Blog Comments For Link Building or Reputation?

You've seen them... those spammy blog comments touting the benefits of herbal Viagra or acai for weight loss. To ensure that hyperlinks would have no SEO value when people left these types of spam comments on certain blogs, HTML NoFollow tags were created by Google in 2005. Any blog comment containing a link that contains the NoFollow attribute does not get any credit when search engine rankings are decided. Many websites and blogs are now using the NoFollow attribute by default to prevent spam comments from being made although sometimes human moderators are still used.

DoFollow blogs do NOT use the NoFollow tag. When people comment on DoFollow blogs and leave a link, that link has SEO value. As such, webmasters and spammers seek out DoFollow blogs so they can leave hyperlinks with anchor text containing their target keywords. It's easy to find DoFollow blogs by doing a Google search. There are also many tools out there that help you find DoFollow blogs and generate hundreds of generic comments to leave on them. Moreover, services exist that post hundreds of comments with links on DoFollow blogs. Many webmasters and marketers jump on DoFollow blog commenting as an opportunity for link-building because it is cost-effective and easy. However, are the long-term results worthwhile?

The Link-Building Power of DoFollow Blog Comments

When you comment on hundreds of relevant DoFollow blogs, there are certainly SEO benefits. However, it seems that so many webmasters and marketers are desperate for links and forget to take a look at the big picture. The immediate search engine ranking benefits of dropping comments on DoFollow blogs are nice but the long-term benefits of leaving thoughtful comments and connecting with bloggers is far more beneficial as a link-building tactic in the long run.

When you give it some thought, leaving comments on DoFollow blogs may not require you to invest any money but it certainly demands your time. And because your time is essentially money, it's a good idea to use it wisely and get the highest return for your investment. Rather than just looking at commenting on blogs as an easy way to build links, you ought to use it to your full potential. First off, you must get rid of the narrow mindset that you can only comment on DoFollow blogs. Comment on both DoFollow and NoFollow blogs. Focus on finding blogs that are relevant and popular in your niche rather than worrying about whether they are DoFollow or NoFollow.

The ultimate goal in blog commenting should be to attract direct links to your site from popular bloggers because of your knowledge and reputation. This will have far more power because it will drive droves of targeted traffic to your website.

In essence, commenting on hundreds of DoFollow blogs may offer immediate SEO benefits but when you consider how time-consuming it can be, it may be more worthwhile for you to actually read blogs in your niche and leave thoughtful contributions in the comment section. Ideally your comments would offer helpful information to the blogger and his or her readers.

So there you have it. Consider commenting on blogs whether they are DoFollow or NoFollow with the aim of attracting direct links and reputation. In the long run this tactic will provide you with far more benefits, SEO and otherwise.