How To Get Backlinks From Blog Comments
Posted by Wizzer in blog backlinks, tags: backlinks from blog commentsHi - good to see you again.
Don't forget - leave a message on the Contact Wizzer page if I can help with anything
A simple statement - “How to get backlinks from blog comments” - but it can lead to a much broader answer and discussion relating to the reason you are looking for backlinks.
Page Authority
First off, if the exercise is to increase your page rank with the search engines then without doubt the ultimate backlinks are from already highly ranked sites that contain content relevant to your own blog.
The increasing intelligence of search engines has resulted in more prominence being given to links from truly relevant sites. This is because the search engines number one objective is to provide the best possible results based on the search term used by the browser.
If you were looking for information on say, ” how to play better golf”, but all of the results from a particular search engine showed information about VW Golf cars you’d soon try another search engine. If the backlinks to a particular site called “play better golf” are from other sites all about golf this tells the search engines that “play better golf” is indeed an authority site (also thought of as relevant by other golf sites) about golf and will receive higher prominence in the results as a consequence.
If the links are from all manner of random sites then although the backlinks will help to a degree they will not help build the authority that is so necessary for consistently high rankings.
Backlinks from relevant sites are also very likely to result in an increase in traffic from those sites as visitors (who are more likely to be interested in what you have to say and / or sell) click through your links.
Backlinks Count
Although there are thousands of blog posts on the subject of backlinks many of these talk only about getting backlinks by leaving comments on as many blogs, forums and social sites as possible. There are link building software programs available but the basic aim of most of these is to build up the number of links regardless of where they come from. These link exchange type of programs typically produce a “directory” of links – guess what – Google is on to you!
If you use a program like Market Samurai you’ll find that some of the top ranking sites have far fewer backlinks than lower placed sites. Other factors such as keywords in titles, categories, tags and in the content of the post are clearly more important than pure numbers of backlinks. The algorithms (don’t ask me what that really means – just the methodology used by the search engines to asses sites for ranking purposes) are becoming more complicated and are no longer based on ranking sites highly because there is a liberal sprinking of the keyword throughout the page!
This screenshot, for example, shows the relevant positions for the top ten sites for the search term “dog fleas”.
You’ll see some of the lower ranked sites have hundreds of thousands of links but there are other factors at play that result in different sites ranking higher.
Backlinks - Click To Open In New Window
So although numbers of backlinks will help, the relevancy of those backlinks is becoming more important (after, of course, the other SEO factors we teach at blogging beginners ).
Traffic
If your objective is to generate traffic through backlinks then there are two issues to consider.
Getting a higher ranking should ensure more “organic” traffic – that comes from people finding your site through their searches on the search engines.
But if your thinking is that you will get visitors as a result of your comments containing the backlinks to your site then you need to think through exactly what you are saying. If you are on a site about “playing better golf” there is absolutely no point leaving a comment along the lines of “Great information” and expecting anybody to be so impressed they come in their truck loads to read your other pearls of wisdom on your site.
Similarly, if you left a comment “great information – read all about getting rid of dog fleas at my site” I expect you will be sorely disappointed at the results.
Your comments must add to the conversation going on. Try to encourage people reading your comments to visit your site without being blatant. If they think you have something relevant and interesting to say they are much more likely to visit.
So something along the lines of “I think you have a very important point here. I agree / disagree about…. As I was telling my visitors last week, my golf pro insists that I should….” may well entice some extra visits.
Even if you comment on seemingly unrelated blogs you are often able to link to your site with a relevant comment. Regardless of your niche you can almost certainly tie in a comment to an internet marketing based site since indirectly by having a blog / website your are involved in that sector too.
So a relevant comment on a post about getting backlinks from blog comments (ahem, you may spot a little clue here) could be:
“This subject is really interesting for me. I’m trying to build the traffic to my post about “eradicating dog fleas” and have tried commenting on blogs about dogs in the past. Although the product I’m selling guarantees to rid your dog of fleas forever and is potentially highly relevant I’m finding it very difficult to find enough suitable blogs to comment on. Do you have any ideas how I might find some?”
