Blog Commenting for SEO and Exposure: More Than Dofollow Links

A man in a field jacket hiding below his hood.


When I am blogging less I get also fewer visitors and thus fewer comments.

In times like these I get more comments for the SEO benefit of it.

Comments out of the sheer joy of commenting become rare.

There is nothing wrong with blog commenting for SEO and exposure! Unless of course you do it wrong.

These days most bloggers get often unintelligible comments!

They are barely scratching the surface of the issue at stake or adding any other value.

How to use blog commenting properly to gain SEO and exposure among industry peers then?


SPAM vs Real Comments

Take note: I did not even mention the automated comments!

I did not yet refer to spam networks of “thank you, great post” bots.

Commentators who add no value fail most of the time and comment for the sheer numbers.

Dropping 100 one line comments and getting 90% of them deleted still results in ten links.

This is the same calculation as the spam industry makes.

Real comments on contrast are manually written by humans.

They refer to the actual topic they comment on.

They are useful and adding some value.


Why Do People Leave Meaningless Comments on Blogs?

Why do people (or bots) comment without adding any value to the conversation?

Spammers just want to build so-called “dofollow” links without the effort.

When it comes to link building you can’t rely on sheer numbers and low quality links though.

That’s what you get when solely commenting on blogs for the links of it. The 10% that get through suck. Also you get flagged on Akismet or similar SPAM protection tools.

By spamming comments you mostly build links on poorly attended or dead blogs.

You may also get some links on hugely popular blogs where there are 50 or more comments and your link is one of them. As there are so many of them they get discounted too by Google.


Why Commenting for SEO and Exposure Can Make Sense

Blog commenting for SEO and exposure is actually about more than “dofollow” links.

In the best case scenario a comment link can make a huge difference. A proper blog comment can:

  • Establish a long lasting relationship between you and the blogger
  • Make the blogger add your link to the actual post as an update
  • Make the blogger visit and write about your actual site
  • Convince the blogger to share your content on social media
  • Make readers of the blog visit your site and doing some of the things mentioned above

Of course it’s not rocket science to achieve that. Most of the outstanding bloggers out there who are my virtual friends have “met” me online.

Many of them first encountered me via comments or other blogging and social media activity. Some of them have linked me numerous times since then.

This is basically one of the main differences between SEO and SEO 2.

In SEO 2 relationships make you succeed not mindless following of Google’s wishes.

So how exactly do you blog commenting for SEO and exposure?

First you got to forget about dofollow links. To achieve the most important goals listed above dofollow is irrelevant.

Btw. even those so called dofollow links do not count much with Google. Google can spot where a link is placed.

Editorial links added by the author are much more powerful for SEO and exposure than links in the comments you add yourself.


How to Comment the Right Way?

Use a real name or a memorable nick name without keywords in it.

In case you want to introduce yourself as a professional you can by adding your company name or your actual profession

  • John Doe of Google
  • John Doe, SEO Consultant

Many private bloggers won’t accept that though so you better stick with your name.

I’ve have explained blog commenting netiquette in depth here.

In order to comment successfully you have to:

  • Read the post.
  • Acknowledge the name of the blogger: my name is Tad.
  • Express the aspects you agree with at first.
  • Refer to or mention a phrase used in the post.
  • Add something useful to it. A correction, an observation, an additional resource (it can be yours!).

While I assume that it’s not a daunting task still most people don’t do that. Here I present you a blueprint for proper blog commenting for SEO and exposure:

Hey [Blogger’s Name]!

[topic of blog post]

is indeed crucial for [example from your industry]. Especially when it comes to [case 1, case 2, case 3].

This line here: [citation from the blog post] made me think about [reference to something outside the blog post].

For [topic of blog post] it means you need to [your addition] in order to succeed. There is/I wrote a post about this. See it here: [link].

Sincerely, [your name]

To make it even easier I’ll give you an example comment for this post:

Hey Tad!

Blog commenting for SEO

is indeed crucial for getting a good start in the SEO industry. Especially when it comes to traffic, forging relationships with other bloggers and getting a name.

This line here: “First you got to forget about dofollow links.” made me think about how people used to obsess with meta tags and PageRank in the past.

For blog commenting it means that you need to focus on quality not quantity as well in order to succeed. I wrote a post about this. See it here:
http://seo2.onreact.com/seo-vs-seo2

Sincerely, Tad

Now I’m awaiting your perfect comments! Blog commenting for SEO and exposure really works!

I do it elsewhere and others do it successfully on my blog.

Take note though that I do not let you link your name anymore though.

The link you add won’t get displayed at all. I only use it to look up who you are.

You may add some additional helpful links in the actual comment though.