What are Blog Comments?
Blog comments are user-generated responses. They allow readers to share thoughts, opinions, questions, and feedback.
Comments are usually found at the bottom of posts. This space lets readers discuss the content with the blogger and other readers.
Comments help bloggers:
Build an engaged community discussing posts
Get reader feedback to improve content
Strengthen relationships with readers
Why are blog comments important for SEO?
Blog comments are important for SEO because they can help a website in several ways.
Help in building backlinks
Backlinks are links from one website to another. When you place a comment on another person's blog site and include a link back to your own site, that link acts as a "vote of confidence" for your site.
Search engines like Google see these types of links pointing to your site as an indication that your site offers useful content.
Getting more of these links from various websites helps search engines view your site as trustworthy, which can increase your page rankings.
Boost your website traffic
Posting meaningful, on-topic comments on other sites can also directly send visitors to your website.
When you leave thoughtful feedback that is relevant to the article's subject, some readers may become curious enough to click your website link contained in the comment.
This allows you to funnel additional traffic directly from curious blog readers over to your own website.
However, to achieve this, it is important to ensure your comments provide value by relating directly to the blog post's topic. Random, off-topic comments are less likely to motivate readers to click over to your site.
Build relationships with others in your niche
Commenting on niche-relevant blogs allows you to connect with others who share your interests and industry.
By joining in conversations and providing thoughtful perspectives, you can form relationships with fellow bloggers in your field.
Building these bonds within your niche community can lead to cooperative efforts, such as guest posting opportunities or other collaborative projects.
Brand recognition
When you consistently leave insightful comments on blogs within your niche, you increase the visibility of your brand.
Even if readers don't immediately visit your site or engage with your content, they might remember your brand later when making a purchase or looking for information related to your industry.
How to get SEO-friendly blog comments?
Here are some tips for getting SEO-friendly blog comments for your own blog:
Write high-quality content
The key to getting blog comments is to write high-quality content that people want to engage with. Make sure your blog posts are informative, engaging, and relevant to your target audience.
Encourage comments
Make it easy for readers to leave comments on your blog by using a user-friendly comment system and including a clear call to action at the end of each post.
Respond to comments
Respond promptly to comments and engage with your readers by answering their questions and thanking them for their feedback.
Moderate comments
Moderate comments to ensure that they are relevant and respectful. This can help maintain the quality of the conversation and make it more likely that other readers will want to engage.
Promote your blog
Promote your blog on social media and other relevant channels to reach a wider audience and encourage more people to leave comments.
Offer incentives
Consider offering incentives such as a free e-book or discount code for leaving a comment. This can help encourage readers to engage with your content and leave comments.
Participate in the community
Participate in other blogs and online communities in your niche or industry. This can help you build relationships with other bloggers and industry professionals, and encourage them to engage with your blog as well.
How to leave blog comments?
Here is how you can leave comments on other blogs:
Start by greeting
When leaving a comment, begin by addressing the blog author directly in a polite, cordial way.
Starting your comment with a positive, friendly introduction can help create an interpersonal connection and make the conversation feel more open and inclusive.
Address by name
When leaving a comment, address the blogger directly by their name or username. Calling them by name makes your message feel more friendly and personal, rather than anonymous.
It also signals that you read their content closely enough to know who authored it.
Give a compliment
Provide a real compliment about the blog article or the way the blogger writes. Complimenting their work can help start a friendly conversation and indicate that you read and valued what they wrote.
Add value
Contribute to the discussion by providing your own viewpoints, perspectives, or relevant stories. Adding your voice can help keep the conversation going and get more readers involved.
Ask questions
Ask relevant and thoughtful questions about the blog post or the author's perspective. This can help to encourage further discussion and engagement.
Say something valuable and relevant
Make sure that your comment is valuable and relevant to the topic of the blog post. This can help to establish your credibility and increase your chances of being engaged.
Be engaging
Write your comment in a conversational and engaging tone. This can help to make your comment more approachable and increase engagement.
The parting promise
End your comment with a promise to follow up or continue the conversation. This can help to establish a relationship with the blogger and increase the chances of future engagement.
Wait for the right moment to add your links
Do not include links in your comment unless it is relevant and adds value to the discussion. Wait for the right moment to add your links and make sure that they are not seen as spammy or manipulative.
