Blog commenting - dos and don'ts

[Harbor_Compliance]

Dear Community,

I'm getting into blog commenting heavily now for the relationships I'm building with other bloggers.  I think the relationships I will build with these other influencers will be helpful.

But I'm concerned that Google may penalize my site if I have a lot of links coming from blog commenting.  If I sense that a blog is spammy, obviously I stay away.  I've also noticed that a number of CommentLuv sites include a link to my latest blog post, and that has helped me greatly in promoting my posts and building readership.  I am also interested in the follow links I get from it, but concerned in that regard that (1) Google won't count those follow links (won't pass page rank) and (2) Google will penalize me for some reason or in some way.

What does everyone think about this approach of blog commenting, and in particular, including posting some comments on CommentLuv blogs.

Thanks!

Mike

[TommyTan]

Hi Mike,

Commenting is definitely a good way to build relationship and share your expertise.  As long as you are staying away from spammy sites and posting sales pitch on other people's blot, I believe everything should be fine.

When you comment or participate, you don't necessarily need to post informative content but it would be nice and useful for building relationship.  I would say just not to post sales pitches.

To answer your question, links in comments are usually nofollow so it won't give you any linkjuice.  However, with Commentluv, it is nice to help your blog get more exposure and possibly traffic IF your comment was informative and etc., people might be interseted and view your blog.

Hope this helps.

[TakeshiYoung]

As long as you are using your real name while commenting and not using spammy anchor text, I don't see how you could get penalized for commenting.

[Ties.com]

I agree with both of the earlier responses.  Commenting to build relationships is valuable and doesn't carry much risk.  Commenting with anchor text or with bullshit responses is spammy and will not help you build relationships which should be your primary objective when commenting.

[AustinRealtor65]

Be mindful of your link profile. Link Detective is a good tool for visualizing this type of data, and it works with OSE exports. I was researching a major competitor recently and found that 37% of their profile was comprised of blog comments, so I would assume that this would be on the upper threshold of what could be considered a balanced link profile.

[Harbor_Compliance]

Hey everyone, thanks for the responses.

I'm using my real name, not keyword anchor text.  Also, I am taking a lot of care to write a good response (a paragraph or two worth of thoughtful information).

Some of the blogs I am finding do have follow links and I'm wondering if those pass page rank.

Also, Brian, as for percentage of links that come from blog commenting, I am not really pursuing links anywhere else.  Is this a problem?

[AustinRealtor65]

I can't say for sure if this would hurt you, but I know that we saw a definite decline in ROI after after an extended period of doing nothing but press-releases for our link building. It's probably a good idea to mix things up and go after some different link types if you can.

Our strategy is to go after the high-value, high-investment links first. Then read and comment on relevant blogs, submit to niche directories, bookmark content, post guest-blogs, and join new social media communities where it makes sense.