How Blog Comments Help You SEO Your Website
If you’ve been wondering whether or not you should allow comments on your company blog, allow me to add some fodder for your decision making analysis. Comments on your blog help you optimize your website and make it easier to be found for more key phrases and for the key phrases you are already targeting. How is that, you ask?
Glad you asked. It’s real simple.
The search engines love content. The more the content, the merrier (although Ask and MSN limit the amount of data on a page that they will index). In other words, that 300-word blog post you wrote yesterday will get more search engine traction when it has 25 comments on it.
There are three ways blog comments help you:
- Blog commentators will use the same key phrases in their comments that you used in your blog post. That will mean more instances of the keyword on the page and therefore you are more likely to be found for that key phrase.
- Blog commentators will also use related key phrases that you didn’t use in your blog post. That will result in your blog post being found for key phrases that you didn’t target.
- Thirdly, some blog posts, like forum posts, appear as separate pages in the search engines. Note that I said “some”. In order for your blog posts to appear as separate pages they’ll have to be threaded and coded just so.
Blog comments help you optimize your company’s website. I strongly encourage you to allow comments on your company blog to increase your search engine optimization.
111 Responses to “How Blog Comments Help You SEO Your Website”
The Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Journal is Written by SEO Expert:
Nick Stamoulis
Tel - 781-999-1222
nick@brickmarketing.com
Brick Marketing - SEO Company
That’s right on the money and the diagram will help business owners make an informed decision. SEO is essential for driving traffic to Direct Response Marketing Websites and will help monotize them.
i see your point, but by allowing comments, you allow visitors to link to their websites, i know google dont count these, but yahoo and msn do, so in their eyes, your website will have more outgoing links than incoming. Woudnt that hurt your rankings?
Hey Buck, thanks for the question. It hasn’t helped my rankings at all.
Blogs are not just about SEO. They should be about establishing reputation, attracting human beings etc. Humans buy; search engines don’t…….
hey its good article
Yes thats something very true blog is not just that could help websites to grow but its a way of interaction and one can convey the thoughts on the blogs
Hi James – Thanks for reading and your comment!
[...] How Blog Comments Help You SEO Your Website [...]
It’s a fine line though as having this method available will always invite spammers who are simply looking for a back link and fail to offer any comments or content to contribute to the topic. I think as long as you moderate and make sure that liberties are not being taken then this article is spot on, great advice.
@Little Britain Fancy Dress – Thanks for reading and your comment. Yes of course, blog commenting should ALWAYS provide value and not be poorly written just for a link…
Nice article. I was actually searching for information on how leaving comments on peoples blogs can help boost your own sites SEO if done correctly but I found this article instead! Which is great because I plan on sharing it with my co-workers to help educate them about our own blog and how valuable it can be to the success of our website. Thanks again for the valuable info!
@Definitive Medical – Thanks for your comment! We actually have some other great posts about link building as well…
Good article. Another way which I have found helpful is to answer questions on sites like yahoo answers, where not only do you help people who need more info on topics like google adsense, or free url submission to search engines, but also get free backlinks and traffic in return.
Good article. Whether it’s articles or blogs they have to offer a source of value to users. It’s not just about getting a backlink.
Hi David – Exactly correct, it is indeed about offering great content (blog posts or articles) that provide good user focused information and topics…
I have wondered about the value of blog posting and SEO. At least from what I have gathered, Yahoo credits them as backlinks, but I have also read that Google disregards them. I’m still not sure as to the whole truth, but at the very least they probably don’t hurt!
Hi The Therapist – Thanks for reading and your comment…relevant blog comments help provide excellent link value and they do tend to generate visitors as well…
Nice. I’m doing some research before I fix my comments feature. I’d have loved to read this and other articles like this before! Time to work. Now – this is a little too specific question, but, are there any studies on what is the best location on the comments box and the comments themselves?
Hi Fernando – I have not seen any studies, but most visitors are conditioned to seeing blog comments at the end of each post…
I never thought of the whole keywords being on the page because the comments would also contain them. That is a super point, and google loves you using the same keyword on a page to make it keyword RICH…blogs are also a great way to build a reputation for yourself also.
Hi Sheila – Great point, blogs do certainly help build a reputation! Thanks for the comment!
Posting genuine comments on high pr blogs will be appreciated more that regular comments. Genuine Comments posted once are not spammed.
Hi fire cracker,
Thanks for the comment, I agree that comments should always be genuine!
