There is absolutely nothing wrong with earning a link from a blog post you decide to comment on. In fact, if you comment often on blogs, it is a good way to increase the amount of inbound links pointing to your site’s pages. However, there is a “right” way and a “wrong” way to go about accomplishing this.
Before I provide a list of things you should not do, allow me to point out that gaining links from blog commenting is a fringe benefit. In other words, gaining a link should not be your main objective. You should be commenting in order to join the conversation. That is what blog comments are all about.
Many bloggers (myself included) believe that good comments should be rewarded with a link back to the commenter’s site (if they so choose to include one). However, the way you go about commenting and including a link will clearly demonstrate whether you are there to contribute or merely to take.
Here is a short list of things “not to do” when commenting on blogs.
- Don’t leave comments like “nice post” or “I agree” and then include a link. It is only so obvious that you are there only to try to earn some unearned link juice. Leave comments like that on this blog and they will be deleted.
- Make sure your comment is of “quality value.” Mis-information, spelling and grammar errors, or even unprofessional language will reflect badly on you, doing you more harm than good.
- Don’t try to stuff keyword rich anchor text in the “Name” field. Most bloggers know your name is not “Orlando Florida Real Estate” or some other keyword laden phrase. If this practice does not get your comment deleted, many bloggers (myself included) will modify what you included in the that field to better reflect who you actually are.
- Use the “URL” field to include your link as opposed to the actual “Comment” field itself. There are times where a link is warranted in the main body of the comment but most often if simply linking to your site, the “URL” field is the safest place to include a link.
- Don’t mass comment all at once. When I see the same person commenting on a number of posts, all in a row, their intentions are clear. Funny that I rarely find quality comments when this scenario occurs.
- Don’t post the same comment across multiple blogs. This might occur when several bloggers are covering the same story. Remember that many bloggers in any particular industry know each other. Duplicate comment spammers can be easily identified and dealt with accordingly.
The bottom line is to use blog commenting in the way it was originally designed. Most often it takes little time, it allows you to interact with the author of the post as well as other people, you may attract visitors to your own site when you add quality to the post and you’ll get a link in the process.
David Wallace, co-founder and CEO of SearchRank, is a recognized expert in the industry of search and social media marketing. Since 1997, David has been involved in developing successful search engine and social media marketing campaigns for large and small businesses.
Nice post (sorry man, just had to)
Hi David – this one really resonated with me:
Don’t try to stuff keyword rich anchor text in the “Name” field. Most bloggers know your name is not “Orlando Florida Real Estate” or some other keyword laden phrase. If this practice does not get your comment deleted, many bloggers (myself included) will modify what you included in the that field to better reflect who you actually are.
Sometimes I feel bad when I do this because I cant quite call the comment “spam” but they put “debt consolidation” in the “name” field. Glad I’m not the only one that does this!
I also really REALLY dislike those “list of dofollow blogs” because every time they come out I get hammered. Not much I can do about those I guess….
Glad you brought this up David. I get frustrated with comments that are on the edge of spammy but I have found myself using my name less and keywords (or abbreviations) more.
I’ve left comments on sites using “chiropractic” and linking to either my blog or twitter profile (of same name). Some people may find it questionable but most that I know in the SEO community recognize my profile.
What’s your thoughts on someone commenting with a keyword in their profile that actually matched their domain? Say for example your comments used SearchRank instead of David Wallace.
@Michael Dorausch – Hey Michael. I have probably used ‘SearchRank’ before but never something like “Phoenix SEO” or something similar.
I know some bloggers don’t mind commenters using keyword rich anchor text in the ‘Name’ field so long as the comment is of quality. It is just a caution that could get your comment edited or deleted.
Here, I typically edit the name field to match the user name on the email address – that is assuming the comment is of some quality.
My name is Orlando Florida Real Estate and I don’t appreciate your assumptions that I leave spam. Listen up. My friends call me OFRE, or “Offer” for short. That’s how I roll.
~ John
p.s. The really funny thing about this post is that because Orlando Florida Real Estate has shown up 3-4 times now, you might get traffic for that keyword. God Bless the Internet.
I agree.
Kidding! No but I really do agree on every single tip you gave. There is a common blog commenting etiquette and most people who are looking to genuinely join the conversation while possibly getting some links, should know exactly how to do this by now. Providing you are using your real name, one must remember that every comment is reflecting on their personal brand!
