Sometimes we need to be motivated to comment on blogs.
So if I told you blog commenting helps with SEO, would you be interested?
Suddenly the idea of writing a comment on someone else’s blog, or encouraging your readers to comment on yours, has taken a whole new dimension!
Here are four ways to use blog commenting to attract the search engines to your blog:
Quality content
We all know the importance of good quality content to attract the search engines. But did you realise the spiders cannot tell the difference between the content and the comments?
Spiders are looking for keywords to match with search requests. They are also looking for relevancy from LSI keywords. Latent semantic indexing (LSI) keywords are related to the post’s subject, a topic match rather than a keyword match. And good, worthy, relevant comments with lots of LSI keywords are perfect to index.
Commenting helps with SEO when some comments contain more valuable material than the original post. Spiders see the comments as part of the post. So take the opportunity to get your content indexed whilst piggybacking on the host blog’s ranking or Domain Authority.
The optimum length of a good comment is between 100 to 200 words. This should be enough to make a substantial point about the post to improve its quality. As long as what you write is relevant, constructive and well written, it has a good chance of being both accepted and read.
Increasing popularity
A blog with lots of comments can have a significant impact on the ranking of the associated post. Commenting helps with SEO when it generates popularity.
Spiders look for lots of interaction. Lots of comments means the blog has lots of readers. Lots of readers means the blog contains content that is worth reading. This may not necessarily mean good quality content, but a popular blog with a thriving community is very attractive to search engines.
Blogs with extremely active comment sections encourage more returning readers. Good natured debates and discussions are always interesting to read, and many readers will check back to catch up on what has been said.
This interaction could result in sharing posts (and therefore the comments) to get in front of new readers. And these in turn may like to become commenters.
However, it is best to focus on only publishing quality comments. Good, highly quality UGC (user generated content) will stimulate conversations. And longer stays on your blog posts also reduce the bounce rates in your analytics.
Relationship building
Commenting helps with SEO to get you as a blogger noticed for the right reasons. Here is a chance to stand out with quality. Provide helpful, constructive, relevant and worthy responses that enhance the original post and improve what it has said.
First read the post and other comments carefully. Then offer an additional insight, differing opinion or information others may find useful. Use a conversational style, and present yourself as a real person, someone other readers can relate to.
Comment on relevant websites, or on blogs your ideal readers frequently visit. Consistent commenters will gain the respect of the blog’s author, who will soon expect contributions on a regular basis.
Hopefully this will develop into a guest post invitation. Now you will be able to write more than a comment, and on a subject of your choice. Your bio’s valuable links will attract both spiders and other readers back to your blog.
Links and traffic
Whenever you submit a comment, you automatically generate acceptable backlinks to your blog. These are valuable portals spiders can use. They have much more power than links within the comment itself, which tend to be abused by spammers.
Commenting on a blog that is related to your topic means other readers are more likely to check out your blog via these links. This goes hand in hand with providing quality comments that show off your knowledge or expertise.
Highly relevant comments can distract a spider’s attention away from the original post, only to pull your content for the featured snippet. This prized publicity places your words and links in front of a much bigger audience than before.
Be wary using backlinks when considering how commenting helps with SEO. Comments provide suitable links that can enhance the optimisation of your blog. However, avoid spamming practices which could be detrimental if you don’t use your links correctly.
Have you found commenting helps with SEO?
Let us know if this is the case, and share your results in the comments below. We would love to read what you have to say.
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Fantastic breakdown of blog commenting, as always Alice. Like me, you use the Thrive Comments system, do you think that helps boost the “value” of the comment or is a nicer user experience?
Also, how do I know if someone is adding to the conversation or merely commenting to be more important than post itself?
Hi Sarah, thanks for your comment. I’ve set up my Thrive Comment plugin to give my frequent commenters a badge to mark their consistency and loyalty. I can see how many comments you have given me, and that you are now placed in the highest ranking (so far).
A comment that adds to the conversation needs to provide extra value to the subject matter. It is additional content that enhances or improves it.
However, commenting that becomes more important than the post itself will probably annoy the blog’s author, especially if the comment is longer than the post. There is a fine line to providing enough to make the comment worthy and writing too much.
But if the search engines decide the comment contains more value than the original post, this might be a wake-up call to the blog’s author. Provided that the commenter has left a respectful and appreciative comment, I suggest the post host should learn from this experience and improve their blogging expertise.
I love my little trophy! I never noticed it until now! I shall immediately go and set them up on mine… I’m all for wake up calls on content that’s not as valuable as the comments below. This is the new content jacking :D, have I just coined a new phrase? Comment Jacking? I believe I have… <3
Yes, Sarah, keep commenting and you’ll soon see a new badge – I’m going to set up some more new ones for people who leave LOADS of comments!
I wrote more about commenting badges in this post: https://fairyblogmother.co.uk/loyal-commenters/
I like Comment Jacking – something I can work on (watch this space!).
Yes, I agree with you, Alice. Commenting helps with SEO in getting traffic, links and building relationships.
Thank you for your comment Akash. I can see you are into SEO – can you give me any examples when commenting and SEO working together have made a difference to your clients?
This is fascinating. I knew that commenting was a great way to expand your network and build relationships, but didn’t realise all the other ways it boosts SEO. I shall be far more diligent and consistent in my commenting practice from now on, thank you Alice
Thank you Esther, you’ve made the right move by commenting. Careful thought about what you say, and writing enough to make it helpful and worthy, can make a big difference towards getting the right kind of traffic back to your blog or website.
One of the best blogs I’ve ever come across. I’d like to recommend Digivision360 Technologies as another great resource, if you are looking for Correct ways to rectify your Duplicate Content Issue in SEO.
Thank you, I’m sure this information will be interesting to our readers.