Would you approve this blog comment?
-
I just got an unusual comment on one of my blog posts on our real estate site. The article was about a particular street that is getting renamed after a historical figure. The comment is seven paragraphs of information about this person.
The comment is an obvious attempt to get a backlink in my opinion. The site that it is linking back to is an architect's site. So, this is probably the work of an SEO.
I've searched and can't find duplicate content online. I thought perhaps it was from wikipedia but there is no entry on this person and I've searched several phrases from the comment and it doesn't appear to be duplicated.
So, would you approve it? My gut instinct is "yes" because it would add to the content on my site...but there's this little thing in the back of my head that is saying "Don't do it!!!!"
EDIT: I just checked and the architect's site has 3 backlinks, none of which are blog comments. So, perhaps it is legit. Maybe someone is just fanatical about this historical figure.
EDIT AGAIN: Very cool. I just checked their about page and the owner of the business has the same last name as the historical figure. OK. I'll stop being super paranoid now. LOL!
-
Unless it's spun content
-
Sounds like a link weasel to me.
If it is really good content, relevant to your site, of interest to your visitors, that will stand without the link then I would include it but omit the link.
Keep in mind that link weasels often drop links pointed to bad bad neighborhoods.... also this comment might have been dropped by a linkbuilder who has about 100 other architect clients and you will get hit with a landslide of crap next week if you approve this one.
-
Looks like I was just been paranoid.
I looked at the About Me page and the owner of the architect's business has the same last name as the historical figure.
I'll definitely publish the comment!
I definitely think that too many blog spammers have made me insanely paranoid! Thanks for the responses guys!
-
If you cannot find duplicate content anywhere, then it sounds like great content. Allow the comment.
-
If you cannot find duplicate content anywhere, then it sounds like great content. Allow the comment.
-
It's possible your site would be considered the original.
-
My thoughts exactly!
If I do find duplicate content a few weeks later though, I wonder if my site would be considered the original?
-
Thanks Phoenix...that really makes sense. I think that little part in my head that says "don't do it" is the part that has been scammed a few times.
Do you remember when you got your first blog comment and it was something like, "I really enjoy your blogging! Keep writing more!" I was so freaking excited that someone wrote this on my blog. And then I found about about comment spam. LOL!
-
If I am unsure about the site being linked to, I approve the comment and nofollow or remove the link.
Your situation sounds very intriguing. I, like you, would suspect that content had been copied from somewhere. But maybe not, if you can't find it anywhere online. Or maybe they copied it from a print book or ebook or something...
I would probably approve it, then check back in a week and see if you can find duplicate content then.
-
If you are going to be allowing comments on the blog, why not allow it? Sure, it might be a move by an SEO, but if they are writing exceptional content that really does increase the worth of the page, what do you have to lose? I say approve it. The little part in your head that is saying "Don't do it" is the little thing in all of us that are greedy about our link juice. But, if it adds value to the page, that little bit of lost link juice--if any--is going to more than make up for it in creating conversation and ranking for other keywords in Google perhaps. That's my opinion, at least...
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
-
Why do bots spam my wordpress blog comments?
anyone with a wordpress blog knows what i am talking about. but why do they do this? my theory is that it is for backlinks, but aren't all wordpress comment links nofollow? i am just curious as to what these robots think they are gaining by flooding my blog comments section. Thanks, Ryan
Link Building | | RyanMeighan2 -
A lot of blogs use wordpress or blogspot, are these blogs still useful for SEO in terms of linkbuilding, or should they be avoided?
I am very new to linkbuilding and SEO as a whole, so please forgive my ignorance. Reaching out to bloggers is a common tactic, but I've found a lot of people tend to blog with the assistance of wordpress or blogspot. I was wondering whether these blogs are still useful for SEO or if it is best to avoid them? Thanks in advance, Lewis
Link Building | | Samstore0 -
Dead/Broken links on old blogs
Hi We are currently trying to update our blog page on our website but quickly realized there are numerous dead or broken 404 links after clicking on anchor text from past blog posts. Our blog is set up in WordPress and we recently installed an SEO plug in with it. Some of these anchor texts don't actually need links and I want to unlink them, is there a simple way to do this on WordPress? Other anchor text I would like to "301 redirect" to another page. Can i do this on WordPress or is this something my SEO plugin should be able to fix? Answers are much appreciated! Thanks
Link Building | | SapphireCo0 -
Disavow links from questionable blog
Hi everyone, I noticed today that we are getting quite a few backlinks from a blog that promotes some rather seedy ideals (it's called zoklet). Specifically, they are linking to some products we sell that prevent shoplifting, so I'm drawing some conclusions about their motives. I don't think the blog itself is spammy, but I'm just assuming that it's a bad neighborhood and we should distance ourselves from it. The only reason I'm questioning the disavow is because of the warnings involved and that it might affect our rankings if we do it. Any thoughts? Thanks.
Link Building | | Matt10 -
Cluster of outbound links on blog
Hi, If a blog has a section which contains 40 outbound links almost like a blogroll do you think Google looks at this cluster as suspicious? Could this come across like paid links to Google?
Link Building | | Bondara0 -
Need feedback: Should we move our blog from blogger to our e-commerce site?
Hi, I write the blog for an e-commerce site that sells swimwear www.allwetbeachwear.com. The blog is currently a blogger blog that lives off the domain. I have always thought that having a blogger blog for the site looked unprofessional yet might be good for SEO since google owns blogger. However recently we are making SEO improvements and want to create more internal links to keep up with our competitors. I am thinking an on-site blog might be good for SEO. What do you recommend for the best SEO results for our site? -keeping on blog hosted on blogger -creating a new blog on our e-commerce platform -hosting the blogger blog on a subdomain of our ecommerce site Thanks!
Link Building | | allwetbeachwear0 -
Blogging for backlinks
I have a real estate website. I would like to start blogging on blogs not related to real estate. I like reading web design, html, css, php, word press etc... blogs. I want to start talking to the bloggers using my real name (not keyword anchor text) on their blog. I'd like to have authentic conversations; however, will this confuse google about my site? If I am using my name as anchor text on sites about webdesign and linking back to a real estate website, what will that do to the SEO? It's also important to consider one other detail. I have determined through link building in real estate related fields that it's really hard to find good domains/page rank when compared to the fields above. I could get a dozen great links in 10 minutes on the above subjets AND be legitimately engaging in conversation with my name, not keywords... Does the invention of "author rank" make this more viable?
Link Building | | JML11790 -
What is the purpose of submitting your blog articles to directories?
I was wondering what the purpose of submitting your blog articles to directories are. Doesn't it require enough "points" or "+1's" for it to become a "do-follow" link? People on the forum talk about automating directory submission, can anyone recommend a good software for this? I've been hearing that Google Penalizes you for article submission because it looks like spam?
Link Building | | kevinyu10290