There is a common theory that you must go out and comment on blogs and forums so you can get more links to your site and this will somehow increase your PageRank or rankings in SERP’s. While this is not completely untrue, it is not a main factor that you should be worrying about.
I used to think this was the way to get PR and higher rankings in the SERP’s and would continuously work on getting backlinks in this manner. It even got to the point that I was spending more time commenting than I was writing my own content. I have been testing and re-testing ways to get better SERP’s for my products and services sites over the last two years, and my findings are that these links, while they are not useless, serve a different purpose.
Traffic Generating Links:
I comment on a lot of blogs in many niches on a near daily basis. This started because I thought that these links were the end all of getting PR. It became a habit, and then later something I just enjoyed doing because I like to write and I like to express my opinion (yes I can be opinionated).
Through lots of research, I realized that these links I would “drop”, whether in forums or on blogs were actually of great benefit to me, but not necessarily for the reasons I thought. I was generating traffic though these links, and gaining regular readers, but it was not helping my SERP rankings very much.
Before I started this site, I went out and found a bunch of blogs in this niche and started commenting regularly on them, leaving value added comments, replying to other comments, and returning to reply to those that replied to my comments. I was building up to the launch of this site, and I was building a community around it before it even launched.
By doing this, I immediately had traffic when my site went live. I also immediately began getting comments, from day one. That is not something I had been able to accomplish with my past site launches because I would go live and then go and promote it.
Links For SEO:
There are many theories about links for SEO, I personally don’t think of anything that happens off page to be SEO, so I don’t consider links to be part of SEO. I look at them as advertising, because when I drop a link on your comment section I am hoping that my comment will be good enough to get a click through not just from you, but maybe your readers too.
Please don’t misunderstand me, links are an important part of building and maintaining your website, but linkbuilding is another topic altogether. I have seen people write that links are what gets you ranked, but I have seen those same sites have 50k backlinks and still be a PR3 or 4, so I don’t believe that a link is a link, and I don’t think that links in comment sections or in sidebars are valued by Google at all, but they do represent a good amount of traffic, to be more specific, referral traffic.
Kelly at FMSSEO wrote a great article on Links For SEO, and she refers to the links that are surrounded by text in the body of the article having greater value. I agree with this 100%, and it is why when I write Link Roundup articles anymore, I changed the format to be more natural reading and not just a list of links. I think this type of article will give more weight to the sites/articles I am linking to, in essence show more trust.
Conclusion:
Yes you should be commenting to get links, but I prefer to look at it as site promotion rather than linkbuilding or SEO. I truly believe if you change the way you are thinking about this, your comments will add more value because you are trying to compel readers to click through to your site.
Happy Commenting 
56 Comments, Comment or Ping
Thanks for mentioning Kelly’s article Keith, always appreciated.
The best link posts are those that are written with a text (say a paragraph) around the link for sure. Even better when the link is anchored nicely and the surrounding text mentions related keywords. Making it all look ‘natural’ is also very important.
Example: your paragraph mentioning Kelly is spot on.
Regards,
Karl
January 21st, 2010
I love commenting, and while I think (for me at least) there’s an element of ‘check out my blog!’ (non-verbally of course. Except for right there. But I digress
) I only really do it if there’s something I want to say anyway.
CommentLuv just happens to be a nice addition.
January 21st, 2010
Thanks Karl, I am hoping that more bloggers will heed to that type of linking format for their link posts.
January 21st, 2010
Commenting is certainly not just for link-building; then again, its not just for advertising either, imho. Actively commenting gives you benefits of joining a nice community of people, sharing your thoughts and engaging other people with their thoughts. Of course, you get a few backlinks, and you get a few click throughs, and you get some advertising. But, I’d imagine that folks out there who leave comments, solely for benefit to themselves, don’t stick around long. That’s not real passion of blogging and engaging with folks!
January 21st, 2010
Right on. I’ve enjoyed thinking of comments in this way – as promotions of my personal brand or blog as opposed to using them simply to increase the number of links in. I think that’s why the content of every comment is important since it always says something about who we are.
January 21st, 2010
Exactly Brandon, if more people thought this way, then the quality of the comments would improve greatly!
January 21st, 2010
I’ve always said that as long as people left constructive and informative comments on blogs and forums, that these would lead to traffic to their blogs as people would follow them to their blog to see what they are all about.
Knowing this to be true it makes me wonder why people waste their time leaving generic comments, like nice post, everywhere, especially on my blog where I take great pleasure in deleting them. No-one is going to follow a person leaving that type of comment.
January 21st, 2010
Cause they misunderstand the uses for comments and the links in them.
