Google Sneezed Did You Catch a Cold? |Blog Commenting a Great Backlink Strategy

 How you can use Blog Commenting as Great Backlink Strategy.

I heard someone recently say, “every time Google sneezes, we are catching a cold.” Did you? Catch a cold I mean? If you were affected by Google’s recent algorithm changes you may give thought to an often over-looked backlink strategy called “blog commenting.”

Trying to get more backlinks to my blog I had just started article marketing when Google made some changes to try and eliminate “content farm” pages such as EzineArticles.com and other article directories. I can’t really blame Google for trying to clean up search engine results because in the end it’s about quality, not quantity.  So, is article marketing dead now? I don’t think so, but it sure took quite a hit.

Still, trying to get a grip on the ever-changing SEO strategies and finding a way to get good quality backlinks I remembered a blog post I wrote a while back about “A Fun Way To Get Free Backlinks.”

Commenting on other people in your niche’s blogs and allowing commenting on your own blog is a great way to get quality backlinks.

If you have not implemented blog commenting as a backlink strategy yet, here are a few tips.

1. First of all, allow commenting on your blog. (If you have a WordPress blog you do this under Settings > > Discussion.)

 

2. Have an anti-spam plugin installed that takes care of spam comments. I used to have Akismet (as it comes as default with WordPress) and a Captcha plugin but ran into the problem that Akismet sometimes flagged legitimate comments as spam and deleted them before I ever saw them. So I installed a great little anti-spam plugin that works like a charm and is much easier to use for my visitors.

 

3. Make it easy for people to comment on your blog posts. Sometimes I visit great blogs with very valuable content but I can’t leave a comment because I have to be registered and logged in. This will deter many visitors from leaving a comment. I know, because it stops me from leaving my feedback.

 

4. Make your blog a dofollow blog. What does this mean? If you have a WordPress blog it is set to nofollow by default.  In other words, if a person leaves a comment he or she gets no link juice from the search engines because they do not follow that link. I feel if someone leaves a great comment on my blog they deserve some link love. Don’t you agree? So by changing your blog from the default nofollow to dofollow every time someone leaves a comment they will get link juice back to their own site. I am using a great plugin that takes care of that for me.

 

5. Make sure you reply to each and every comment left on your blog. Even if it’s only a short “thanks for commenting” because, that shows the search engines that there’s someone home. So definitely reply to comments and always make sure you add value…even in leaving your replies.

 

6. Give back to your readers by installing the CommentLuv plugin and give some link love to those who take the time to leave you their feedback.

 

Just think, every time you leave a comment on somebody else’s blog you will get a link back to your own provided that it is a dofollow blog of course. By the same token, if you yourself have a dofollow blog people who leave comments on your blog also get a backlink back to their sites. So having a dofollow blog actually encourages blog commenting.

So, can you see how blog commenting is a great backlink strategy?

What are your thoughts? Leave your feedback below …and YES this is a dofollow blog.

To Your Success,

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

P.S. I missed mentioning that leaving a comment on other people’s blogs is not just for getting a backlink, it’s also a great way to build a relationship with other bloggers and their audience. In the long run this is much more valuable than a link back to your site.

P.P.S. Show some lovin’ and share this with your friends by voting and retweeting it or sharing it on Facebook. Thank You!