Is blog commenting still useful for SEO, post Panda and Penguin?
-
One website I checked is ranking well on Google. Upon checking its backlinks, I found that most of them are blog comments.
Is blog commenting still valuable? Anyone encountered any recent problem (ranks gone down, etc)? Are there any specific strategy to blog commenting these days?
Thanks!
-
I understand your despair. Site optimization has really gone a long way from just throwing links out there.
-
Thanks for the advice. I think a lot of marketers are still using this technique but they're just real careful on how they do it so they don't fall out of the good graces of Google.
-
I understand your despair Jeepster. But unless these sites have other valuable links and really have just been engaging in blog post spamming, just be patient: they will disappear. Even it blog comments may cause short-term rankings (which i doubt), it's definitely too risky as a long-term strategy. nothing comes easy...
-
I keep hearing that certain types of links (blog comments, low-rent directories, etc) are not worth the bother.
However, I'm with the original poster on this, in that infuriatingly I still see these sites ranking supremely well for very competitive keywords.
There is one particular site in niche where their ENTIRE link profile is exact-match blog comments and low-rent directories.
And there I am like a fool focusing on high-quality content.
I really despair.
-
To be fair, Google have never said they don't want to see just blog comments, so right now, people are making use of this and if you find blogs in your niche, form a good comment and a sensible link, then you can still benefit.
However, what will happen further down the line is anyone's guess. Google have said they want to see links back to sites that deserve to be there, so as a long term strategy, this is surely one that won't stand up to the test of time.
The best thing to do is write great content and publish it on your own blog and then seed this out to others in your industry and hopefully they will find it that good, that they will want to link back to it again.
Andy
-
I agree with Matt here. If you're using Blog comments for backlinks instead of actually commenting on the blogs content, you might hurt yourself. What with Penguin and other updated this (like forum spam) is increasingly devalued. All in all, it depends on your general link profile quite a lot. If you have dozens of blog comments to your site this might be bad. But if those dozens of comments make up only 2% of your link profile, it shouldn't be a problem. Blog comments carry no authority IMO, so you won't get a lot of value from those anyhow.
-
I would say it all depends on how natural your blog commenting is in terms of are you adding to the topic by adding a link and does a link on that blog in a related niche appear natural when it links back to you. In terms of using it purely as a link building tactic I think it is a low value and dangerous practice especially if you start adding links with keyword rich anchor text on any old blog. I have no doubt that there are some sites still using this tactic successfully but it will catch up with them eventually and they will end up dropping in the rankings. If the majority of their link profile is blog comments this will stick out like a sore thumb and eventually Google will notice...
So in conclusion a few links in a related blog are natural and will be fine but if you start adding loads, in a short space of time you are playing with fire in my opinion!
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
-
Hiring for SEO Outreach
Hope everyone is having a nice Labor Day! We're a family owned wine club startup and have been handling SEO in house since things didn't go well with a previous SEO company (and sure we've done plenty of bad stuff along the way as well). In any case, we're writing a blog, including video entries etc. I've been handling basic email outreach about posts (ie if I write a winery profile, asking the winery to link to it) but don't really have time to handle more significant outreach than that. Can anyone make some suggestions about where to hire someone for an outreach job like this? It would undoubtedly be part time and Elance didn't give us anyone we were comfortable with. Thanks in advance!
Link Building | | MarkAse0 -
Website structure for SEO
Hi,Im working on Food Recipes website, i"m targeting "step by step recipes" how should i structure this website and what pages should i build my links to? If the whole website is about "step by step recipes" When you search for "step by step recipes" on Google, you'll see most of them are separate pages Should i create its own category call it "step by step recipes" and list all of my posts? but isn't it duplicated content ? ill be really appreciated with your help ! Thank you
Link Building | | KentR0 -
SEO and PR
In the home improvement industry (windows, doors and conservatories) what is the best approach with regard to PR in order to build quality links. It's a lot easier if you are selling a computer, mirror, widget etc as you have an actual product that you can send magazines,bloggers, journalists to review/feature for inclusion in their publications. It's a lot more difficult if you are a builder, double glazing installer etc to get this PR coverage as you have nothing to send them to review, feature etc. What approach do the experts on the forum think that would work best in the double glazing industry to secure coverage across publications both online and offline?
Link Building | | ocelot0 -
Do links Still count?
Does google still offer power from links even if the site is taken down such as a business blog closes ?
Link Building | | BobAnderson0 -
Does Spelling and Grammar Effect SEO?
I have heard conflicting reports on this, so I wanted to double check. Will poorly written posts and articles affect my rankings in SEO regards. I'm just unsure because on some sites i'v been working on recently I have seen some drops thanks.
Link Building | | ilyaelbert0 -
Wordpress Blog or page within site or guest post on other site?
Where is the best place, from an SEO perspective to have my articles published? 1: My WordPress blog 2: As A guest post on another site. 3: Within the normal pages of my site. Here is my site: www.fvl.co.uk Any help and or advice would be gratefully recieved. Andy
Link Building | | First-VehicleLeasing0 -
Some questions about guest posting
After reading this on the SEOMoz blog, I've decided to try some guest posting to gain some backlinks for our real estate site. I have a few questions for those of you who do this regularly: 1. If the site you are posting on allows up to 3 links in the signature box, do you generally use them all? My gut instinct is that one anchor texted link would give me the most bang for my buck. 3. How much attention do you pay to PR or DA? If a site is PR1 but relevant to your niche would you spend the time to write the article? 4. What negatives have you found when writing guest posts? Thanks!
Link Building | | MarieHaynes0 -
Guest Blogging
Hi there, Recently I have been using guest blogging as part as my link building strategy which is doing pretty well so far. Just a few question on this: Once I have managed to put a guest post on a blog, is there any SEO value in contributing to the same blog again? Kind Regards
Link Building | | Paul780