I started blogging back in 2006.
Much has changed in the blogosphere when I look back now. Sometimes it’s good. Sometimes it’s bad.
One of the most effective ways to build backlinks, drive traffic, and connect with the blog owners was through comments back when I started. It was pretty much like guest blogging right now.
Is Blog Commenting Effective in 2012?
Commenting for Backlinks:
If you are commenting for backlinks, I will definitely say that blog commenting is working very little or not doing anything at all. In the future, it’s not going to change. I wouldn’t be surprised if link-juice for blog comments, even on do-follow comment blogs seizes to do any SEO magic.
Verdict: Grade F. It’s not effective. Stop chasing do-follow blogs or commenting on no follow blogs for any type of link juice.
Commenting for Traffic:
A lot of people comment on blogs for driving traffic back to their blogs. While it can be effective sometimes, most of the times it drives very little traffic. Even for very popular and high traffic blogs, you hardly get more than 5 visitors for the life time of the comment.
You can imagine how much commenting you need to do in order to drive a sizable traffic to your blog. You can say that you’ll just comment on 100 blogs and drive 100-500 visitors to your site. But imagine the amount of effort you need to put into blog commenting to get that kind of traffic for your site.
Most of my comments on blogs are extremely long. Some are so long that they could easily go as a blog post by itself. Here are some interesting trends I have noticed with blog comments
- The comments that tends to drive traffic to your blogs are usually long ones
- Comments which appear as the first 2 or 3 comments usually drive the majority of the traffic. People don’t usually read a lot of comments
- Comments which disagree with the author strongly tends to attract clicks
- Comments with links in them drive less traffic even if they appear on the first 3 spots
- Comments with keywords as anchor texts instead of your name almost always never drive quality traffic
Verdict: Grade C. Somewhat effective. Don’t expect a lot from it though.
Commenting for Building a Relationship:
Very few people do blog commenting to build a positive relationship with the blog author.
Don’t get the idea that building a relationship means trying to please the author so that they might link to you. While it may work with few people, most genuine bloggers can see right through your intentions. You are never going to build a positive relationship if you are trying to please the blog author so that he may return the favor.
The right way to build a relationship with the blog owner is by
- Commenting on blog posts when you have a unique idea to share. It’s great to agree with the author. But unless you bring in some extra value to the content in terms of your own idea, it’s not going to make the author like you
- Don’t comment on each and every blog post. If you have a unique idea to share on each post, well and good. But if you are commenting just because you want the blogger to notice you, it’s not going to help
- Reply to their comment if they reply to yours. I have noticed a lot of bloggers post a comment and when they get a reply from the author of the article, they never care to respond. Sometimes it’s just a thank you. But in most cases, you might be asked a question and when you don’t reply to it, it just shows that you were not serious about the conversation in the first place
Verdict: Grade A. It’s effective when done right. Go for it!
Over to You:
What do you think about blog commenting in general? Why do you comment on blogs and how effective has it been for you? Let me know in the comments.
About Adarsh Thampy
I used a technique from Ryan Deiss for blog commenting. My site had a page rank 3 after using that method. I think that was back in 2009. I think blog commenting is effective, but I really don’t use it. I do find traffic coming from some of the sites that I’ve posted comments, but this is not very often. Maybe months apart. I wouldn’t expect consistent traffic with blog comments. I think the only consistent traffic that you’ll get is advertising. But who has that kind of budget for that?
IMKingCash recently posted..Back To Basics-Blog For An Audience Instead Of Money
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Twitter: Dave
says:
I think it effect SEO in some way . Blogger visit Blogger , they make new blog have more comment so it effect on Guest and make them Comment to . More comment , more traffic and return guest . That what i think
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It is real that only the top feedback are study whenever. That is why Youtube uses the elect program for feedback and great prices feedback always appear on top. They know what they are doing! Thank you for these information!
I think if a persons aim in commenting is to get backlinks then that is wrong. I mean just be frank, there are some posts which you find interesting and you have lots of questions or even answers. To me when I see a blogger has posed questions and he or she wants answers, then I guess if I have the answer I reply.
Or if am searching for some info and I find it detailed out on a blog, a thank you message is good enough
I don’t know if Blog comments are effective as they used to be but I still partake in them because I really like the back and forth of commenting between readers and webmasters. I know people take advantage of blog comments but I’ll continue to participate in conversations because, when you do get involved in a good conversation, they’re great fun to be involved with!