Link building via blogs is commonplace, agree that there should be some etiquette when it comes to anchor links etc – and also think that people should be allowed to gain links from blogs!
Though I agree with your points, sometimes you need to place links on the body of the comment if your comment requires some reference sites.
Yes I agree to your points ..But we can get backlinks only when we do commenting on do follow blogs and only after the page gets cached we get an external link.
How do you classify this way of link building as ? Black Hat or Grey Hat?
@The previous comment.. lol!!
Hey David,
I don’t usually stop by here, but I really enjoyed this post. It’s a shame that many commenters don’t spend quality time writing good comments. In a world of comment spam, quality should be rewarded. Very sick of all the wordpressmassinstaller comments (note: they often even have the same IP!).
Would be great if you had a follow-up post on ways to cut down on comment spam and how to appropriately edit comments when they are borderline.
Dave – glad to see our lunch discussion may have resulted in you being little more liberal on commenting for links.
You were always pretty strict on that. Now are you going to change my name to “Arnie”? 🙂
@Arnie – I should change your name from “Link Building” to “Arnie” you comment spammer you! 😉
Seriously, I’ve always been in favor of gaining or giving links, providing the comments are of quality.
As to whether I will allow the “optimization” of link anchor text will depend on a case by case basis.
Oh, and I can’t wait until I complete the migration of this blog to WordPress in which all blog comment links will be “followed” as opposed to them being “unfollowed” right now due to Movable Type CAPTCHA plugin limitations.
I agree with you..it is very important to post valuable and related comments..that way you can get your point heard and also help other people more about the topic.
I feel if the comment is targeted right to the post rather than just ‘Thanks Admin’ or ‘Great post’, then its good. You are sure gonna get lots of visitor with commenting on blogs. 🙂
But will this link (with ur name as keyword) worth getting? Though i agree commenting(reasonably) on good posts in the blogosphere is a nice way to mingle with the community.
otherwise we would end up finding google showing our name as the top keyword for our blog in the webmaster tools.Is this good? or is better to comment without using the url?
It just depends. On my blog, I don’t even allow people to comment with an URL, because I have had to much spam lately.
And not just link building, just spam. Since I’ve upgraded to a newer wordpress version, it’s gotten better.
I used to check the referrer of the person commenting. When someone came at my site with the query “leave a comment + money”, I just laughed..
I Agree…
Just kidding. This was a very timely read for me because I’m opening up a new blog and was debating what to do. nofollow, etc. I was at SES and heard several speakers there talking about letting the net work the way it was supposed to with links, etc.
This was a great post, far too often people get caught up in grabbing the links without considering that the posts will in fact be moderated. I just started my first do follow internet marketing blog and as a result I get quite a few people already trying to abuse the system.
I agree with pretty much all of what you said.
I’m getting much tougher with my dofollow ‘policy’. I now delete quite a lot of comments which do the things you’ve listed above. I used to feel bad about it, but I’ve seen so much spam that now I don’t even pause as I press Delete.
The one thing on your list that I do allow is the use of keywords. I use (disclaimer: actually I wrote it) the KeywordLuv WordPress plugin, which separates the name from the kewyords, so that commentators can leave both. They get a better link, but I know who they are.
i always thought commenting was flawed using the name field as URL. wouldn’t the name field be an email address? but then that breaks privacy. there should be an optional field for keyword after URL. because of the way google analyzes keywords for optimization, the url link is useless aside from insignificant traffic. jmho.
If somebody adds something worthwhile to the conversation in the comments, I think they should be awarded a link. I’m in the process of rebuilding my site and I was thinking of automatically removing the nofollow on comments that I reply to, but keeping it on the others. Maybe even have the option to manually override a nofollow without having to reply.
While I found this post useful, I think more should be made of the nofollow question. It’s so much more valuable adding comments on websites which don’t add “nofollow” tags to comments.
I agree with all the points mentioned. I really hate it when people comment wiht “good post” or something similar.
The most funny/embarrassing thing is when people you know from conferences or seo forums come to your non-seo blog to keyword-spam your comments.
Kind of ironic that the only comment I actual read here is the short one from Wannabe SEO. Any explanation to that? 😉
Look there are 5 types of comments:
1. Agrees with you but says nothing.
2. Disagrees with you and says nothing.
3. Contributes to the conversation.
4. Wants a link.
You cannot do anything about 1 & 2 except delete them (please do).
