to make sure Google recognizes that as a backlink? I have the same question regarding forum postings too.
Link Building | | KS__1 -
Commenting on an old post
I've been playing around with OSE and found one of my competitors has a decent link coming from a post created in 2008. It only has two comments, one from my competitor with a link back to his site. The page has a PA: 55, it seems like an easy link but since the post is 3 years old im not sure its appropriate even though commenting is open. Any thoughts?
Link Building | | nbeske0