What are the pros and cons of having comments posted on your blog?
-
I get a lot of spammy comment comments to my blog which I trash, but I'm also particular about the comments I allow.
How do the search engines regard these comments, should I allow more to be posted as it looks like I'm getting more traffic.And by posting these comments, who benefits from the backlinks?
-
It all depends on what you want to achieve with the blog. I run 2 sites that get lots of comments. For one site, the comments become part of the content of the site (it essentially sets a scenario for people to debate over) so for that example, it adds to the uniqueness f the site.
For another site that I run, I have to spend a lot of time monitoring the comments since many people are there to just drop a link. Like everything on the web, you need to decide what's going to make your site stand out from the rest.
Allowing "junk" comments won't add any value.
-
I think that it is important to be a critical judge. Are those comments relevant to your topic? That is the first test.
Then, where to do those links go? If they are not going to high quality relevant pages then the people who are placing them are using your website (and your visitors) to promote their own interests.
If your website has links going out to trashy sites it will not be good for your image in the eyes of your visitors but the search engines can detect that and lower your rankings.
I have tried allowing comments but the amount of spam and the amount of junk links were too high. So, I turned comments off. I lost good interaction but I don't have time to do that work and paying someone to do it would not produce a positive return.... and I don't want to depend upon volunteers.
If your site has a small amount of traffic then keeping the comments clean and relevant might not be too hard. But once your traffic gets high it can be an overwhelming task.
WordPress (and other content systems) have filters that you can install. They will block the worst of the comment spam.
Finally, a lot of these comments are not placed by humans. They are placed by robots that crawl the web, find open comment forms and deposit a comment with links. So when you see comments like... "Great information, nice" (link)... that is probably a robot.
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
-
So, blog directories post-Penguin. Thoughts?
How risky is it to submit blogs to directories like the ones found in this list? http://www.searchenginejournal.com/20-essential-blog-directories-to-submit-your-blog-to/
Link Building | | danieldavid18030 -
Alternatives to Guest Blogging Please
Now that Matt Cutts seems to have sounded the death knoll for guest blogging for SEO, what are some good alternatives?
Link Building | | aj6131 -
What is the best backlink? Homepage or specific post?
I am working hard to get backlinks from other blogs by submitting deal tips. I am a deal blog so I am wondering - is it better to get a backlink to a specific post that will expire because it is a time sensitive deal or sale? Or is it better to get a backlink to my homepage? I focus on the best blog with PR of 7 and DA of 72 as well as others that are high up there. In case I am not being clear, which backlink is better? A. www.mysite.com B. www.mysite.com/awesome-sale-of-the-day Sometimes I won't have a choice but just wondering what I should focus on or if it even matters. Thanks!
Link Building | | dealblogger0 -
Is Blog Commenting still an acceptable way of linking
Hi, Is it still acceptable to blog comment as a way of build keyword related links to your site? I see a lot of it and of and 98% looks spammy and obvious.. But I just wondered as so many people seem to do it and they seem to get results within google, However my feeling is that they will get burnt sooner or later Thakns,
Link Building | | Robdob20130 -
PR4 blog but no data in OSE?
I've recently been asked to guest post on a site that appears to be PR4 but when checking the sites authority on OSE no data shows up. The site is http://www.osozo.com. I'm looking for opinions really, first of all on how it can be PR4 but OSE has no data on it and secondly whether it's a good site for me to post on? Any help much appreciated!
Link Building | | SamCUK0 -
Focus on guest blogging not working; what's the best quick fix?
I have always used strictly white-hat SEO tactics, targeting long-term results, my main focus being on quality guest blogging. I have been working on a site for around 6 months, and I started out with my keywords ranking very well, but very little traffic was coming to the site. 2 weeks ago I expanded my keyword list considerably in an effort to drive more traffic, but last week my keywords all took a nosedive. My client wants an answer by Thursday. I know there's no quick fix, but what's the best way to quickly get my rankings back up and serious traffic to the site? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Link Building | | whiteonlySEO0 -
Is it worth it to link to sites that link to you in guest posts?
Suppose you published a guest post on a quality site and you link to a previous guest post you have written for another site (which links to you). In theory you could send link juice to the page that links to you for a second order effect. Has anyone seen results from this tactic?
Link Building | | ProjectLabs0 -
Is publishing press releases for SEO thorugh newswire sites as effective post panda?
Does anyone have any knowledge/thoughts on how leading newswire sites have been effected by Google's latest updates, i.e. Panda? To date this has been a method (alongside others) I have sucessfully used to build links, but the results of late have not been as good for some clients and I'm beginning to question how effective this is - so I would be very interested to hear anyone else's experiences in this area?
Link Building | | simon-1453280