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Twitter: trafficsalad
says:
Blog Commenting should always first and foremost be used to build relationships with the blog owner.
If you’re main purpose is just to get a quick backlink, then you are using blog commenting in a wrong manner.
Leave a genuine comment that will help you connect with the blog owner and the readers.
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Yes, I still believe that blog commenting is still effective and useful to get back links as well as traffic. Thanks for sharing your points and indeed it’s a good post.
Regards,
Keira Watson
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These days, blog comments will do what it supposed to do. Unlike in previous months or years that commenting is done for seo purposes hence a lot of spam comments has been received by blog moderators but today due to google penguin updates, blog commenting is no longer the primary method in seo so spam comments has been minimized and only useful comments now is made to every blog posts.
Twitter: sriharshachowd
says:
commenting surely increases your site’s crawl rate which means a higher PR and so, a better ranking in the search results.
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Hmm, those are good points you made. I wonder if a lot of bloggers have ever looked at their blogging traffic from your perspective before. You make some good points, indeed. Even though you do give low scores for these backlinking techniques, they still have to do attempted by any and all bloggers out there. If they did not even attempt to bring more traffic to their blog, what would they be blogging for in the first place. Good article, thank you.
Twitter: rapidleech2day
says:
Very interesting & great post
Regards
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Twitter: life_pro_tips
says:
This is why I love We Blog Better. It’s not big enough to be impersonal like gigantic blogs so commenters are still interested in actual discussion, rather than mindless one-liners that just waste space.
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Twitter: memoryskill
says:
Blog commenting is so effective for website.blog commenting is helpful for getting traffic and backlink on our sites.Very interesting post and thanks for share this with us.
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Twitter: joya_sharma
says:
I appreciate your work.Nice article.I think top commenting is more effective then blog commenting.Thanks for the information.
Twitter: KendellLang
says:
Yes I think so. Blog commenting is effective in 2012. As because you can get relevant blog link and if you comment some valuable comments then there will be a chance of getting approved. But I can suggest one thing that while doing blog commenting – don’t use Gimpy comments like “thanks for sharing” / “awesome post” / “love to see more from you” etc etc.. It will count spam by Google. So give good comments and this will help your website also. Anyways – nice post and I have tweeted this to my followers. Keep it up. :)
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Twitter: manojsingh1078
says:
Really nice tips…
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Twitter: suejames2
says:
I think comments are good on blogs, blogs are written to be informative and it is good to get comments back that people are reading your blog and hopefully getting something from it.
Twitter: GarmentsTerms
says:
Hey, This a nice article for blogging. I think, although blog commenting do not get huge traffic but it helps to build link. so that i think blog commenting can help you for increase traffic.
Twitter: ankurandu
says:
I agree with the author. Do not expect to gain much from comments. It only helps to discover new people and build relations with blog owner or authors
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Twitter: misterlippy
says:
I’m glad to have read this as I have just started blogging and blog commenting. Thanks for all the feedback also it has been very helpful.
Thanks,
Josh
Twitter: mamamakesmoney
says:
Blog commenting is really good for meeting new people and blogs but I also think it helps drive traffic to my blog as well. Of course it does depend on what the blog is about, how popular it is and all of that. I am not sure how well it works for backlinks but since I feel like I get something out of blog commenting anyway I just kind of see that as icing on the cake.
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Twitter: maheshone
says:
Actually blog commenting is all the above – Link Building + Traffic + PR Juice (for dofollow) + Conversation
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Great post Adarsh!
I must admit that when I read the title of your post, I felt a little bit nervous and I wished, ”oh God they better worth the time and energy”. I have been writing comments for a few months now and they have helped my blog. I agree with you on some level, and you have three great points! On the other hand, from my short experience, I can say that comments have benefit my blog to some point. But to be honest I don’t know if all the progress is caused to the comments. The sure thing is that comments are a great way to build possitive relationships with great and distinguished blog authors, as you said!
Good work Adarsh! Very interesting post!
Thank you for sharing
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Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Sara,
Nice comment and you have demonstrated well how you can build relationships with the author with quality comment.
Great to see you here.
Twitter: JacobSikais
says:
I am a strong believer that Google and other search engines count ALL links that are pointing back to your site, even blog comments that yo don’t think matter… Every little “vote” counts because that is how they monitor whether or not you should rank well in the organic search listings… I find it works for me :)
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Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Ozlat,
“Every little “vote” counts because that is how they monitor whether or not you should rank well in the organic search listings”- That is a wrong notion. Not every link counts. Then try getting some links from blog network and tell me whether you get nuked from SERP or not :)
Only the top comments will bring some traffic. I think blog commenting is an effective way for link building.
