Most blog comments suck. If it’s not spam, it’s just “Good post!”

To me, writing a good blog comment is common sense, but since there is so much garbage in virtually every comment box on every blog out there, I decided I’d post on my thoughts on the subject.

Common Sense, or The Best (and Only) Blog Commenting Strategy:

If you are going to write a comment on someone’s blog post, make it a thoughtful, relevant comment that adds something to the discussion, that asks a good question, that is thought provoking, or that is useful for the blog owner and/or readers. Do not just write, “Great post, [Author's name].” That’s it.

There are essentially three types of blog comments: I’ll call them “spam”, “simple”, and “great.” Now I’ll explain my thoughts on each:

Spam Blog Comments

Spam comments are the absolute worst. To be honest, I had another post I was going to roll out today, but upon logging into WordPress  I saw that there were 10 comments in my spam queue waiting to be “approved”. I deleted them permanently, and then I decided that I would write a post about blog commenting today. Unfortunately, (I use this word in this context for for the first time ever!) those comments are gone forever so I cannot post an example of one here to show you how stupid it looks. Anyway, when I get another spam comment in my queue, I will post it here as an example of the garbage lurking in the comment boxes/spam queues of every blog.

For example, “Online Blackjack says “ ehxc, online black jack, ljxgs”. Great comment!

Note: The next paragraph talks a little bit about Search Engine Optimization. If you aren’t too familiar with SEO, just read the “translation” and skip to the next paragraph.

Now, granted, maybe a few years ago, blog comment spam might have worked for SEO purposes. You got backlinks to your site, and maybe that helped. Today, however, things are completely different. First, most blog comments are “nofollow” links, meaning they don’t really count as links for your SEO profile. Second of all, I heard recently that Google’s new algorithm doesn’t put any real weight blog comment links to your site, so even if they are on a high page rank blog, it doesn’t really help your rankings in the SERPS. Translation: Spam comments are a waste of time for everyone: blog commenters who write the comment, and blog owners who have to delete it. 

Spam commenting is not just a waste of time, but it could potentially be a waste of money, too. There is software like Scrapebox and SEONuke which automatically spam blogs with “spun” comments. I don’t know why people continue to buy these services, because, as I’ve just mentioned, blog commenting gives ZERO SEO value for your site.

Just in the spirit of not holding anything back for you guys, I will admit that in the past, I have used fiverr to get some blog comment backlinks, mainly on high pagerank pages. But I don’t do that anymore.

Simple Blog Comments

Simple comments are OK, but they don’t add anything to the discussion. Simple comments are generally around three words. Example: “Good post, Ryan.”

As you can see, simple comments aren’t nearly as bad as spam comments. First of all, while they don’t add to the discussion, they might at least boost the blogger’s ego. At least people are taking the time out of their day to compliment the writer. Second of all, for on-site SEO purposes, Google likes seeing a blog with comments on it. That means that the content is “valuable” enough in Google’s eyes that other humans are reading and commenting on it. To clarify for benefit it terms of SEO: comments on your site are good for you. When you leave comments on other people’s blogs, the comments are good for the blog owner and have no effect for you, other than if someone clicks your link and lands on your blog. This chart explains it visually:

So, simple comments aren’t necessarily bad. They just don’t add anything to the discussion. If you are going to take the time out of your day to comment on someone’s blog, try to make it at least worthwhile. And, if you are trying to get on an influential blogger’s radar, they are more likely to notice you if you consistently write thoughtful comments on their blog instead of simple comments.

Great Blog Comments

Great comments are generally more than a sentence long and add something to the discussion. It could be a relevant question. It could be a recommendation. It could just be your interpretation of what the blogger wrote. A great blog comment follows the rule(s) of the Best Blog Comment Strategy I outlined at the beginning of this post.

Here is an example of a great blog comment. Coincidentally, it was originally a comment from another post about spam:

Gail Gardener (who created the Growmap Antispam Plugin for WordPress (GASP)) stopped by my blog and made this excellent comment. In the post, I asked a question about running two antispam plugins (Aksimet and GASP). She answered my question in the comment.

See how useful that is? It added value to the discussion. That is an example of an excellent comment.

Other Pet Peeves

In the comment box at the bottom of each post, there is a name field and a URL field. It’s fine to put any URL you’d like, but please make sure to put your name in the name box. Not your keyword(s). Most bloggers approve comments manually. Which one do you think would be taken seriously: a comment with the name “Ryan O’Loughlin” or a comment with the name “Buy Viagara Pills Online”? Obviously the second one. Kidding

Also, remember, a lot of spam comments don’t make sense grammatically. In fact, spam filters and plugins (like Aksimet and GASP) will block ungramattical comments anyway. If not, the author will delete them. This is another reason you should stay away from spam.

Conclusion

Finally, the only way you can get some sort of traffic to your site is if you leave a good comment, and others click through to your site. One thing you can do to increase your chances of a click-through is to add a gravatar, or an image, that shows up every time you make a comment on a blog. And one strategy I will be implementing (and blogging about) in the near future is using a URL in the blog comment that points not to my blog post, but actually to a landing page on my blog so that I can capture new email subscribers to my blog. Here is a shameless plug: If you haven’t subscribed to my email list, you can do so at the bottom of this page or on the sidebar. I give away exclusive content to my email subscribers that you cannot find on this blog.

If you made it down this far, remember: If you’re going to comment on a blog, write a great comment, and put your real name (not keywords) in the URL. And above all else, nobody likes spam. Don’t do it.

How to Properly Leave a Blog Comment

I invite you to practice your blog commenting strategy on this post

P.S. There is also a good post on blog commenting strategies for SEO for 2012 and beyond,  here.