Quick tips: Ensure easy comment options: Does your blog require a login to comment? Registration is a hurdle, which users are unwilling to deal with. Yes, it sure does combat spam messages but try to keep your comments section simple and easy to use.
Questions which evoke response: Include specific questions in your blog posts and you are assured higher comments. Try to set a question in the reader’s mind from the first moments of your post itself.
More on my blog!
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for the additional tips, I am sure our readers will find them helpful!
Google also tracks origin of website content. If 10, 20 or more IPs contribute to a given online resource, it shows value to Mr. Google.
Search Engine Marketing Minneapolis, Thanks for the comment, I agree contribution to web content through blog comments certainly does help.
Good article.Nice piece of information . besides Blog posting we can also increase rankings in Search Engine Marketing Services.
Hi SEO Long Island,
Very true and thanks so much for reading and your comment!
Thanks Nick – just found this post, although 12 months old seems 100% on the mark.
Thanks for reading Mal and stopping by!
I’ve also read else where too that blog comments don’t do much to improve page rank at all. It was from EZarticles.com where he said that he spent 1 month posting over 100 blog comments that DID offer value and yet he didn’t get much of a difference. I think that comments help your visibility more than your ranking.
You can try doing some forum signatures links instead to slowly boost your ranking over time.
Hi stony plain real estate,
Good point about forum signatures. This does work well for relevant link building, but I always recommend becoming active at the forum by replying in threads and then over time incorporate your link in the signature. Also, some forums don’t allow this until you make a certain number of comments, etc…
I’m a little concerned about blog comment / backlink creation by a competitor of ours. They’ve literally created 5,000 backlinks to 3 keyword phrases, and are now #1 for each one… I’ve kept away from imitating, but with success like this, I’m tempted!
Hi James,
Thanks for reading and for posting your question. As a white hat “by the book” SEO professional, I would stay away from that all together. The question is will your competitor be positioned that well 6 months from now? For my experience this type of black/grey hat approach often shows short term results…best of luck with your SEO efforts!
@James, I think I am seeing similar trends. But I agree with Nick, where will they be in 6 months to a year?
I’ve been wondering this for quite a while now thanks for shedding some light on it!
Hi Nick,
Nice post. Like Definitave Medical, I found your site searching for advice about allowing comments. I was wondering just how carefully you follow up on them. Meaning… when you approve a comment, assuming it is a good one, do you actually visit the commenters url to see if it is … say.. a poker, pharmacy.. types of sites? I am running several blogs and want to allow comments, but am kinda scared. In addition, was wondering how much of a headache it would be to check every url from a commenter. Thanks in advance for your help…
Hi Carl,
Thanks for reading and the comment! I do read every blog comment and visit the link associated with each. If the site is not spammy (does not have have all Ads on it or is not a splog – republishing other RSS feeds only) then typically approve the comment. If the comment does not contribute to the conversion and/or had links in the blog comment itself it is apparent that the commenter is not really interested in the topic, they just want a link and nothing more…thanks again!
Google also tracks origin of website content. If 10, 20 or more IPs contribute to a given online resource, it shows value to Mr. Google.
Hi bulduktrans,
This is very true! Providing value to your visitors through great content and a good visitor experience always does tend to please Mr. Google!
I’ve been researching the heck out of this for my company’s website. I’m reading a ton of different things though, some say commenting doesn’t do squat and some, like this article, say just the opposite. Is there any definitive research on the topic, like a research study on page rank?
Hi Leif,
I have not seen any actual case studies or research on this topic, but as soon as I do I will post it to this blog post for everyone to read…thanks for your comment!
These are very nice! Very inspirational for This Information,thanks for putting this together.
Hi Soniya,
Thanks for reading and you comment…I am glad this post could help!
This is a great method – allow related comments to be posted. In addition, you can also post on their blogs, get to know people with the same interest.
Hi Carnavia,
Thanks for reading and your comment…very good point!
Thanks for the great list of sites. We are always looking for new blog sites. Because it very nice and interesting very useful for our team. I have read ways to create a good SEO. I will appreciate if you guys can post more blogs. This is good. I can forward it to my clients to stress the importance of separate pages for each store location.
Thanks.
Hi senthiledp,
Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts! I am happy to help and glad you can forward this to your clients…thanks again!
@SEM Minneappolis – I disagree; Google can’t possibly track IP addresses. It’s not technically possible without hacking the site’s comment CMS or stealling data from adwords, which they specifically say they don’t.