Blog Commenting is an excellent way to build quality links to your site. As a fairly simple and efficient means of backlinking, it is ideal for deep linking and traffic purposes for every page of your blog/site.
Blog commenting is pretty simple, but there is a right way and many wrong ways to do it. We’re going to define the “right” way to do it now.
Whenever backlinking or optimizing, it is essential to remember your purpose: to increase your rank in order to get targeted traffic. With this in mind, it only makes sense to attempt to get targeted traffic while practicing SEO (the means IS the end). This means leaving thought provoking and authoritative comments.
If you take the time (1-3 minutes) to leave a thoughtful comment that demonstrates your understanding and authority on the given subject, you are much more likely to get people clicking through to your site. You want people to think, “Hmm this guys seems to know what he’s talking about. I wonder what he has to say on HIS site” *click*. That being said, there are even more incentives for leaving comments that add value
Just because you leave a comment does not mean that it is going to be approved. This is exactly why spamming blog comments is so stupid. Next to none of your comments are going to be approved, and most blogs you find that auto-approve comments have probably already been spammed to hell. Not to mention, a blog that approves spam comments is probably of a very low quality and likely won’t stick around for long.
Also, do you really want this kind of activity related to your business? I don’t want people finding spam comments all over the web linking back to my site. Leaving a higher caliber of comments is going to ensure you a much higher approval rating and be more beneficial for your rankings and business.
We want to maximize the effects of our link building efforts. It’s not worthwhile to spend time crafting thoughtful comments for every blog on the web – many won’t be worth your time. We are going to set the bar for pages that are going to be worth our link building efforts.
Since we won’t get very much traffic from the majority of pages we comment on, we aren’t going to bother commenting on pages that use nofollow on their comments. If you end up on a popular blog that uses nofollow, it might be worthwhile because of the popularity of the site. One well crafted comment on a well trafficked page could get you a bit of targeted traffic every month for a long time, and all just for a couple minutes of work. There is no set in stone cut-off point, but I usually don’t bother with a site using nofollow that has an alexa ranking greater than 100,000, and that is being a bit generous as far as traffic purposes go. Here’s the strategy:
The Strategy
1) Head to www.dropmylink.com
This site simply enters a search string into Google made to find blogs based on the platform they use, their domain extension, or by some other aspect of the site. We are going to search for KeywordLuv Blogs because they are mostly “dofollow”, they let you use anchor text (and approve it), and they also give you a link to your most recent blog post. What more could you ask for?
Just enter in your keyword and choose KeywordLuv blogs. You can always come back and change the keyword to a similar variant or change the criteria for the blogs you’re searching for, but I find it unnecessary most of the time. Once you do this search, you’re sure to find thousands upon thousands of results of which many will be well worth our time to comment on.
If you haven’t already, download the super helpful browser plugin SEO Quake. It is going to be an integral part of how we find worthwhile blogs to comment on.
2) Sort your results
We have just searched for KeywordLuv blogs that are relevant to our keyword, and they have showed up in order of relevance since we have searched in Google. What we are going to do is sort our first page by order of PageRank.
(Click the downward facing arrow)
It’s worthwhile to comment on any page that is “dofollow” and has a PageRank of 1 or greater. After you do this, check to see if there are any other sites that have an alexa rank of less than 100,000. These will be decent pages to comment on because…
1. They might get you targeted traffic (with a thoughtful comment of course).
2. The Toolbar PR we see is only updated every few months. If this page is on a popular site there is a good chance that it might already have or in the future end up with some PR
3) Comment!
As you comment and go from page to page on Google, you’ll find that the overall relevance of the pages is lowering according to Google, but the quality is not. You will find high PageRank and popular pages well within the results. Just one search can give you a ton of blogs that will be beneficial to comment on.
[EDIT] Guys, there is something else very cool about this method that I didn’t directly address previously. We are aiming to get comments approved on pages with PR, HOWEVER (yea it’s a big one) even if these pages have a PR of 0, they are still likely worth commenting on. They’re still worth commenting on because they are relevant -> this is the cool part…
We know these pages are relevant to our keyword because Google has ranked them in order of relevance for us! So don’t be too hesitant to comment on a PR n/a or PR 0 page. PageRank is only of of hundreds of SEO ranking factors, and relevant links are very important.