This can help to establish your credibility and increase the chances of your comment being approved and engaged with. That’s what Matt Cutts explains in a video.
How to find sites for blog commenting?
You can find sites for blog commenting in the following ways:
Google search
Use Google to search for blogs related to your industry or niche. For example, if you are in the fitness industry, search for "fitness blogs" or "fitness blogs + comment" This can help you find relevant blogs that allow comments.
Blog directories
Use blog directories like Alltop, Blogarama or BlogCatalog to find blogs in your field. These sites group blogs by topic so you can get lists of potential blogs to comment on.
Social media
You can also use social media like Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn to find relevant blogs. Follow influential bloggers or leaders in your industry and look for links to their blog posts.
Doing this helps you discover relevant blogs to comment on and builds your visibility in your niche.
Blog commenting services
Use website tools like DropMyLink to locate blogs that permit comments. These types of sites let you search for blogs by topic, niche or keyword.
This allows you to find relevant blogs focused on your niche.
CommentLuv
CommentLuv is a WordPress plugin that helps get more comments. It automatically adds a link to the commenter's latest blog post in their comment.
This benefits both the commenter by giving them more website traffic, and the blog owner by getting more comments from other bloggers.
But some spammers could misuse it just to get links back to their site.
So blog owners need to check and filter comments to stop spam. This helps keep the comment section useful and on topic for their readers.
Bad practices in blog commenting
Here is a list of bad practices in blog comments that can spoil your image:
Not using a full name
When leaving a comment on a blog, it's important to use your full name or a consistent username. Using an incomplete or fake name can make it difficult for other readers to engage with you or find you online.
Using a fake or inactive email
Similarly, using a fake or inactive email can make it difficult for other readers or bloggers to contact you or engage with you online. Use a valid email address that you check regularly.
Email not connected to Gravatar
A Gravatar is a profile image that appears next to your name when leaving a comment. Using an email that is not connected to a Gravatar can make your comments look less professional and may decrease your chances of being engaged.
Leaving irrelevant comments
Leaving a comment on a non-industry blog may not be as effective as leaving a comment on a relevant blog in your niche.
It's important to engage with other bloggers and readers in your industry to build relationships and increase the visibility of your brand.
Asking questions only
Asking questions can be a great way to engage with other readers and bloggers, but it's important to also contribute to the conversation by sharing your own insights and experiences rather than asking questions only.
Writing spammy comment
Writing comments that are spammy, irrelevant, or overly promotional can harm your reputation and decrease the chances of your comments being approved.
Overuse of keywords
Using your target keyword excessively in your comment or name can be seen as spammy or manipulative, and may harm your SEO efforts.
Commenting without reading the blog post
Commenting without reading the blog post can make your comments appear irrelevant or uninformed, and can harm your reputation.
Using overly long comments
Writing overly long comments can make it difficult for other readers to engage with you, and may make your comments less effective.
Does removing comments from a website affect ranking?
Sometimes comments can add helpful information that goes further beyond the article. This can make the page better and get more users engaged, possibly improving search ranks.
But not all comments are valuable. Some don't add anything useful or even detract from the article if they're spam, irrelevant, or unsuitable.
In those cases, deleting or moderating those kinds of comments can actually help the website's search ranking.
Google John Mueller said that removing comments from a website can potentially affect its search rankings, either positively or negatively.
When a site owner submitted a question asking whether blog comments are factored into Google's search rankings, Muller answered:
“I think it’s ultimately up to you. From our point of view we do see comments as a part of the content. We do also, in many cases, recognize that this is actually the comment section so we need to treat it slightly differently. But ultimately if people are finding your pages based on the comments there then, if you delete those comments, then obviously we wouldn’t be able to find your pages based on that.
So that’s something where, depending on the type of comments that you have there, the amount of comments that you have, it can be the case that they provide significant value to your pages, and they can be a source of additional information about your pages, but it’s not always the case.
So that’s something where I think you need to look at the contents of your pages overall, the queries that are leading to your pages, and think about which of these queries might go away if comments were not on those pages anymore. And based on that you can try to figure out what to do there.
Conclusion
Blog comments can provide numerous benefits for both bloggers and readers. By allowing for two-way communication and engagement, comments can help build a sense of community around a blog and provide valuable feedback and insights.
By fostering a positive and constructive comment culture, bloggers can create a more engaging and rewarding experience for everyone involved.