Now that’s not blatant nor is it strictly targeted – but many people reading the comments may well have flea bitten dogs and may be taken by this revolutionary flea eradicating product and take a look at the blog. However, the blog owner may be happy too because you have expanded the conversation and given an idea for further posts about finding suitable blogs to comment on.
Blog Comments
Virtually every blog requests your name, your site url and your email address before you are able to leave a comment.
The name you leave becomes the anchor text and the url the actual link. Rather than always giving just the basic site URL it makles sense to get some deep links by leaving the URL to a specific post – particularly if it is highly relevant to the post you are commenting on.
Ideally, the “name” you use (which is the anchor text) should contain the keyword of your post. However – be very careful. Many blog owners will delete or treat as spam comment any “name” that looks like a blatant attempt to use their site purely to obtain anchor text backlinks.
For example using text like “SEO Tactics” is likely to be deleted whereas sometimes you might getting away with “John the SEO Guy”.
Personally, I’d just accept that it is difficult to achieve perfection with this and any backlink from a relevant site is good – particularly if you are also likely to leverage on the traffic from that site by attracting some targeted visitors from the post on which you left your highly intelligent and relevant comment.
I’m sure you’ll appreciate that chucking up some ill-thought out information that is not relevant to what is being said on the site is unlikely to be of any benefit to anyone. It may be deleted as spam, your reputation will not be enhanced and you are unlikely to attract any visitors interested in what else you have to say.
There is another factor that needs to be mentioned. For some reason some people are reluctant to allow backlinks on their sites and use a “no follow” approach on their sites. This means that the search engines will not “follow” the links and therefore you will be wasting your time commenting on such sites. Part of the reason for this stance appears to be related to stopping comment spam but in my opinion it also reduces the real purpose of blog comments and that is to build social interaction.
You’ll see that on this blog I not only allow comments but use the Comment Luv plugin that seeks out my guests latest post and automatically offers to link to that.
So one of the easiest ways to get backlinks from blog comments is to seek out blogs (such as WizzerSays) and leave thoughtful and relevant comments.
I look forward to seeing what you have to say – and by the way, many bloggers are like me and take a look at their visitors sites as a matter of course – it would be rude not to!
WizzerSays
"Do It Now"
How To Use EasyHyperLinks To Create Anchor Text Backlinks
Entries (RSS)
Great Information!
How To Blog Using Social Bookmarking
Trust you to spoil the surprise of my next post, which will cover using my free online tool Easy Hyper Links to generate links like the one you thought you’d get away with above!
Wizzer
Yes, that’s me the spoil sport hermit
Randy The Hermit´s last blog ..How To Blog Using Social Bookmarking
If you don’t know any HTML you can end up with a comment that you want to add including a link to your relevant post or resource that looks all wrong. Instead of a http://www.mysite.com/category/anchortextlink
“Getting a higher ranking should ensure more “organic” traffic – that comes from people finding your site through their searches on the search engines.”
I agree and well worth quoting!
Recently on our blog we told readers a thing or two about getting their site ready for new search engine rankings which relates to the importance of getting good related backlinks. Here’s an excerpt:
“Google and many other top search engines will give higher priority to websites and their pages that Web surfers have more interest and interaction with. For the most part, the way a web surfer’s relevance for a website is measured will be completely transparent…”
But, If you really think about the part…’that web surfers have more interest and interaction with.’ I think this is so important and key!
Plus it goes along completely with what you’re saying here about backlinks that relate to the topic!
You see, because of your post, the interest I have in what you’re saying and the relationship it has with what I recently tried to portray to my readers about getting ready for new search engine rankings, it made me ‘naturally’ have ‘interest’ and want to ‘interact’.
Thanks Wizzer!
D S´s last blog ..How To Get Your Website Ready For New Search Engine Rankings – Part 2
Yes, “web surfers have more interest and interaction with” is in my mind key. How many sites do I look at these days? Typically my favourites (where there is great information) and typically very few that don’t catch my immediate attention.