Tips for getting comments to stick
There are a few tricks that I use to make sure that my time isn’t wasted and my comments stick. You can’t guarantee an approval, or that it will happen quickly as we will inevitably comment on some not-so-recent posts. However, it’s not out of your hands, here are a few things I do to increase my approval rating:
1) Quote text from the post
This is an especially effective method imho. Taking a sentence or fragment from the post and commenting on it proves you are not a spammer, gives you something to focus your comment on, and generally spurs conversation and adds value to the page. I have found this technique to be very effective for increasing the stick rate of comments.
2) Be agreeable
This isn’t exactly a specific method, but it’s definitely a good approach to commenting. Many people think they should be controversial to create a buzz around their comment. This sounds better than it works out in practice. You can disagree and provoke a response from the admin, but only if you are careful not to take a stance that is overly opposing or disagreeable. Why? Because no one wants to approve a comment that is going to hurt their image on their own site. Think about it from the webmaster’s position. Even if the disagreeable comment can be easily countered, I usually won’t take the time to argue with someone on my own site. I’d rather just trash their comment and move on – my time is better spent building links and promoting my site. Also, if you leave a comment with an opposing view and then the webmaster rebuts you, is that really going to make you look like an authority? It’s much more effective to post agreeable comments that present a different point of view or add to the discussion rather than oppose it.
3) Reply to the Admin’s post
Replying to other people’s posts proves you’re obviously not a spam-bot. Also, it’s a good way to build upon the discussion and add value to the site/page. These comments get approved much more often. Replying specifically to the blog admin’s comments makes this technique even more effective as the admin is likely to respond meaning that your comment will get approved and create a buzz. This isn’t always an option since there won’t be a post by the admin on most pages you comment on, so use it when you can.
There is of course only one step left to take – indexing. Blog comments are likely to get indexed without any additional effort, but I never like to cross my fingers or wait when it comes to results. Copy and paste into a text document every page you comment on and come back in a week. Find and ping all of the pages where your comments have been approved. There will probably be a few less-maintained blogs where your comments have yet to be approved – forget about these. It’s not worth your time to check back up on these URLs everyday when your comments might not get approved for weeks, months, or ever. If they do they do, if they don’t they don’t.
Bonus Tip
As we know, relevance is the name of the game. With the above strategy we are commenting on relevant pages and posting super-relevant links (we use anchor text). However, there is one more thing you can do to make your backlinks even more relevant.
The text surrounding a link effects what Google thinks the page on the other side is all about. If you include your keyword in your comments, you will effectively increase the relevance of your backlink and enhance the results you get from these comments.
Than you, it is great information, I learned a lot through your articles !
)
(although I am not applying anything here, it is just a real than you
Me again,
I am trying to apply this recepy, but I can’t manage to find pages with a higher PR than 1, even if I do not type in any keyword is this normal?
Hi Sophie,
Usually I find a page or two with PR 1-3 on each page of results, and on a rare occasion I find a page with a PR of 4 or higher. I would suggest trying out various related keywords as well – the more relevant the page the better, but they don’t have to be laser focused around your keyword. Looking for KeywordLuv blogs is also not crucial to finding blogs to comment on, it just provides us with more value per comment. Also, if you’re finding a lot of pages with a PR of “n/a” and 0, these pages might end up with a PR of 1 or higher in the future if they are on popular sites.
Basically, our goal is to get as much value as we possibly can from our comments, but you don’t need to have it all for your comments to be worthwhile and valuable. A relevant, high PR, “do follow”, KeywordLuv blog page to comment on is absolutely ideal. We won’t get these all the time, so we sacrifice relevance, PR, or the KeywordLuv feature in order to find blogs to comment on.
I like the valuable info you provide in your articles. I will bookmark your weblog and check again here regularly. I am quite sure I’ll learn many new stuff right here! Best of luck for the next!
Guys, this is an example of a stupid spam comment. Don’t be like this guy ^^
P.S. Click-through to his site – alexa rank of 11,000,000 = Virtually 0 visitors. What a coincidence
LOL! great example Ben.. Anyways Thanks for sharing the dropmylink search engine, however I’m not yet on SEO. I’m still developing my client’s website and oh just want to let you know that i got your sites link from Mitz list of Top Contributors. Going back to what i’m really interested is your nav. menu and your header hover effect, and also your cool imageslider on your homepage. If you don’t mind can you share me the code on how did you change the opacity of the image and menu button every-time the mouse is on top of it,, i know its on the hover settings style but i just wanna to know the opacity config. if you can paste the code here i would really really appreciate it^^ and about your imageslider, is that i plugin or you just made it be yourself? i mean you hardcode it from scratch? if its a plugin is it for free? can you share that to me too?? btw Bem just one more question…why don’t you have commentluv?
