Are Blog Comments now useless?

[missy29]

Hello

I see there is much debate on this issue of Blog Commenting. Is it still a useful way to get a backlink? Would you suggest only using 'No follow' blogs to leave comments?

Many thanks

[William.Lau]

Yes, blog spamming is not really a smart idea. Plus majority of blog platforms nofollow comment links.

The only way you will benefit from blog comments are if they actually help the reader and is more of a marketing tactic than SEO.

[DarinPirkey]

I have to disagree with William Lau.

I think that blog commenting has changed a bit.  It think it is still relevant.  I prefer the term Comment Marketing and Link Earning because that is my goal, to market my site and earn links.  Here is how I do it now.

I find blogs that are relevant to my industry and of people who I really want to have link to me (authority figures).  I follow their blogs and comment regularly on them.  My goal is to build up enough trust and awareness of what I am all about.  I have two goals here.  1) if my comments are good then people will want to learn more about me and click on my profile/link to go to my site (not so much for SEO purposes but for site traffice) ( I don't care if I'm number one if no one goes to my site.  Traffic is important to me.  Even better, relevant traffic.) and 2) I want to be able to eventually earn the right to become a guest blogger or have that person read about me and link to my site because of it's good content.

I think the idea of posting a comment for the sake of posting a comment is pointless.  SEO is changing (for the better) and SEO now should stand for Search EXPERIENCE Optimization and not Search Engine Optimization.  Comment Marketing is relevant if you use it to help build traffic and not to earn "traditional SEO links".

[SEOAndy]

Comments from William and Darin show the two different types of blog commenting. Let me expand:

Type 1:

Commenting on any blog you can get your hands on linking back to your site (those that will let you): This is the kind of blog commenting that you should avoid like the plague. It will do you no good and will simply be a waste of time these days.

Type 2:

Commenting on blogs that mean something in your industry and commenting with content people want to read: Like with any kind of content, if it is content people want to read it can be valuable. If you are selling running shoes and you build your authority on an athletics blog and your comment is contributing to a conversation and a link to your site is relevant and valuable to the users then by all means this is the kind of blog commenting you want to involve yourself in and can be very beneficial in the long run.

Hope that helps.

[William.Lau]

Hi Darin,

We might've gotten confused with the OP's question.

I agree with you of course in marketing terms but the OP's question is referring to backlinks. Backlinks as in SEO not PR. Hence my answer commenting for SEO purposes are useless and not a good idea.

Commenting for marketing and PR is good, but be selective.

[DarinPirkey]

I agree, Simon pretty much summed it up pretty well.  I was thinking the question was asking "Is it still a useful way to get a backlink?" which it is but only if done right and not a one time action.  We're obviously on the same page though.  Thanks for the clarity in your answer.

[eli.boda]

Blog commenting is a crappy way to spend your time if your goal is to get quality backlinks for SEO purposes. With that said, I have clients that receive substantial (relevant) traffic on a daily basis from blog comments they posted a while ago, so i know first hand that blog comments can drive traffic.

Is it ever the MOST productive and efficient use of your time? Probably not. Not unless you're commenting on blogs you already read regularly. Going out of your way to search for relevant blogs, reading articles you have no interest in besides getting traffic from the comment link, and crafting comments that grab peoples attention and encourage click throughs...? I can only speak for myself, but that doesn't sound like the most effective use of my time.

[Mulith]

Yes I'm afraid they are useless when it comes to incorporating them into your SEO stategy.

Better to take the energy you would have expended tracking down do follow comment opportunities and spend it creating rich content like posts, guides, infographic(high quality only) and useful widgets.

Yes it's harder now than pre Panda but good in a way because the barrier for entry is that little bit higher and that gives you an advantage over new starters who want to cut corners and steal your customers.

Good luck, you're going to rock!

[JustDucky]

Eliathah - I agree.  Blog commenting is extremely inefficient use of time. I wonder how many of the people who promote blog commenting as a method to obtain traffic would pay someone else to put "meaningful comments" on relevant (no-follow) blogs.  I wouldn't and I doubt many people would.