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Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Not really. Why do you think it’s a good link building strategy?
Twitter: SeoRizwan
says:
Hey Adarsh
No doubt blog commenting is a great way for getting good relationship indeed it will also help you for getting backlinks
Rizwan Sultan recently posted..IBS Tips
Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Rizwan Sultan,
Although you get backlinks, I’d do it any-day for building a relationship over getting a link.
Thank you for your comment.
Adarsh,
Good points here. Whatever backlink juice you get from commenting (if any) should be an afterthought. The real power is truly in the relationship building, and if you leave comments that are relationship building “worthy” you will also get some of the extra traffic from it too.
This is why lesser number of “good” comments are really worth more than 100′s of simplistic, “great post, great stuff, love it” comments that are worth zilch! (if they do not end up in spam…as they should)
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Twitter: collegeocontent
says:
wonders if this blog actually helps others get link juice. What do you think? :-)
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Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Steve,
Good to see you here man.
I don’t mark such low quality comments as spam. but it goes straight to the trash. I really don’t see why people still believe blog commenting can be a valuable link building method.
And blog comments do get traffic. one comment I left on the sales lion blog got me 60+ visitors. it does work at times though.
Twitter: technoblasts
says:
This is a stunning news that commenting does not works increasing the traffic for the blog as i used to think it is a good contributor to the traffic.Thanks for the information and this seems to be a eye opener to all the bloggers.
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Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
junaid,
All you have to do is check the traffic numbers in your analytics to understand that traffic from guest post is close to zero. However, there are cases where 1 link in the comment got me 60+ visitors. That is a case study, I’ll be publishing soon.
Twitter: JimiAntoniou
says:
So for what reason does commenting exist?
Is it a tool for webmasters and SEO professionals and not pros or a way of communicating?
I tend to get a little frustrated by the use they seem to have. I don’t mind others commenting in my own blog. (the blogs I manage for money is another story as I do not make the decisions).
So if comments were used the way they should, maybe, I say maybe they should not help us achieve PR. It is not something I want but I feel too candid today!!!
Thank you!!
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Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Jim,
I couldn’t really make out what you intended to convey via this comment. Could you be a little bit more clear? What aspect of commenting seems to frustrate you?
Thanks.
Twitter: JimiAntoniou
says:
What I meant is that comments should just be a way of communication between the author and the readers. The way we use it as a PR booster is what is making me think about its use twice.
The truth is, it is a great tool and if it did not exist, we would be facing many difficulties.
Anyway it was just a thought..
Thank you!!
Jim Antoine recently posted..5 ways to set goals for yourself and your business
Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Jim,
That’s a great thought there buddy. I totally agree with you.
Thanks for the clarification.
P.S: this is an excellent example of how to do commenting right. You spent time in fostering a conversation.
Twitter: rancorinfotech
says:
Blog commenting certainly a great way to build relationship, by asking questions or by giving any suggestions. Though I still feel it’s a good way to get quality backlinks specially if you comment on niche blogs.
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Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Hi Aasma,
It’s NEVER going to give you QUALITY backlinks.Using comments to build links is always a time waster.
Twitter: loans4tenants
says:
In some ways I agree with this, blog commenting’s most effective trait is to build relationships. I do however still feel that it does have some value regarding building backlinks; providing these backlinks are high quality do follow.
Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Jason,
Although I’d agree with you on building relationships, I’d strongly disagree you with using comments to build links. It’s not worth your time. And if majority of your link profile is comment links, that’s a major source of worry!
hi,
here is one newcomer..
your article is really superb.. its true that blog commenting is very effective and important also.
we can increase the traffic through this..
many thanks for your awesome post..
Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Alana,
I wouldn’t count on blog commenting to get me a lot of traffic.
Thank you for your comment.
Twitter: trungpc81
says:
Your article is great and it makes me thinking so much thing about blog commenting, how to use this method effective, especially on building relationship.
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Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Trung Nguyen,
Glad I could inspire you to think more on this topic. Hope you come up with an actionable thought.
Twitter: trungpc81
says:
You know, as a blogger, I know what we’re looking for when use blog commenting, sometime is for link building, sometime is because we were impressed with the content, sometime is for building relation ship, but now my mind is focus on how to do it on effective way.