We all want more of number 3’s input. Even their links tend to be better, they engage the readers.
The last one, number 4, well its tough, there is spam and then there is kinda related.
I want to talk with you regarding that last one, email me. I’ve got a neat little widget that can turn a con into a pro, better than EntreCard.
What do you think about responding to EVERY comment you get on your blog(s)? Is it necessary? Does it increase reader participation? Are there plugins your recommend for comment threading?
I liked the tips on comments and what not to do. Thank goodness for Akismet – what a time save when it comes to Spam comments!
One more question, what do you think about commenting about other peoples comments?
@Nate – I think it is good to respond when people ask specific questions such as you did in comment above or if the original blogger feels he/she can further ad to the conversation.
I don’t think it is necessary to respond to EVERY comment however but rather to simply let the conversation take place.
Very interesting conversation.
Couple of comments……
1. I am a total newbie to the ways of the internet. I’m in the process of building a website for my vacation rental home here in Ajijic, Mexico. One of my action items is that once the website is up, I need to get relevant links from relevant sites, blogs etc. Am I off base to think that providing a quality comment would not earn me a quality link back (ie on with the keyword(s) in the anchor text)?.
2. My view is that a quality blog with quality and interesting content (a reward to the visitor), deserves quality comments (a reward to the blogger and the community that the blog serves) and that the person leaving the quality comment deserves a quality link (with the keywords) in return (a reward to the commenter)
Please let me know your thoughts.
P.S. The original post was very good but… I was asking myself, “Ok, I now know what not to do. But what do I do to provide what is wanted and needed in terms of a blog post?” However in reading all of the posts here, I believe they demonstrated what good posting is.
This is excellent info. I hate when people leave comments on my blog that have nothing to do with the topic. One guy left a comment about “Increase your penis size” on my blog about fitness and health. Lame…
Very Interesting topic, But I think Malte is quite rite, when someone is interacting with your post by entering a quality comment on your blog you can pay him or her back by giving them a quality link, However there must be some algorithm or some check and balance method to find out who is entering valuable comments or who is just spamming.
Many bloggers (myself included) believe that good comments should be rewarded with a link back to the commenter’s site
bullshit… Don’t talk about blog comment link building unless you support the dofollow movement..
@Edwin – I do support the dofollow movement. The only reason why links are currently nofollowed here is due to the CAPTCHA style comment spam filter plug-in I am using. It automatically nofollows links and I have not discovered a way to “undo” it.
However, this blog is moving from Movable Type to WordPress in next few weeks in which case all links in comments will be followed.
In that case..we will welcome you in a few weeks.
I myself moderate every new comment because dofollow doesn’t mean dofollowspam.
Thanks for your insight. I’ve been trying to figure out what more I can say in blog comments. In fact, I’ve learned a lot from your commentors, as well. I appreciate that so many people have more to offer than the usual one-liner.
I agree that comments should be meaningful. I have often times learned more from the comment section of a good post than the post itself! Quality is key! You wonder why people bother with the “nice post” tactic of trying to get link backs. They are nothing but spammers and I agree that comments like that should be deleted. One thing I learned from this article is that it’s not okay to use your company name in the name field. Thanks for straightening me out on that one!
One tip that has helped us out is setting up Google Alerts for key phrases/keywords that might pertain to your industry or topic. For example, we do “radio advertising”. Anytime Google caches anything with that phrase (or appears as a Google news post), I get an email from Google with a link. Most of the time these link to blogs. And this is great for joining discussions and providing real meat to a conversation instead of “nice post”.
Thank you for the info. It should give idea on how respond for the comment. Maybe it’s been our goal to make more backlinks, but the question is on how you want this link to be. Be wise to put your comment and make relevant and good quality will be last long than spamming. It is your choice..do comment wisely and guarantee that will give you good backlink. .
Your point “The bottom line is to use blog commenting in the way it was originally designed…” I thought to be the most simple and constructive way to approach almost anything we do on the web and really most anything else. How often people seem to fight against what is natural. I came across your piece while looking for blogs related to brainstorming and creativity because I want to engage in those discussions. What I have found match much of what you stated about what is wrong. How little the effort is to just work in harmony with the purpose in the first place. This especially hits home with me as well because innovation is the result of brainstorming as a process that is natural and easy if you approach it in the way we were originally designed.
Sir, kindly help me regarding blog commenting.