Some of our Blogging Beginners members were talking about the visual appeal of sites and I think it is vital to have a good looking site. Of course, you’ll never appeal to everyone, but something that looks boring will not get anybody’s attention and despite the quality of your backlinks and content – will it get read?
Wizzer
When you said…”Getting a higher ranking should ensure more “organic” traffic – that comes from people finding your site through their searches on the search engines.” I couldn’t agree more.
Recently I wrote an article on How To Get Your Website Ready For New Search Engine Rankings – Part 2
Wizzer How You Doing ??? Very well I hope …
Getting backlinks is certainly a surefire way Of getting attention from not only search engines but those in the industry you are promoting.
I like your suggestion of leaving well thought out meaningful blog comments to secure a backlink – the reason I am indulging at the moment with the outside chance of getting some love in return – HINT :-}}
Even though search engines are robotic in nature eventually you would summarise the intelligence behind the algorithms will begin to penalise and not reward blatant blog spamming even though we have the functions through our blogs to delete such rubbish … yes a waste of time but such is the nature of the world we live in.
Half decent comments that educate or even stir up controversy stimulates discussion & is that not a big part of the net itself ???
Cheers for the article was well worth my time …
Take Care & all the best
rod f.
Rod Francis´s last blog ..Links for 2009-07-05 [del.icio.us]
Hi Rod
Thanks for both taking the time to visit and read and leave your comment.
For me the whole purpose of the internet is to expand relationships – in fact if you really think about it that’s probably the meaning of life!
The only way to do that is to interact and provide help and support to others rather than trying to leverage off of them by using spammy techniques and leaving meaningless comments.
Wizzer
Excellent information, easy to read and understand the concepts of what you are putting across. Backlinks, keywords, SEO are all things that as a network marketer like yourself I’m looking for. I don’t try and compete with the likes of yourself on knowledgeable posts around backlinks etc, but I certainly lookout for all helpful and easy hints to accessing better organic traffic that I can.
I shall watch out for you next post on free hyperlinks as I’m sure this is something that I will find useful in accessing organic traffic that will result in people coming through my ’sales funnel’.
Thank you and look forward to reading more.
Julie
Hi Julie
Thanks for taking the time to comment – it’s much appreciated. I’m particuilarly glad it was easy to read & understand. I’m afraid too much information on the internet assumes a certain level of understanding that isn’t always there! I know I struggle with that some of the time.
I’m just completing a video on the use of my Easy Hyper Links tool. It should be posted later today / tomorrow.
Wizzer
[...] Yesterday’s Comments [...]
I picked up some useful points from your post, I agree with you about the importance of carefully crafting your comment so that it adds relevant content about the subject of the post. Also something I have to prompt myself to check before commenting is to see whether you are required to sign up as a member before being allowed to post. Sometimes this is easy and other times it just isn’t worth the hassle just to get a Blog comment, you really need to weigh each up on its merits to assess whether the time spent can be justified or not.
Hi Duncan, that’s a very good point. Personally I can’t see the point of putting obstacles in the way of the very people who can make a blog come alive – the visitors.
It’s like those blogs that ask you to fill in CAPTCHAs – after three attempts at deciphering some nonsense I give up.
To me the whole purpose of doing this is to build relationships with people. Would I ask them to register and answer stupid questions to talk to me over a beer? I don’t think so!
Wizzer
Good Morning Wizzer,
I am avidly reading your posts about backlinks, how backlinks count and how to get traffic for blogs. I recently have been experimenting with blogs by creating a blog as part of a site for our grammar school class 50-Year Reunion. I am using it as a learning tool to understanding how Wordpress operates so I can go on to create my own monetized blog in a month or so.
Your training on backlinks is understandable and just what I am looking for as the next step in learning how to create income streams online.
Thanks for offering this valuable help!
Sue
Sue Hurley´s last blog ..Toby’s Squeeze Play
Hi Sue, that sounds a very interesting project but did Nurse Betty really go to your school!!
Glad you’re finding the information useful and don’t forget to stop by again when you’re building your new blog.