January 21st, 2010
Last year there was a guy from tucsonseosolutions.com/blog who did an experiment that he told everyone about. Every day for 109 days he went out and specifically left comments on anywhere from 3 to 5 blogs to see what would happen to his website, since his blog is in a subdirectory on his site. By year’s end if you put in Tucson SEO his website comes up #1, and his Alexa rank got him under 100,000. It was an interesting strategy, but I just imagined trying to keep up that kind of pace because he never went to the same blog twice.
I don’t think I would feel comfortable doing that type of thing on purpose. I only comment when I have something to say, not to get any real benefit out of it, though I know that if I write something good that some people will want to come see what I have to say. But one has to be true to themselves; otherwise, it’s just a game, and a very badly played one at that.
January 21st, 2010
I’m not sure if you ever sat down and read Google’s patent. It is not the number of links pointing to your website that influences your ranking, but the number of links over a given period of time.
Next: The links that are surrounded by text in the body of the article do have greater value. That’s why advertiser switched to blog reviews. “Wink”
Last: Actually the links in your sidebar( blogroll) is said to have a negative affect on your PR. It drains it. Does your blogroll suck is a great read.
January 21st, 2010
I do agree with you, commenting is like leaving your business card on someones website. It leaves a feedback with a trail of where you came from. With CommentLuv it also gives a little taste of what you talk about. I like that you can choose a custom post to display so you can tailor to match who your commenting on.
January 21st, 2010
First: This is not an article about Google and I don’t want to go there, maybe another time
Second: I was talking about links for your blog not advertisers, but content links and how to get them is another topic.
Last: I read the article you quoted, and the one they refer to as the “sandbox” and would have felt better had they cited a source on the “120 links” theory, or at least if they had tested this theory. I saw holes in it from my own testing. Plus, that was written over 3 yrs ago and we all know SEO is a living breathing animal so I try to stick to more recent information.
January 21st, 2010
Hi my friend wonderful site
i am knew to all this only took up the laptop just over a year ago and my wee head hurt with all the info do this dont do this etc
now i just have fun and talk about what i care about and over the year i have met hundredes of cool people and some of the comments and emails i have received has inspired me to try to blog and write better
peace and light
January 21st, 2010
First: I never said it was an article on Google! I also don’t want to go there or will I go there with YOU! You were the one to mention Google in your post. I responded!
2nd: I’m sorry you couldn’t comprehend what I was saying! You mentioned the articles in the body having valued. I agreed with that factor mentioning that advertisers were now requesting reviews as a form of advertising because of the fact links in the body of a post had more value!
Last: There are more recent articles on Blog Rolls leaking Page rank, however I don’t care to nor will I debate with you about this.
Ps: No need to reply! I followed up with you further in an email!
January 21st, 2010
I comment on as many as 20-30 blogs some days, and have been for over 30 days now (something I am testing too, but for a different purpose, which I prefer to use this site for since it is more of my hobby/testing grounds) but I do stick mostly with the same blogs adding new ones as I discover them within my niche.
I do think that there are multiple reasons to comment, of course having something valuable to add is most important, the other benefits come if you are true to that concept (adding value).
As always, thanks for your insight and comment Mitch!
January 21st, 2010
You forgot to use the Comment Luv, and I know I just read a post of your that was good….let me look… oh yeah, and it is even relevant to this topic! dragonblogger.com/tips-for-leaving-blog-comments/ great article and some god conversation in your comment section too!
Thanks for stopping by Dragon (didn’t use the KeywordLuv so I can’t remember your real name LOL)
January 21st, 2010
Valued should be value.. Grrr.. I wish you had an edit feature. I really need to proof read!:)
January 21st, 2010
I wasn’t trying to argue with you Rose, just that you have brought up the whole Google Patent thing with me before and I didn’t want to go there for obvious reasons, I respect you as a blogger so didn’t mean to offend you at all.
I wasn’t debating the PR leaking in blogrolls with you, I was just commenting on the article you linked to, and I had never heard of this stuff before so I usually like to see multiple sources and maybe even do my own testing to determine what works for me.
Sorry if my content was taken out of context or the other way around
January 21st, 2010
You are not the first person to say that, adding one now, Sorry
January 21st, 2010
I brought it up because you commented on something within it. Need Dell Information?
January 21st, 2010
That’s a really true opinion Keith. Blog commenting should not just be considered a way of only building backlinks but also to advertise your blog through a clean/non spammy way.
One should consider not just commenting on dofollow blogs but also commenting on nofollow blogs. You can obviously leave your URL at the end of a nice comment on such blogs which will bring good amount of traffic.
Just give a try what I said on big blogs like problogger or techcrunch. And I bet, I am not wrong. You will surely get good traffic from that comment you made..