Hey Ron, thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it. I actually don’t know much code at all. I got my theme which includes the slider and hover effects from elegant themes. It sounds like your building sites yourself, but I would highly recommend them for anyone without a coding background. As for commentluv, I’ve been thinking about using it for a while now and I might soon especially since the new update has some pretty robust features.
thanks for getting my comment posted Ben! So you just bought the theme,hmmm..too bad i just wanna get the css config. to have the same effect with you navbar and header..i guess i need to figure it out the hard-way,lolz!Yeah i actually design sites as twentyten is my start point and remove everything that i won’t be needing and gather stuffs online.. I don’t really like letting my client buy themes or anything online since i know there’s plenty of free stuffs that has the same function or whatever your looking for. You just need to know where to find them though. Yeah i tried to be one of the beta tester of the new commentluv just to have the opportunity to be one of the lucky beta tester that will recieve a premium commentluv plugin, but sad to say i couldn’t complete the registration. the free commentluv is still worth it to have it on the site though.. Thanks Ben
Followed your link over from Warrior Forum (different topic) and have passed this article on to another friend as well. A couple of very useful points I’ve picked up, such as “KeywordLuv blogs”.
Have you had any luck with using ‘automated’ forum posters? Are they worth it?
cheers,
Hey Jerry,
I’ve recently picked up a copy of Scrapeboard (from the makers of Scrapebox), and I’m just starting to get into it, so I can’t really speak for results yet. That being said, I think I’ll probably stick to using it for forum profile creation alone – I’m not really big fan of automated blog/forum comments. I’d rather take the time to make a real comment or post and get a link + the traffic that comes with it (that’s how you got this page isn’t it
).
Hi Ben,
It is my first time to learn about the website dropmylink.com
I have just used it and uploaded the seoquake plugin and I cant imagine the many backlinking opportunities you have opened up for me.
Recently I have been using http://www.Fiverr.com to have people post my comments on commentluv and do follow blogs. It would cost me $5 per 20 such posts and I think this is what they have been using to find such blogs.
Thanks for this helpful post and the information and now it is going to save me my dollars as I can post the 20 links in one day.
Yours,
Lubowa
Great article on submitting comments to gain quality backlinks.
Sometimes it’s all so overwhelming, but hopefully, there’s green grass on the other side.
Thanks again,
Robert
Hi Mr. Ben,
The article about commenting is great, I’ve learned a lot. Just like what the other commenter said I am also new to the site dropmylink.com with its keywordluv selection it is a great aid finding worthy dofollow blogs. Thanks for info.
wow dude that’s a nice post about blog commenting…thanks for sharing the dropmylink.com site…it will now help me to get more backlinks then ever…
I’ve been using SEO Quake for months and have never realized that it had a sort function right below the search bar! Thanks for the tip, this can turn out to be REALLY useful.
Another very robust and powerful post. I’ve been reading through a few of your previous posts and at last determined to drop a touch upon this one. I signed up on your e-newsletter, so please keep up the informative posts!
“This is an especially effective method imho. Taking a sentence or fragment from the post and commenting on it proves you are not a spammer, gives you something to focus your comment on, and generally spurs conversation and adds value to the page. I have found this technique to be very effective for increasing the stick rate of comments”
No seriously, I have never thought of doing this. Thank You
-This was a great tip..hope my comment sticks
what’s funny is that I was just clearing out my pending comments and I almost marked this comment as spam until I saw the quote lol. So yes it works! Glad you like the post Peter
Blog commenting is also a good SEO strategy that can help you generate traffic and to get successful working on it first you need to look for some good relevant keywords and also consider do follow links for blogs.
Very impressive techniques for blog commenting and get the back link form higher PR rank sites I am really enjoyed this article very much. keep continue
hanks for the tip, this can turn out to be REALLY useful.
“I’d rather take the time to make a real comment or post and get a link + the traffic”….
