Blog comments and SEO

Blogging has come to the point where my mother actually heard of it. That means that it is not only popular but becoming somewhat mainstream. As a result, people are really starting to voice their opinions by blogging and commenting on blogs. Voicing opinion is one thing, but when it comes to commenting there is a very useful side effect. Commenting can help increase your website's rankings on certain search engines.

The caveat to this is that most blogs currently have something called nofollow, which makes it so that links within comments do not count in relation to search engine rankings (Google). If the links within comments don't count then it can't help your ranking. WordPress and Movable Type are well known for implementing the "nofollow" tag right off the bat. Basically, commenting on blogs will not help your ranking on Google if the comment is on a blog that has nofollows built in. The good news is that Yahoo and MSN do not follow this rule at this point, so when you post comments they will count the link as a backlink to your website. This can help increase your search engine rankings if it is done right.

Not all comments are created equal for this type of thing. Comments on related sites will help the most. If a related site links back to yours then it will usually be more effective then a link from an unrelated website. In some cases it maybe hard to find related sites to place comments on. In these cases, try to make sure that the post you are placing a comment on is related to your website. Be careful here though, when linking back to your website do not put in malicious link titles. In most cases your name is what links back to your website. Don't stuff keywords in there or make it seem unnatural because these kinds of techniques can hurt you.

As with most optimization techniques, keep in mind that it takes time to see results. If you start posting a lot of comments then your rankings may improve eventually, but in most cases it takes a couple of weeks. With Yahoo and MSN you have to keep the comment posting activity going as well. If you do not keep on posting comments, those posts will get old and stale and the links will not help as much compared to links from fresher posts.

Posting comments on related sites can be a great tactic for increasing your rankings. However, don't abuse this and do not comment spam. Increased ranking is a side effect of commenting, not a goal. Make sure you are providing insight and something useful when commenting. People will know if you are comment spamming and it will not only hurt your reputation but I would imagine that the search engines will catch on soon and this could have some detrimental effects. As with most SEO tactics for increased ranking, you can't fake it. If you are active on commenting and truly bring value to posts, then knowing these things and sticking to related posts/websites could really help you make the most of your work.

Enjoy the post? Here are some more that may interest you.

SES

Trackbacks (0)

There are no trackbacks for this post yet.

Reader Comments (8)

Natalie Ferguson, May 29, 2006

We generally tell all our customers to think of commenting on other relevent blogs as a way of showing another blog's audience how much they know/ how interesting they are. So this new audience will click on the link back to their blog. This is another method of driving traffic to your site and entices people to write really well thought out comments, instead of junk to get ranked higher on search engines...

Cameron, May 29, 2006

Natalie, thanks for your comment.

Your 100% right, the search engine benefits should be thought of as more of a bonus. Also, if you leave junk comments you will also be known as a spammer, and you don't want that to happen.

Lasse, May 30, 2006

I think you're a bit off here. Your article is based on the idea of using comments to create traffic. As commented that should not be a primary goal.

I think well of the no-follow tag. And I believe it's a bad thing that Yahoo! and MSN is not currently supporting it.

Neil Patel, May 30, 2006

Lasse,

I agree that it is not a great thing that Yahoo and MSN support it. If a site owner uses a nofollow the search engines should respect it. Possibly in the future they will wise up and follow Google.

Sisya, October 18, 2006

"Blogging has come to the point where my mother actually heard of it." Damn funny line. Couldnt stop a broad smile.

seo, November 16, 2006

In this whirling world of blogs if we can find the one who can be with us then its a good fortune,Other a large amount of blog communities are in our way to have a grasp on us.

seowebdesigner, February 5, 2007

its true, that blog is now a days a big asset for webmasters and surfers, and let they know they searches for. thanks buddy :)

Aaron Rivera, March 9, 2007

totally right I ve been here and it is a reall hassle dealing with sploggers.