January 22nd, 2010
On the big blogs if you are not within the first 5-10 comments I never get more than a few clicks back, just my experience.
I try not to pay attention to whether do-follow or not, just whether or not is relevant to my niche and good content.
Thanks for stopping by Typhoon, always appreciate your comments
January 22nd, 2010
Ouch! You’ve given me something I should think about. Commenting has been my way of connecting.
January 22nd, 2010
Keith,
You make some great points. I believe comments are important, I have seen what they can do for a new site. I am now average around 30 visitors a day just from old comments I made on popular blogs. I got a 80 yesterday just for making 30 comments on a bunch of blogs. As time goes on I will have see how these comments work out for the site. I also believe that search engine do not weigh comments as much content links as Kelly mention on her recent post. I also believe that comments are advertisement for you site. The better response you can make the more traffic back to your site you get.
On my sites and the sites I maintain for my SEO Clients, I always use a lot of outbound links whenever possible.
January 22nd, 2010
Here! Here! I actually started out some time ago with the thought that comment links would help with SEO but actually ended up just enjoying participating in the discussions. Even thought it doesn’t take long to work out that comment links give very little (if any) SEO benefit, I’ve still ended up involving myself in the discussions just for the enjoyment of it. Like yourself, I focus link building efforts in producing good copy with embedded links which certainly seems to do the trick
D
January 22nd, 2010
My site is just over 30 days old (this one) and i get between 50-100 visitors a day, I would say commenting on blogs has provided me with most of that traffic.
January 22nd, 2010
You will never gain any PR just by commenting on blogs because most of the pages are PR0 – PR1. People looking for PR gain need to look somewhere else. As for link building…I read the blogs I do because I love learning new things about anything and everything. A little link luv for reading blogs and commenting is just a nice bonus.
January 22nd, 2010
Hey Keith
I really appreciate you expressing this, it really helps me to understand comments and SEO better. I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination at SEO and just learning bit by bit everyday.
I have never really thought of comment links as SEO tactics either, I also thought that it was common courtesy to comment on something you found beneficial or if someone had the common courtesy to comment on your site, I guess more of a community builder.
January 22nd, 2010
Yeah man, it’s gotta add value.
It’s a shame to read a comment which is only a great post…. link. I think that sometimes is as good as not even commenting at all.
anyway, good post here’s my link lol
January 22nd, 2010
I have been commenting more but I only comment when I find the post has engaged me and I have something to contribute although on my own blog, I am happy for any kind of comment. Fortunately, it isn’t hard to find a lot of good thinking, new ideas or just reminders that you have forgotten how important something might be. Thanks for the information about list of links. I have been doing them thinking they were good. I will incorporate them in some text from now on.
January 22nd, 2010
It’s strange that people take different paths to arrive at the same conclusion, the thought process is awesome.
Point being I never really thought of commenting as a way to get backlinks or generate PR when I started blogging because I really didn’t care. I comment on the things I like regardless of the other benefits that it might bring, it all comes together and benefits one way or another. Another excellent post bro.
January 22nd, 2010
Keith, that is a great point that you bring up. When I first started blogging I was like you spending more time commenting on other blogs trying to build links. Now a days, I comment when I feel compelled to do so or think I can somehow add something to the conversation. I also think the commenting on other blogs is a great way to build relationships with other bloggers in your niche.
January 22nd, 2010
I think that when a post is done around the main topic and you link to it using good keywords it will do the best. This is a great way to get attention to something and build up readership as well.
January 23rd, 2010
This was my opinion all a long commenting on any sites has its benifits wether it be a dofollow or nofollow i would still comment i give you an example i submit articles to digg which is said to be do-follow i don’t get much traffic from them but the the comments i left on website tends to bring more traffic and this is what i need visitors having a site with a pr9 and no traffic is useless it is more of a fact to what you have written keith i back you 100%. Thanks for highlighting this
January 23rd, 2010
Thanks Andy, I appreciate your comment. Just remember that not everything everyone says is concrete, you have to do your own testing and research to see what works for your site.
January 23rd, 2010
Yep, that’s right Jenny. I wrote a post last month about using comments to build community.
January 23rd, 2010
Headed over to read that article!
January 23rd, 2010
I think changing the way these link lists are published will help not only the site you are linking to, but also the reader will more likely click through.
January 23rd, 2010
Commenting on other blogs is free advertising indeed. I’ve commented on quite a few blogs recently. This made the author happy to receive feedback and it drove some traffic to my blog. It’s good for both parties involved.
January 23rd, 2010
Thanks John, that is probably why your comments ALWAYS add value to an article!
January 23rd, 2010
Thanks Keith for this completely convincing arguments!