I cant see my posted comments on “wordpress blogs”
Am i considered spammer? I had been practicing this blog commenting for a while (but not to much) and I am following the rules of the blog owners.
What shall i do to lift my self outside “spammer” identity.
Thanks
This whole discussion is so very enlightening. I’ve picked up some really good info. My husband just created his first blog and I told him to check this out as well. He has built me the framework for my own blog too, but that could be a ways in the future. Six months ago I honestly didn’t know what a blog was. I am a newbie in every sense of the word, so all of this is helpful. Thanks
Is it only google and msn that obey the nofollow rule? if so, maybe it is worth posting on blogs that have nofollow just to get higher in the SEs (that know ones heard of and probably wont help your visitor count much 😛 ) Is this the general rule most spammers go by?
David the problem I have with the blogosphere is it’s got no real structure so to speak.
Meaning you write a comment on this blog and it’s ok, do the same thing on this blog you don’t get your comment posted, and on this blog you get a hate email from the owner! LOL!
I think were all on the web to learn and make some bling bling too boot.
Keywords in the name field I just don’t get why ANY blogger wouldn’t allow that, as long as there is a quality comment.
Again who’s the judge of what a quality comment is? Sorry another post on a different topic! 😉
The problem with blog commenting a lot of people find it frustrating is that people who comment for links don’t leave a legit comment. It is insulting to the blogger because the blogger took his/her time to vent about something and here, somebody wants to leave a stupid comment. People like that shows bad image to a good comment blogger.
This is an excellent post as it will help a lot of new bloggers learn the correct etiquette for generating links to their website! It’s also useful in promoting blogging for the sake of blogging and not simply to get web traffic through to their ads.
One tip that has helped us out is setting up Google Alerts for key phrases/keywords that might pertain to your industry or topic. For example, we do “radio advertising”. Anytime Google caches anything with that phrase (or appears as a Google news post), I get an email from Google with a link. Most of the time these link to blogs. And this is great for joining discussions and providing real meat to a conversation instead of “nice post”.
Is it only google and msn that obey the nofollow rule? if so, maybe it is worth posting on blogs that have nofollow just to get higher in the SEs (that know ones heard of and probably wont help your visitor count much 😛 ) Is this the general rule most spammers go by?
What if I really was called Orlando Florida Real Estate?
No only kidding, think you are right, link by product of conversation (comment). On a tech blog I see nothing wrong with a Thanks with or without it worked for me.
I do think newbies do not understand the comment netiquette, I certainly did not.
How to get links if you didn’t do massive comment automatically? It’s so hard for manually building, I think. Can somebody give me the mind? Thanks. -John
You make some good points. I’ve found forums are just as bad, particularly those aimed at bloggers.
Some have a 10 post minimum rule before you can post a URL so you just end up getting people spamming threads with titles like “7 to go”..”6 to go” etc…
The comment quality would have to be really good for it not to be recognized as spam. For the prices quoted, it may actually rise above the normal level of comment spam, especially if they’re hiring third-world spammers with some education.
Hi
I am quite a newbie to the whole comment thing, but i do like it when people comment on my photo blog, especially when it is someone I recognise or it is more that just a yes, no or indeed thanks.
I really do not think a one word comment counts except maybe as a joke, between fellow bloggers.
I think moderation is a good idea, I use it but being new have so far only deleted one comment. That said I have been deleted on other peoples blogs despite what i thought was a useful comment.
I truly enjoyed your article here. It reminds me of what I call “You scratch my back, and I will scratch yours marketing. It is where everyone benefits.
I was looking for tips about commenting on people blog and i found this interesting post. It will be a value added if you provide a list of dofollow-blogs.
By the way are the blog that contains only trackback list from other blog posts considered as spam? I received many trackback from those kinds of blogs on my posts. I confused whether accept those trackback to be displayed on my post comments or not. Any idea?
I see that some are using anchor text and I feel it is justified. You could say that if we adhere to the rules as you stated them and write just our names then we will be penalised as our names will be the anchor txt.
Who want s to have their name as anchor text everywhere?
Whats about “no follow” links, are they anything worth for google or yahoo ?
Blog Commenting is a part of link building, we used link building to drive traffic and gain more backlinks.
I don’t think this strategy would work for so long. It is good that some bloggers allow to provide backlink through their blog to the anonymous comments, but the comment should be genuine, if it want to stay there.