Value / Risk of links in comments (nofollow)

[Chris661]

Recently I noticed a couple of comments on our blog that seemed nice and relevant so I approved them. The site is wordpress and comments are configured nofollow. We don't get many comments so I thought "why not?". Today I got one and noticed they are all coming from the same IP. They all include urls to sites in the same industry as us, relevant sites and all different. Looks like an SEO is doing it for various clients.

My question is what is the value of these nofollow links for the poster? Are these seen as "mentions" and add value to Google?

And am I better off trashing them so my site is not associated?

Thanks

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

I would trash them, especially if you can see that they are manipulative and repeating.

You want to have integrity for your comments section, so even though they are nofollow, you don't want to become a link dump for a SEO who is a hack.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

[EGOL]

I have opened my blogs to comments on a couple of occasions.  Each time weasels came in and posted their rubbish.  Some of them are idiots who leave comments that are obvious spam.  However, some are so skillful that you don't realize that they are spam with a shallow reading.

So, my decision was between not allowing links and closing the comments.  I closed the comments and am happy about it.

[PatrickDelehanty]

In other words, the hammer came down.

[EGOL]

lol    Yes.   We sell hammers here.  I have some good ones and have close to seven decades of experience at swinging them.

[Chris661]

Thanks Patrick and EGOL. I will be trashing them.

Still curious about why the tactic when it is a nofollow. The clients appear very reputable but have no clue what the SEO is doing, no doubt. Feel bad for them.

[EGOL]

I think that there are a lot of people out there who have not gotten the "message" about nofollow.

Also, a lot of people, maybe including me, who believe in the "reverse psychology algo".

[Chris661]

Would that be Google's "Badger"?