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
-
Sponsored Blog Posts - Inbound links harm ranking?
Here There We have been contacting, a view online travel blogs lately if they are happy todo a sponsored blog post for us. Including a least one "dofollow" link within the post to our website. Our website: www.rapturecamps.com Blogs which have done a post about us: http://www.adventureinyou.com/10-best-surf-spots-in-bali/ http://thetravelhack.com/portugal/surfing-in-ericeira-portugal-with-rapturecamps/ Just wanted to double check with the Pro's here if that could harm our ranking? As i have a slight feeling it did actually, i cant proof it fully do. I hope i can get some answer here, these blogs are with good quality content, have a good PR and do allot of good blog posts. So i thought this should be only good for us.
Link Building | | 5Gates0 -
What to write in Guest Post Email Subject
How to and what to write in Guest Blogging email Subject to get noticed? Please provide an example?
Link Building | | Dan_Brown10 -
Is it good to post same content of my web page to different articles and blogs
Hi! Actually, i would like to create links equity. may i post the same content to different blogs and article directories and link back to my web page. is this cleaver/correct idea which give some result? Thank you.
Link Building | | Webworld_Norway0 -
Guest Blog It
Does anybody else here use the Guest Blog It site? I have tried submitting an article but it's telling me that it's 47% duplicate content. I have ran it through 2 plagiarism checkers and they both said it was 100% unique. I have tried contacting the site directly about this but as of yet have had no response. I was just wondering if anybody on here knows what they use to check for duplicate content so I can take a look and amend my article. Thanks 🙂
Link Building | | AAttias0 -
What impact do no follow links in blog comments have if any?
Hi I think we all agree that social network sites such as pintrest/instagram/twitter are all now no follow however I believe there is benefit in having them.... So I wondered if anyone had been experimenting with commenting on blogs which had no follow attributes and if there was any benefit in terms of improving your rankings?
Link Building | | RankStealer0 -
How to search blogs for blog commenting?
Hi every one can any help me out regarding blog commenting I am doing blog commenting since last 6 months to my automotive website i am posting the comment in blogs which are related to automotive only now i all most commented in 1500 blogs and i am not finding the new blog so how can i do blog commenting is there any other way to comment in new blog or getting the list of new blogs Kindly suggest me plz 🙂
Link Building | | PrasanthMohanachandran0 -
Blogging to add SEO value to site... recommendations
Hi Mozzers! A client has a high authority website in the travel industry, and needs any and all advantages to get ahead in very competitive keywords. The send out a newsletter bimonthly, but have no blog, so I recommended at the very least, they publish online their emailed newsletters to add informational and relevant content. The question is, for max SEO value, should they... create a blog as a subdomain or subfolder of their existing site? should they self host a blog with a separate domain? or should they simply use a blogger/wordpress.com free blog? Consider that just adding on a blog to their existing site isn't easy. It's some old CMS that's apparently a nightmare to deal with. Plus, branding a WP install to match the site isn't something they want to spend a lot of time on. Your insight is welcome and appreciated!
Link Building | | rosstaylor0 -
Are Guest Post Anchor Text Links Evil?
Hi, In the recent free SEOMoz webinar about What's Ailing the Linkgraph, Rand Fishkin says that corporations try to get anchor text guest posts on his wife's blog and he suggests this is manipulative. Do you agree that anchor text links in guest posts are manipulative? Do you think that Google will take action against this tactic in the future? Thanks!
Link Building | | SparkplugDigital0