How much weight does UGC really have in SEO
-
Hi Guys....One of my sites has a blog and the site does very well overall.....however managing the blogs comments (fighting spam...attacks...general monitoring and approval) is becoming to much trouble. The blog itself really gets fed from facebook and most of the blog comments are done here.
I am thinking of removing the comment section on the blog and only responding to facebook comments.....I am concerned though how much weight the "user generated content" carries with regards to SEO...it has always been said that it does carry weight but what if i get traffic to these pages and links but remove the comments ability...
just really wanted to hear some opinions on this and how much respect i should give UGC.
thanks for your time
-
Hi Regal..thanks and agreed...I am getting good signals from sharing and likes..so am winning there...I think I am just going to quit with the comments and focus on that on the facebook page...as that is really where the bulk is happening....I appreciate the input..thank you
cheers
-
Hi Nomad,
How are your comments set up currently? A lot of the social signal that we've seen recently comes from the sharing / "liking" features of social, not necessarily the social integration (in terms of content).
So, based on that, removing the comments won't hurt you, imo, from a social signal standpoint; but as NOC mentioned, UGC (in your case - comments on your blog) do potentially add SEO value over time, as they will be relevant to the topic on the page (hopefully), and be naturally generated as users add them.
I'd also agree with NOC about putting some additional spam filters on the comments if you haven't already, as that may help your spam issues.
Hope this helps. Cheers.
-
thanks for the input.....and yes i do believe it is of some help having UGC to enhance certain keyword densities...but does it have any strong social signals that will impact the serps?
-
I know that comments can help long term keyword optimization. For example: If the commenters use variations of your keywords, and partial matches of your keywords, then it can help build more organic on-page optimization.
If your blog gets a lot of spam, you can consider adding a quora style system where other users can vote for comments. Allow people to vote comments up or down.
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
-
Question About Embargo'd Dates and SEO Timeliness
Hello, this is a very specific SEO issue my company and I often have so we want to get a definitive answer for it. Let's say we're writing a guide about a product. Would we be better off releasing that guide as soon as we can (the information embargo date) or is it better to post that guide on the day the product officially releases for the public? We really don't know the answer here, because while we understand being first is very important, we wonder if timeliness with when people are searching for the information matters more. Thanks for all the help, Moz community!
Content Development | | TwinfiniteSEO0 -
Under the million at Alexa Global: 947,374 after 49 days, thank you so much guys.
My small new blog today broke the Alexa million after 49 days. It's like you've a child that growing up between your hands. And you see it achieve Goal after goal even at his/her startup with basic skills which need some improvements. And at this point I feel like I'm not good enough because, after all, I'm not giving it what it deserves really (only 12 posts, some of them less than 200 words). I would like to thank my god, I do believe in him. Also, I would like to thank these authors and bloggers who techs me for four years about the value and the content and all this things. I read a lot of articles and posts. I remember that I read an article about the first rule which say write for someone not for something. I'm speaking to you directly and I think this is the point. I and you in one place and I speaking to you face to face. I received an advice from one of my reader in a comment and this mean a lot to me. What means there's a connection between us. What I've achieved is not a lot. But, I'm so happy with, as for a start up. What happened for now teaches me something and that's why I'm writing this post here. To tell something, that may help someone. From the day I entered here I've got a lot of help. I asked for thing and people helped me. I can say name, EGOL, Andy, Matt, Antonio, Donford, Dirk, Ross, Vic and Favilli. Thank you so much. In the next days maybe I'm going to leave Moz. I'm so confused about it really. Perhaps it's so early time to join. I've used nothing from Moz tools as I remember. Just the backlinks checker tool what gave me nothing and I sent a message to the help center and I got a useful reply for explaining the case but not helpful for the case itself. The case for me is, I've entered the supermarket searching for a specific android mobile phone and the supermarket got a very useful stuff, different mobiles types, laptops and other very helpful stuff. But, they don't have the specific android phone for me. So, I want to see what they got but, I've a primary need first. hmmmm, I don't know .. maybe. The most thing I loved at Moz is the community, you are really elite people guys and there's a girl I spoke with and I loved her really :D. Thank you for everything, you are the best.
Content Development | | Eslam-yosef1 -
New sister site VS site redesign and dangers of SEO dilution??
Hi I’ve got a site that is ranking #2 in my area for my chosen keyword but the site is in need of an expansion and overhaul its only one page at the moment and to rank for more keywords its need to be expanded. Or another option is I do own another domain and I was thinking of maybe instead of overhauling the new site launching that as a sister company aimed more at the corporate market, as my first site is a bit more alternative in domain name and content. The thing is i'm not sure how this will affect my SEO they will be on the same CBlock and be offering similar services.
Content Development | | genkee0 -
SEO for a News based site : Outdated content
How do we maintain the SEO of a 5 year old News content based site? How should we deal with 3-4 year old content, which are outdated or not searched? Some of them are still useful as archiving/history of a topic..but not searched.... ?? Should we no-index them? or should we keep it like that?
Content Development | | Wpfreesetup0 -
Are there any tools available for wordpress that can help with SEO?
I'm looking for a wordpress plugin that that keeps current/updates with all the changes that constantly take place on various search engines. Is there such an addon that meets this criteria?
Content Development | | uofmiamiguy0 -
Clear examples of SEO success with content marketing needed.
I know SEOmoz is always going on about content marketing as the best SEO tactic, but I'm struggling to achieve search engine success with it for my site. Has anybody very successfully pursued a content marketing strategy for their site in a competitive niche? Can you give us the examples? (including the keywords you succeeded for). Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks
Content Development | | kevinmorley0 -
Is my SEO guy bad news?
Hi All... I have had an SEO guy doing some work for us (link building etc) over the past few months. In the last week or two, I have been receiving emails from a few website owners complaining that our SEO guy has been spamming their sites (either through blog comments or forums posts etc). Now, to clarify, it's not spam as in "come and buy our awesome product" - it is spam as in he makes (for example) blog post comments that are relevant to the topic, that sometimes don't make perfect sense (due to his english skills). So, they do seem perhaps, extra spammy... (it is all hand written... not an automated scripts) My questions Im not out to do the wrong thing, so, is this approach bad news? Apart from annoying people, are there are other downsides? If I were to pre-write him comments/posts that actually made perfect sense, would that be a better approach? I don't want to annoy people, and I don't want to do the wrong thing, and I don't want our rankings to be effected, so... what is the consensus?
Content Development | | blitzna100 -
Blog for SEO: embedded in the site or separate
Hello, For both ecommerce and sites that sell services, I've seen a lot of people recommending a blog for SEO. Should this blog be inside or separate from the main website for the most results? I can see how adding one to a site would create more unique content and an opportunity for link bait, but perhaps there is a reason to have a blog separate from the main site Thank you.
Content Development | | BobGW1