I found commenting very useful primarily for
1. Getting ideas about what’s going on what shall I write my next post about
2. Source of traffic and building community
3. Search engines to find link and crawl through my page too!
I realized that the links on comment will hardly contribute any value to ranking. Now, I need to turn my commenting into advertising of the link I’m going to leave at the end? Then, whenever I’m writing a post about something I refer heavily to other sites and posts related to the topic. This is helping them to gain ranking from my post, isn’t it?
January 23rd, 2010
Excellent post man and it was a REAL pleasure to be able to speak with you on the phone. Just one tip that pic of you in the author section could u pls scale it down to 20px it’s a little hard on the eyes LOL
Oh snap he didn’t
Hey I’m real proud to know you man I wish bloggers were half as cool as YOU
Peace
Thanks
January 23rd, 2010
i think commenting on other blogs is great.Apart from getting links and traffic,it helps build relationships and other great benefits.i just made a post about it
January 24th, 2010
Yes! You are right! I love to leave comment in others blog everyday! Instead of just promoting my blog, i can also build up relationship with others through commenting.
January 24th, 2010
Commenting is the most free advertising method! although there is some people would pay to someone to comment on blogs on their niche, you can find this on discussion forums where bloggers talk!
January 24th, 2010
@Tycoon Blogger @blog hosting reviews, I still comment a lot (too much sometimes!) But I have much to say, and I like building community too!
January 24th, 2010
I don’t really pay attention to do-follow or no-follow either, I just comment when I have something to say.
January 24th, 2010
Definitely a plus for both parties involved, especially if the comment creates more conversation.
Sometimes the comments are better than the actual article, which is what every blogger should like to see on their site!
January 24th, 2010
Well, I tend to think the opposite. I would think that only a small percentage of people follow links in a comment. But search engine will consider it a valid backlink as long as its not a nofollow.
April 1st, 2010
There have been various hypothesis that exist about what type of link gives you the best SEO benefit. Personally, I think contextual link from blog, post or article about the subject matter of your site is the best.
Then I think forum link and blog comments both are important seo benefit if related and with no nofollow attribute.
April 1st, 2010
Hey Keith ~ Sorry I’m just getting to this post (followed on over here from – somewhere LOL) and I see a lot of familiar faces here
I too agree that blog commenting is a great way to introduce your blog to new readers and I will agree that I’m not too sure about it’s SEO benefits. Reading Mitch’s comment (hey Mitch *huGs*) about the guy who did comments on new blogs for 109 days straight … Wow! That’s some … stamina LOL … I can say when I check my stats I regularly get visits from some comments I left over a year ago … so I know it is an effective way to get new readers to check you out. Thanks for the great post. *SmiLes* Suzanne
April 6th, 2010
hey keith,
I stimbled onto this blog, started reading it, then realised you wrote it…lol. :0
Small world, seeing some of the same people posting comments on the similar blogs, not a surprise seeing as we are all finfing each other through…comment links.
I am just enjoying the commenting mojo I have been given a shot of from the WP move and having the commentluv added.
I commented on other blogs anyway before then but the plug in has given commenting a real new dimension, rather than clicking their names and going to the main home page they link to.
I for one am glad to have this community growing around us.
But yeah, different people comment for different reasons, with or without links.
For me the net is a massive phone, being deaf… so maybe people see why I like engaging more than most online.
Great article and another good blog to read.
April 11th, 2010
Interesting point of view, although I’m sure you know many would disagree. Good content might get you a higher PR for your own web site. But I see a lot of sites in google with lesser PR higher than the big PR guys. Content is good for PR, but backlinks are best for ranking.
May 10th, 2010
Thanks so much for this post – I found the same thing. In fact, the time I spent in forums i learned so much about SEO in other ways, commenting was just a natural thing to do. As for commenting on other blogs, I haven’t experienced bloggers reaching out to me yet, but then I’m still fairly new to the process.
blog.waxmarketing.com
May 10th, 2010
Yes, I quite agree with you that comment links are advertisements for the website or blog you link to. And it is also a good way to express yourself on blogs and provide information.
July 19th, 2010
This message is for Lech Mazur. You have major complaints against Citi-data. People have been trying to contact you personally. Since this is one way to let people know This link you can scroll down and see the numerous complaints with regards to your citi-data. People get kick off for no reason, get posting deleted without reason. Get infractions for whatever they feel like it. I myself have experience this so I cannot say that some of the complaints is false. I can’t believe you have these type of people you hire do this. Your site while it may have traffic has gotten a very bad reputation which in turn can result if it hasn’t already a lawsuit.
http://www.google.com/search?q=citi+data+lech+mazur&hl=en&prmd=o&ei=PI1cTK3HAcKC8gaVufTRAg&start=0&sa=N
August 6th, 2010
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