Surely, you have heard of how posting all kinds of content can get traffic for your blog and contribute to link popularity. As an established rule in SEO, search engines love content. High quality and relevant content guarantees a string of readers or blog followers who are interpreted as authority by search engines. The more authoritative a site is viewed, the higher value the search engine attributes to a page. This explains why many business owners hire a link building company or subscribe to link building service in order to develop quality and relevant content for link popularity.

In addition to creating useful content, there are several link building tactics that prevail when it comes to building link popularity for your site. One of them is blog commenting. Exactly how it contributes to link popularity and what blog owners can do to maximize this tactic is what this article is all about. In the past, the use of blog commenting in getting free links was obvious. People get instant inbound links just by leaving comments on a particular blog entry. Once they post something on the comment field, they leave a name and a URL, and voila, an instant backlink. In the interest of fair play, there is now a “right” and “wrong” way to comment on blogs. While some of the comments may be legitimate engagements on an issue presented by the weblog owner, some do it purely to get some link juice and hopefully, a boost in their site’s link popularity.

As the search engine ranking methods evolved and SEO techniques moderated, many blogs now utilize the nofollow feature to ensure that inbound links from comments are not unjustly rewarded by the search engines. Of course, genuine expressions of opinion should be valued higher as opposed to comments solely made for the purpose of getting free links.

Effective commenting requires honesty and sincerity. When you leave two-word comments such as “I agree” or “Nice post” followed by your URL, this is blatant hunting for link juice. Your post will end up getting deleted by the weblog owner. Effective comments include personal opinions, a related experience, tips, or some interesting facts that are connected with the discussion. Comment this way and you may end up getting a link pointed to your site. Lengthy posts must also be avoided.

Blog comments build traffic. Despite the nofollow feature, blog comments are still a great way to get some exposure for your site and direct traffic toward you. When you post quality comments on high-traffic nofollow blogs, it can increase your chances of having some of that traffic trickle down to your site.

With these in mind, there are a few rules to observe when considering blog comments as a link building method.

  1. Never spam. Spamming the blogs is a definite no-no. Such a display of unprofessional behavior is likely to get your comments deleted. Any link building effort using spam is doomed to fail.
  2. Avoid mass commenting. Posting one comment each on several posts in a single website will be interpreted by search engines as link spamming. Link spamming hurts your link popularity. Although your comments may be useful and relevant to the topic at hand, you run the risk of being booted out or banned by the search engines.
  3. Do not repeat comments on blogs. Posting the same comments on many blogs will get them deleted.
  4. Give comments that are valuable to the post. Comments can only be effective if they support the content on the blog entry. Post something constructive such as a narrative, findings on a similar topic, an elaboration, or some tips. In addition, it is important for blog commentators to post something that is free or errors in grammar, spelling, or unethical language.
  5. Be prudent. There is a place for everything in the blog. Never input your URL on the comment field. There is a field for the URL. Similarly, do not use keywords on the Name field.
  6. Circulate. Just like discussions offline, online forums such as blogs are a great way to interact with people and build networks. Effective commenting in order to gain some link popularity also requires that you circulate. Engage the blog owner, as well as other commentators, when you post comments.

Blog commenting can only be an effective link building tactic if done the right way, meaning that is it used in the manner it was originally designed. First and foremost, comments are a way of promoting free expression. Blog owners post content in the hope of getting readers’ insight, ideas, and suggestions. Quality comments are deemed valuable, and blog owners reciprocate that by giving a link back. Just like in the offline world, effective comments are those that are honest, relevant, sensible, and constructive. Any link building campaign that aims to use blog commenting to build link popularity should take the rules associated with this tactic seriously.

It is important to understand that comments are a fringe benefit. There is a great deal of difference in commenting blogs for the sole purpose of link building from a sincere articulation of opinion. The latter has more value in terms of interaction and probability of getting an inbound link. When inputting something on the comment field, the aim should be to contribute to the discussion. Getting a backlink out of it is a perk to the practice itself.