Trung Nguyen recently posted..How to Start a Blog That Will Generate Income?
Rightly said, Adarsh. The criteria and structure of blog commenting in 2012 has been changed. Every blog owner wants his/her blog become stunning and free from spam and yes it is obvious but in actuality blog comments are important and help to know how well you are in your blog and to some extent show you what the things your blog are missing. If reader gives you valuable and quality comment then it becomes your responsibility to help them by offering any one benefits of backlinks, traffics or make good relationship by replying his.
Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Allen,
What you said is true and is always a part of community building. Glad you put some thought into it.
Cheers buddy.
Twitter: collegeocontent
says:
You have a point here about blog commenting, and if it builds back links and still drives traffic. One is things that College of Content has learned is that if you want to effectively build back links, write and submit articles every day to article directories, comment on other blogs, engage meaningfully in online business discussion forums, and stay dedicated in all you do. This is how not only professional bloggers, but, businesses of all sizes on the World Wide Web can effectively drive traffic from multiple sources such as article directories, blogs, discussion forums, and so forth.
College of Content recently posted..Why You Need The Five Expert Article Marketing Tips So Badly
Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
“write and submit articles every day to article directories”- Seriously? Even after the panda update? Can you tell me which Article Directory is worthy enough to write and submit content to?
Hi.. Yeah I agree that this is very interesting and I think even informative article for us.. Thanks!
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Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Kathryn,
Glad you found it informative. Thank you.
Twitter: issuesEthical
says:
I have been very fortunate to build some good relationships with other bloggers by commenting. You have to show a sincere effort because blogging is not all about money because if you care about my comment I will come back more. I comment here because I like the blog owner and her topics. I know the money will come it is more about putting up material worth reading.
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Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Michael,
You are absolutely true my friend. You need to be genuine while fostering a community on your blog. that’s how you build relationships.
Thank you for your comment.
Twitter: techinitio
says:
It is true that only the top comments are read every time. That’s why YouTube uses the vote system for comments and high rates comments always appear on top. They know what they are doing! Thank you for these information!
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Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Rashmi,
Imagine a blog post have 100 comment. Do you read all of them? I know I don’t, and most other people I know also don’t do it. We just read a few of them and maybe quickly scan through the rest.
So the top comments always gets attention.
Thanks for your comment.
Twitter: morganbarnhart
says:
Overall, I’ll comment on blogs for building relationships, if there are any other perks after that, then that’s just a bonus. :)
Thanks for the post, Adarsh!
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Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Morgan,
Very good mindset. Anything you get from providing value for me is a well deserved reward and not necessarily a bonus. If you put your heart and soul into providing genuine value, I don’t see why you should get a bonus instead of getting rewarded :)
Twitter: ModestMoney
says:
You’re definitely right that blog commenting for SEO value has greatly diminished. Links from comments used to be worth a lot more, but these days it barely counts for anything. It’s ironic that there are already comments on this post that are simply dropping links. They obviously didn’t read this post.
Most of the commenting I do is for building relationships with bloggers. The thing is that it’s not the sole method I use. Blog commenting just breaks the ice and gets you on their radar. Then you should be taking further steps to promote their blog and reach out to them via e-mail. Just commenting alone only goes so far.
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Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Jeremy,
You are spot on. I couldn’t agree with you more. Relationship building is something that you must do via blog comments (I do this effectively on some blogs. It’s not just because i want them to notice. It’s because I genuinely care about what those bloggers have to talk about.)
Twitter: theblogshopcouk
says:
Couldn’t agree more, Adarsh, particularly with your final point. The internet as a whole is becoming a much more social resource and developing relationships with bloggers through commenting – and providing meaningful comments – is a fantastic way forward.
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Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Dan,
Thank you for your reply. The whole internet is indeed moving to something very different that what existed. With social signals getting more prominence in SEO, expect the whole industry to change!
Twitter: christinaxioymail.com
says:
Thanks for the marvelous posting! I truly enjoyed reading it, you are a great
Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Great to know that you enjoyed it!
Blog commenting is important to allow the author of the post to know what other people think about his or her post. and to know if they have any suggestion.
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Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Carol,
Agree that blog commenting is important from the author’s perspective. But it’s not the same with all bloggers. There are several successful bloggers who have turned off comments and yet have a loyal following.
Twitter: bestdailygames
says:
Very interesting article, thanks very much for sharing.
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Twitter: conversionchamp
says:
Paul,
Glad you found it interesting. Thank you!