Best practices to add Facebook comments to wordpress blog?
-
Our website (noahsdad.com) has a very large and active Facebook group (http://facebook.com/noahsdadcom). Often there are more comments on the Facebook posting of a link, than on the blog post itself. I try to get people go and leave comments on the blog, but they don't get it. So I'd like to try to find a way to get Facebook comments to transfer to our site. I"m not sure the best way to do this....either via a plug in, or via these instructions https://developers.facebook.com/attachment/Comments_Best_Practices_FINAL.pdf/ I'd just like to get it going..and not mess up the comment's I have now. (Also not everyone has Facebook, so I'd like them to still be able to comment the 'old' way (name/email). Hoping someone can help point me in the right direction with this. Thanks.
-
Both Aran and Keri have given great responses! One thing I want to add about using FB comments, is that I believe that you lose all your previous comments once the FB comments are implemented. But perhaps Aran can verify that. One post I always refer to on the subject is this one from Jon Henshaw over at Raven: http://raventools.com/blog/facebook-comments/. Not only is the post helpful, but the discussion in the comments is valuable as well. I'd definitely give it a read.
I agree with Keri that while it can be frustrating to see more comments on FB than on the blog. But at the same time remember, you're not just building a blog, you're creating a community. Some members of the community are simply more comfortable using FB than they are commenting on the site. Since your site has such a wide reach, I could see my mom wanting to comment but only understanding how to do that on FB, so that's where she'd do it. It takes more work to moderate comments on both the blog and on FB and perhaps Twitter and anywhere else for that matter. But people are actively talking about your "brand" and getting your name out there.
Please let me know if you have more questions!
Jen
-
Hi Noah's Dad,
I'm going to ask Jen Lopez to make a better comment on this, as she's the one who manages the SEOmoz Facebook page and has more experience than I do. I did have one thought though that by having users engage in your Facebook page you're increasing your EdgeRank on Facebook and increasing the chances that fans of your page will see your updates.
FB doesn't show an individual user updates in their feed from every person and page they follow. They've got an algorithm in there to rival the search engines that helps determine what a user sees. If there's a FB page in there where the owner is just putting announcements and no one is interacting, those announcements really aren't going to be shown to the rest of the fans of that page.
With you, you've got so many people interacting with you and posting stuff I see Noah's face every time I check my FB feed. It prompts me to click over to your FB page and see the updates from everyone else.
Just an alternate way of thinking about this, though I understand your frustration at the same time. I"m the one who manages YouMoz, and it's frustrating to see people thumb and discuss the post on FB yet not going over to our site and doing the same.
-
Hi Noah's Dad!,
I've been following your blog!
Whilst I'm not 100% sure how to output Facebook comments to your pages. I have just installed Facebook commenting on my website (a very easy job of just pasting in some HTML with a dash of php to retrieve the current URL). Its great as people instantly recognise the comments box and seem happy, almost eager to leave a comment. Plus its not restricted to just facebook users, people can join in the fun with hotmail, yahoo, or AOL user IDs. Plus I believe more ways of authenticating are being added.
There is a plug in for word press (of course, cos theres a plug in for everything) http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/facebook-comments-for-wordpress/
Trouble is that the comments are out put into a iframe, thus Google doesn't pay any attention to them (incas eyour doing this for SEO benefit, which I assume you are). But there is a work around to out put the comments outside of the facebook iframe, though I'm still debating whether to do it as it involves hiding the content (otherwise it would appear twice, once in the Iframe and once outside of the iframe, making for a bad user experience), but since Google may frown upon hiding content on my page, I've stayed away for the time being. (unless someone else has a better idea).
Hope that helps in some way.
Regards
Aran
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
-
Facebook won't show up in SERP
Hello! One of my clients' Facebook page isn't showing up on the SERP, even when you search "CLIENT NAME facebook" or an excerpt from a live post. Our social media team looked over all the settings in Meta, and everything looks correct, so we are stumped. Anyone encounter this before?
Social Media | | GoogleAlgoServant0 -
Anyone know how to successfully add a Facebook RSS Feed to a website?
Our webmaster is having trouble adding a Facebook RSS Feed to our homepage, but we'd really like one to display our recent posts with photos. Anyone have suggestions, or a link to directions that have proven successful? Thanks!
Social Media | | NancyBryan0 -
How can I track on my facebook page shared links without using short url redirect service?
Hi, I wondering how can I track and analyze on all my shared links in my facebook business page without using short url redirect service like: “Tiny” url or “bitly”? Thanks in advance.
Social Media | | JonsonSwartz0 -
How to autofollow anyone who tweets/retweets my blog?
I'm not sure if here is the right place for this Q but since followerwonk is one of the SEOmoz tools, I thought I'd try. I want to autofollow anyone who tweets or retweets specific URLs (my blog posts on a large blog). Does anyone know how to do this? They often don't @mention me in the tweets, I just see them all on topsy. I get 50-100 a day and at the moment have been manually going through and following all those people. It's been a useful exercise so far to see what types of people are tweeting my stuff, but now it has got super tedious!
Social Media | | KateV0 -
What to post on my facebook page for maximum results
Hello, What do you recommend I post on my facebook page for maximum reach?: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bob-Weikel-Associates/217292791620485 my site: bobweikel(dot)com and how often? It can't be too time consuming. I'll invite more friends once I have some content. Thanks!
Social Media | | BobGW0 -
On the new Google+ Local pages, I was wondering if anyone knew how to add the "Follow" button to lead to the company Google+ profile.
I saw a video on an Internet marketing blog that showed a company's Google+ Local page with a "Follow" button on it so people could follow their company Google+ profile.
Social Media | | innovationsimple0 -
Moderate blog comments Yes/No? Facebook comment plugin?
I was reading outbound marketing and they suggest that a good blog "does not" moderate comments. I have always taken the moderate approach, but their thought was this inhibits a conversation from taking place on the blog. I am wondering what thoughts others may have on this and its potential positive and negative impacts, both SEO and in general. Also I am thinking about using a Facebook plugin with my blogposts. I think this may be a good way to help get social visibility... Has anyone tried this yet?
Social Media | | mmaes0 -
Where is the best place to put your FB 'like' and G+1 buttons??
Do you guys think there is a more strategic place to place these buttons? below the fold, above, in the top nav menus...?? I would love to hear your thoughts..
Social Media | | robertrRSwalters0