Exactly my sentiments. Blogging was originally very interactive when it first became the defacto platform. Everyone started getting paranoid and selfish and basically gave the blogshpere over to black hat artist. I’m glad to see there are still bloggers out here who “get it”.
This is Great information to use blog commenting with seo strategies follow user to create link building facility.
Point. Blog commenting is beneficial and is necessary to any SEO marketer. Great post.
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This is a great article. I learned a lot. This is going to help me alot for my work of SEO.
Thanks for sharing this information and resources its really help full for me with the help of this we can improve our blog commenting and site traffic on web
Web Design Company India
Ola! Seodiscovery,
I take your point, Do you know that you can acquire larger lookup rankings with weblog commenting? Site comments can be an valuable website link generating solution if you do it properly.
Cheerio
Thanks for contribution in seo. I like your dropmylink ^^
Erica recently posted..Leopard Man’s GString TL344 45rb
Thanks, dropmylink actually isn’t my site, but it’s a fave of mine
Might be a bit harsh to start it all off, but that is exactly the truth. Quality still rules over the blogging world, and it surely will. Forever.
I find asking questions helpful, not only does it get you a reply from the admin(most of the time) it also helps prove that you are human simply because of your interest in their article.
Nice tips, Ben!
This tips are a golden mine, I´ll follow your advices, than you so much
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Hi Ben,
very nice write up about successful blog commenting. I tried to hire a lot of people to comment on blogs for me but they provide very bad quality. Most of comments looked spammy and unprofessional so I decided to comment on blogs just by myself. And your post has a lot of great ideas how to do that better.
Thanks
Thanks John, if you do any outsourcing you can always point them to this article for instructions on successful blog commenting (yes I’ve done that
)
I saw your guest post on Mitz’ site. Good Job by the way. Now I decided to visit you own site and this topic has gain my attention. Actually I’m building the backlinks of one of my clients’ website yet at first I do commenting the wrong way. I learned new ways on your posts! Thanks and more power.
Thanks for the tips, this is useful article.
Sure, glad you liked it
This is a great tips. I learned a lot. This is going to help me alot for my work of SEO.thanks for the tips.
I would like to say that this blog really convinced me, you give me best information! Thanks, very good post
Blog commenting is not only to leave a message, always think to look for a best way to have a chance to increase the page rank of the website. Thank you that you open this discussion.
It is my pleasure to say thank you for your wonderful strategy, It really made sense.
Hi Ben,
Do You have a list of Fiverr SEO gigs worth spending money on?
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Hey Nicolaj,
I personally do not have a list, but I saw the other day that one of my readers Clif does. You can see his list of fiverr gigs for SEO here.
Thanks!
Not the longest list in the world
Nicolaj Thomasen recently posted..Billig Samsung touch-mobil uden abonnement
Blog commenting is really a bust link these days as Google knows that they get spammed like crazy so that does not play into your favor.
I would say there is a right way to do it. Blog commenting gets spammed a lot – there’s no denying that, but I’ve always seen a return when doing it properly for SEO.
Very good information on how to find relevant blogs to comment upon so that it is not that hard to achieve search rankings by spamming and using softwares which are banned by google. once again thanks a lot
Yes, blogging is very excellent if you do it in a right way, to gain quality backlinks, bloggers must spend lots of time to post great quality of comment, to avoid spamming and to confirm it by moderator. If you didn’t know this strategy you can look for a professional blogger to do this job.
This info is very helpful to me but i have a doubt/didnot know how to deal a blog comment with low PR.Actually i comment on a PR3 web site but on my Comment page that PR is 0 . I want to know how i can increase that PR. Help me!
Hey Brad, just make sure you’re finding pages to comment on with PR instead of just homepages with high PR. The technique in this post should help you do that.
I absolutely agree with you. Blog commenting is not an easy technique of seo but comment luv made is easy and after your blog reading it is too easy for me. Blog commenting is very important and useful for seo. Quality blogs with well-written comments can bring a lot of traffic to the website and boost your profits greatly.
Thanks for shairng Jackson.
Thanks for the idea, it is very helpful, I am going to use this technique.
More power to your site.
Thanks for great post, I used DropMyLink all time and it’s really a useful free tool
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Great article Ben! it seems to be a good way to get good links by commenting real comments in blogs about your topic. Anyway its very usefull to use a tool like scrapebox to send comments to AA as tier 2.