Wizzer
Hi Wizzer,
I agree with most of what you said above and noted particularly the point refering to commenting on relevant (preferably high PR – A misconception is that just because a home page of a blog has say…a PR 7 that your back link carries the same weight…this is a fallacy…that’s why links sometimes take time to give Google juice to your site because link power increases with the age and page popularity ) blogs.
However, even though some older or more unpopular methods may not increase your PR – they are definitely still funnels for traffic. (depending on the niche or theme of your blog)
For example, I still use article marketing, networking, directories (relevant), social bookmarking, podcasting, videos etc. to bring traffic to my blog but at the same time understand that they are purely an extra bit of “oomph” and nothing more.
As for reciprocal linking, in my opinion that’s a big waste of time and no longer a valid way to add strength to your business…unless of course it’s a link on the front page of CNN. lol
Of course, there is always the method of creating a sticky topic that folks will want to link to just because it grabs attention….such as a current theme (Michael Jackson) or a helpful top ten tips. (i.e. 10 ways to attract massive amounts of traffic to any blog with little or no effort!)
But as you said, and which I also believe, a decent, honest to goodness, comment to a post, on a blog with a related topic to your niche (preferably with a high PR), with your target keyword included, is the golden nugget of back links.
P.S. Remember that it took somebody time and effort to write a good content post so please don’t put a comment like “that’s great info.” or “thanks for that” because 99% of the time you can forget that link and you may even be askimeted (temporarily blacklisted) by the blog owner. Also, don’t just copy and paste the same comment to every blog…write a “real” reply to each post you want a link from. Don’t you just hate those Christmas Cards from companies that say “Hello Valued Customer” no matter how expensive they may look!! Totally rude and impersonal.
Anyway that’s just my two cents.
I included my blog URL in the website above so I won’t repeat it here.
All the best,
Nigel Nix.
Search Enging Optimization´s last blog ..SEO Suchmaschinenoptimierung Essen
Hi Nigel
Now this is exactly what I’m talking about. A well thought out structured comment that is valuable to everybody.
Anyone reading the post and with sense enough to look through the comments should read your comment and realise that you have an idea what you’re talking about.
In turn that should lead to some clicks through to see you playing your guitar
I love your comment about “valued customers” – I’d add that I’m such a valued customer of so many UK based companies who “value my custom” that they leave me hanging on listening to canned music for 10 minutes before cutting me off!
Thanks for taking the time to leave such a full comment. I trust some of my readers will grace your pages later.
Wizzer
Hi, Wizzer. Excellent analysis of some of the important factors that make a blog comment effective and sticky. I’ll add that in addition to CommentLuv I offer commenters on my blog KeywordLuv (which takes care of the awkward name issue you mentioned) and DoFollow for their name links. I encourage other bloggers to do the same in order to encourage a real community discussion that benefits all participants. Of course, you have to moderate comments and approve only the relevant ones. But that’s important in any case.
Hi Steve, thanks for your views. I’m off to check out KeywordLuv – not used that before. I feel a blog post with a mention coming on! There’s always a reward for quality comments!
I agree, I moderate and respond to every comment. If a visitor takes the time to comment then it is only common courtesy to reply (IMHO)
Yep, there’s a lot more to the whole blog commenting deal then just dropping mad links. It’s ridiculous how much spam I delete in the form of obvious ‘bot’ comments left without adding to the conversation.
When it come to comments, conversation is king.
P.S. The ComLuv plugin rocks, I can’t seem to get it working properly on my blog though, I believe it’s just not compatible with the ‘atahaulpa’ theme, which is a shame, wish I could have both.
The whole idea of blogging is that it should be two way! You leave a comment – I read it. I visit your blog. I like it, I read it & leave a comment. We get to know each other and help each other out.
Not a difficult concept to grasp – so why, oh why do so many people think their scummy, spammy comments will work?
Comment Luv is great I agree – can add to the spam deleting load but really helps with genuine people.
Great idea on your blog about Top Commentators by the way.
