Chances are if you’ve been reading up on SEO; one common backlink building method that you’ve seen is blog commenting. But, really it’s not a backlink building tactic. A lot of it comes off as spam! Is this a pointless strategy to help get your site a noticeable boost in Google? Not completely, but a lot of people don’t do it correctly; so in a sense, it’s a counterproductive task that many novice SEO’s engage in. Don’t you want to minimize your time and maximize your ROI? Learn exactly what you should be doing with blog commenting in this article.
Face it people are lazy; not all people but a good percentage. It’s a fact that people will spend hours and hours doing something automated rather than rolling up their sleeves and doing something correctly. If you visit any of the internet marketing forums, you’ll soon discover that people are offering blog commenting blast using all kinds of automated software (idiots!). I wouldn’t advise using these services because they can really put you in hot water with Google in the coming months and years. Here is a look at some of these services:
The whole automated commenting sounds appealing to many internet marketers because they can get lots of backlinks with minimal effort. But, we have progressed since 4 years ago on what works in the search engines. However, the fact of the matter is these backlinks are useless regarding SEO. Why is this? Because most of the time they have 100’s of OBL (outbound links) which is divided by hundreds and really doesn’t pass any noticeable link juice. Several authority links can beat out 10,000 spammy backlinks! Chances are these blogs are already in a “bad neighborhood.”
So why are so many people still trying this tactic even a year and half after Penguin was rolled out? The same reason sheep follow each other off the cliff!
So What Should You Be Doing?
Honestly, stop using automated software or even spending 10-15 hours a week leaving manual comments to authority websites. You might generate a little traffic, but SEO wise, no! Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that blog commenting isn’t suitable for driving some traffic. But, don’t ever hire an SEO company that uses it as backlink building strategy. It’s not a backlink building strategy. You should drill down on 5-10 authority websites and use your commenting for “link building outreach.” This will take far less of your time, and you’ll get more return from the search engines.
For instance, you could comment on 10 blogs a week leaving something of value for a couple of weeks. Then, send the webmaster a message asking if you could write a guest post (nofollow) on their blog or website. Chances are since you’re not just leaving a comment and then never returning again you don’t appear to be one of the many spammers on the net.
Next, write a guest post that is absolutely stunning. This means something people would be proud to publish on their blog. Not just another rehashed article explaining what SEO is and why your company needs it! That has been done a million times. Think of how you can add value to their site, not yours! I still get these pitches on a daily basis. There are many ways you can come up with an awesome guest post that will attract a lot of natural links. Therefore your website or blog will have a lot more target visitors and even start to move in the search engines.
Ways To Maximize Your Efforts With Outreach
Outreach is simply establishing connections with people. Many solid connections can lead you to get in contact with some powerful influencers online. Then, if your site is of high quality you’ll get natural backlinks (meaning you don’t have to work for them). The better you connect and communicate with people the more results you’ll see.
- Put in 2 hours on writing/researching the guest post you write.
- Understand that some webmasters are going to reject your post no matter how good it is.
- Follow up on any comments.
- Find other webmasters and get in touch with them that leave you a high valuable comment.
- Engage your visitors to leave a comment.
- Share your post on social media.
- Ask for references once your post is accepted.
So let me ask you a question. Is today the day you’re going to actually start using blog commenting correctly, or are you going to continue using it incorrectly? You’re really killing your efforts by trying to take shortcuts. Please, look for my post shortly that will go further into detail about tactics you can use for outreach. Please leave your comments down below on tactics you use when trying to establish link building outreach.
I can’t believe people were still living in 2009. There is so many garbage “blog commenting” backlink building services out there it makes me sick. Google rankings are not about backlinks. It’s about the quality of your content.
Amen to that. Mostly, the blackhat world tries to game Google, so Google killed this years ago. It may have worked years ago, but algorithms change. I agree that if you have good content people will end up finding your site. Then you will be able to obtain a good ranking on Google. Guess that is why they say content is king.
I like the approach you mentioned, it certainly makes sense to offer value in the comments, get the conversation flowing and then asking to do a guest post and having the comments as a reference for your expertise… that’s a great approach, certainly food for thought.
Awesome, one of the best articles for newcomers like me,
Thanks again to share your experience.
Google ranking is all about quality content. I think quality content is best for getting more traffic and for best rankings.
We used to rely on this technique for a while until we found out that it didn’t do well ROI wise and decided to… write better content.
It always about working harder, right?
Thanks.
Thanks for the article. I’m reasonably new to this game and figuring out (slowly) that it’s about quality not the quantity of backlinks. In fact, I’ve been wondering recently if some of these “bad neighborhood” backlinks are holding me back with Google. I’m moving into more respectable avenues of pursuing quality backlinks with good content. I appreciate your efforts to get the word out.
Mass blog commenting to try and rank is garbage and not the right way to get people interested in your site. Provide quality content and have it shared around on social media works wonders. I agree with the other commenter here. Thanks for the post
These blackhat techniques where automated blog spammers are used frustrate me to no end. The way you’ve explained is the only way blog commenting should be done. As with all links, these should be done manually and in moderation.
There are so many garbage “blog commenting” backlink building services out there it makes me sick. Google rankings are not about backlinks. It’s about the quality of your content. Guess that is why they say content is king.
Some great points in the article.Understanding the in and outs of ethical SEO for me was a major learning point. I know what to look for and what it means to improve SEO ethically!
Thanks for the sound information and I completely agree with your sharing.I too believe that nowadays blog commenting doesn’t improve your ranking and Google considers only quality content.
yes good information, I agree with you. So many newbie SEO still get it wrong!
Yep, I still laugh when SEO’s try to tell me their strategy consists of blog commenting on high PageRank blogs (with a dofollow attribute). First, Pagerank has been phased out years ago. Also, it’s about having relevant backlinks. But, backlinks are slowly getting phased out. At least, that is what I believe. I focus on quality content first and foremost.
i think if the blog is in the same content as your niche, and the blog owner only allows proper comments so it doesnt become spam city then they can actually help