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.
76 Responses to “How Blog Comments Help You SEO Your Website”
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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 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!
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…
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.
Hi Moisture Meter Expert,
Great point! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Blogs are not just SEO. They should be about establishing reputation, attracting customers etc.
Hi Abdul,
This is very true! Blogs and commenting help with SEO but also help to build a reputation as well! Thanks for reading and sharing your comment…
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 comments really DO help SEO, I agree! I was wondering if it helped, but yes, the comments people write do add the keywords etc. How do you feel about spam comments? I’ve received a ton that say the same thing, but do have good keywords. Odd I know! Would you suggest approving them anyway?? Thanks!
Hi Jen,
My thought is if a blog comment is spam then it gets flagged as spam and deleted…thanks for reading and your comment!
Some valid points here. It does add value since the content of the comments will/should be relevant to the post. and also it makes the people who saw their comments approved keep coming back for commenting more.
I agree with Nick, the visitors will leave comments as long as you have it enabled but it’s up to you after that. You see it spam and useless then just delete it, you see it valuable or at least doesn’t look like spam then approve it.
I think that the blog owner is the most beneficial person in the short & long term.
Thanks for reading and your comment!
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..
Very true, better quality comments go much further than shorter spammy blog comment…thanks for reading!
How do you stop comment spammers though? I’m in the casino industry and I’m about to update my site to a new version which will include comments – I have the problem that I get alot of random jargon being spammed into the comments file even know on the main websites its not even visible yet.
I am making it do follow but I don’t want to have it filled up with post like “xydgasfdh.com” as It’s really strange because instead of spamming links that are valid they are spamming nonsense. I’m guessing its bots?
How would you go about letting people comment but not allowing any of the spammers in? As I really want to let people comment and see their own comment straight away but this would lead to opening a can of spam.
Do you think ip country blocks would be a valid solution?
Hi DragonLady,
Thanks for reading and your comment!
That would be a good solution and also installing a WordPress comment plugin (if you blog is using WordPress):
Here is the list:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/search.php?q=comment+spam&sort=
Thanks!
Nick
Lots of good comments here!
I don’t think it was mentioned yet but what is the general consensus here on do-follow blogs? I’ve seen do-follow blogs ranked really well.
Google likes when you share and enabling do-follow gets you in real good with the G-man.
Do-follow or no-follow, either way all parties benefit from adding value (in a comment) to a well written post. It’s all about strategy.
I am glad that you blogged about what I was thinking. I also feel that blog comments or article comments do not do much for page rank. But I have found that even blog comments on .edu or .gov sites do still carry some weight. I like to use blog comments, not for page rank, but to hopefully drive a user or two to my site.
Hi Richa,
Thanks so much for reading and sharing your thoughts!
Take Care,
Nick
I agree, comments are vital. But you have to try to keep the spam out. I recommend disallowing in-text links and just allowing people to indicate their websites if they want to do so. That way you can really cut down on the amount of comment spam that comes in.
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.
Thanks Nick , looks like i’ll have to start allowing blog comments on my blog.
Hi Nick
I am agree with you that blog help in SEO but also help to build a reputation as well as.
Tnaks
Thanks Vang and SEO Packages for reading and your comments!
Hi Nick,
Thanks for the useful information about SEO, just wondering not everyone is proper English literate(not too good in written english), so if they comment on blog with wrong spellings, does it harm the targeted keywords, or search engine will recognize the right words?
Please let me know.
Thanks
Ash
Thanks for the helpful advice! I’m new to SEO and it can seem a bit overwhelming at first. Thanks again!
I am greatly thankfull to you for this nice post. It was very interesting and helped me with my own project I am doing. eAnswerNetwork (I) Pvt.Ltd. is a Company which organize the Search Engine Optimization and Web designing.
I agree with your every point. Well, the blog with comments is effective for link purpose if its dofollow, but are also useful for traffic coming more visitors if its nofollow. It is better to take some time and leave intelligent blog comments.
Thanks a lot Nick for this information. I specially liked the info. you provided about the WordPress plugin to control spam better. I get tons of spam on my blogs every day and it takes time to either accept or delete the comments. I will try these plugins right away!
Happy New 2011 Everyone!!!
Nice post Nick. But I think nowadays, a lot of webmasters and web marketers use the blog comments just to spam or to promote they web sites. At this point we have to protect our blog from spamers.
hi nick,
Great Blog, i really loved it. good posts.
thanks for your tips
kiran
Hi Nick,
Thanks for helping answer a question I had for our custom mahogany door blog. Thanks again!!!!
So you want to say spammers are good for your blog. I just have to try this with one of my posts. Thank you for sharing.
Hi,
I have visit your blog its very nice and very informative about SEO.
Thanks for shearing
I definitely agree that blog comments are helpful for SEO. And when relevant comments are posted, they help both the site owner and the commenter.
Thanks .. i also agree with you all blog commenting is intriguer part and most important part of optimizing .. its rather a most unique tool for back links .
comments are helpful for SEO. And when relevant comments are posted, they help both the site owner and the commenter.
i am agree… but its diff. if comment just like spam.. make relevant coment to the artcle…. thanks..
I am on the fence about allowing comments. I’m concerned about people writing offensive stuff and blog spam. For now, I will do without blog comments.
Nick,
I’m really glad you’ve opened this discussion. I’ve been curious about this very topic! My concern is that blog comments may look like links pointing out of my site, which would reduce the Page Rank calculation i.e. “leaking link juice”. On the other hand, you made a very good point that blog comments look like additional content to the search engines and may also help increase keyword density.
As for Brian’s comment, this is a very real concern and you should say up front that offensive posts will be removed by the moderator.
Thanks again,
Bill
Nick,
Besides the SEO reasons, it is always good to have lots of blog comments as it gives the impression that the blog is popular and has value to its readers. Most importantly, it can provide great motivation juice to the blog owner to write more great articles.
Blog comments show how the posted blog is valued and appreciated. At times it may contain some criticism, but that’s the whole point of commenting, it opens your eye to the ‘negative’ aspects of your business. Aside from that, it is very effective in establishing your authority and credibility in your niche.
it all helps and its important to have a bit of everything links can come in many different forms but they are all valuable
Blog comments are certainly a sound way of reinforcing internet presence for your site for main keywords. Try to leave your comments on high PR blogs like this one.
Commenting helps increase your presence with search engines. But, I wonder is it better to hire an SEO company to market your blog. There are so many companies that offer this service.
Blog comments add more to your content and really helps the SEO. At the same time a good moderation is required to prevent spam comments from entering into your commenting system. The plugins like CommentLuv makes blog comment more rewarding. A good comment policy is also a must.
Probably one of the ~100 things on the SEO checklist, although I’ve heard some people wait until they get so many readers before turning it on, not sure if it makes that much of a difference or not.
I have been thinking a lot on whether or not to create a blog on my website and if so, should i add a comments section because my site provides a service of making hip hop beats, and I didn’t want to take away from that. After reading this article though, I can see how it would be a positive addition rather than a negative, increasing traffic SEO.
Thanks you’ve helped me out a lot today Nick.
Great article!
Blog comments can be a an aggravating battle. There is so mush spam that comes in that it makes it hard manually doing every comment. On the other hand I agree on how important it is to get them. I will keep checking every one once a week but I’m sure this turns some good guests off.