Guys, you need to read this post. http://moxkirby.com/my-secret-strategy-from-a-forum-reply/
I think the most important key you hit in this entire article is the relevancy of the backlinks you’re building to your blog or website. See all backlinks are good for your website seeing in the end this means your website has seo credibility. But the key here is to make these backlinks be in the same niche as your blog or website. Google counts these as a higher quality backlinks and grants your blog or website better SERP for target keyword.
Great Read Bro and thanks for adding the wordpress plugin!
bbrian017´s last blog ..Microsoft, Apple, Linux…Google?
I found your site through another blog I was commenting on. Glad I did and this series of events is evidence of the whole process in action.
Thanks for visiting and your valuable comment.
I’m more then willing to follow you here and on blogengage!
I hope I can help you grow your blog an blog audience!
bbrian017´s last blog ..How to make money online FAST
A quick way that I like using to evaluate blogs as I’m searching is to use a plugin for FireFox called Search Status. It gives me an instant PR, Alexa, and some other details. Nice to not have any other places to look or things to click though.
Jonathan@Affiliate Marketing Tips´s last blog ..It’s Easy to be a Critic
Yes, I also use that plugin although to be honest I’m more interested in the quality and relevance of the writing than page rank etc. I know that these factors are all important and it’s sensible to leverage off of existing high volume blogs if possible. In many ways, for me anyway, its the people behind the blog, their stance and motivation that really interests me as I try to build a community of people willing and able to help each other.
Ultimately I think it is wise to use a combination of strategies and thanks for mentioning the plugin Jonathan
This was great to come across your blog and read your post on backlinks. I talk a lot on my blog about linking and sharing content with others and now after reading what you have shared here about backlinks by using a little comment lov. I just learned something new. Thanks
Hi Mike I can see from your posts that we have similar views on this topic. In particular the “attraction – give and you shall receive” mentality.
My whole point about leaving meaningful, helpful comments is just that. You are helping the blog where you leave those comments – keeping it alive and stimulating ideas and conversation and at the same time you receive links and if you do it well plenty of visitors and hopefully new subscribers.
Thanks for stopping by.
GREAT POST.Short and right to the point . I’m always looking for good info your myself and my readers. I’ve been working with web sites for over 3 years but Ive been seeing blogging becoming bigger and bigger everyday So as soon as I got the email from randy I clicked the link. I learned alot of what I know from watching the videos on Randy’s site. This is my first time here But expect to see me back alot
THANKS
JEFF HERSCHELL
Hi Jeff, great to see you here. Glad you found the post useful. Wizzer
Hi Wizzer – good point about the quality of the writing, personality & blog. One way I’ve recently seen to really capture some of the traffic on another blog, or the blog owner for that matter, into your own regular blog traffic is to leave a video comment on their blog.
Lance Tamashiro did this to me one time, and it surely makes an impact.
Jonathan´s last blog ..URL Rotator Script for Wordpress
Hi Jonathan
Never thought about that one! I tried Disqus a while back which enables audio comments but found it kept falling over for some reason. Good idea but execution not as good as it might be.
Is there a plugin / script or something to do that or do you just leave a link to a video posted elsewhere?
Wizzer
Hello Wizzer,
This has been so helpful to me…I am taking some of the blog comments i.e. using video response..also the point about leaving
a thoughtful reply vs. just something to get a backlink really goes along with the philosophy of giving first and then receiving…
I will look forward to following you and reading more you will be sharing because from what I have read you have great information that i will use starting today…
Thanks,
Kathy
kathy kelly´s last blog ..Mindset…Your Secret to Creating Wealth on the Internet?
Hi Kathy, thanks for your kind words. Leaving a great comment like that results in at least 2 actions.
1) I take a look at your blog.
2) You have a link from mine to yours
3) Other readers may well take a look at your blog based on their view of your comment
4) The relationship between us is raised a notch
5) Other readers of my blog may enter a relationship with you and your blog too
Personally, I think that’s how the internet should work.
Better than a “great post” comment. The outcome of that is likely to be —- DELETE!!!
Wizzer