Using blog comments to generate back links to your site is becoming more and more prevalent.
You have probably heard that you shouldn't waste your time with blog comments because the search engines don't follow the link because of the no follow tag.
There is a trace of truth to this but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't use blog comments to get back links because there are some blogs that don't have the no follow tags on their comments.
The default installation of WordPress automatically adds the no follow tags to the comments but if you know what you are doing you can find blogs that don't have the no follow tag or will remove the no follow tag in return for you making a certain number of posts.
But you should I am going to cover blog comment etiquette before I tell you how to find these blogs that will remove the no follow from your comments.
If you are going to leave a comment on the blog MAKE SURE the comment is relevant to the post.
If the post you are commenting on is about writing articles you don't want to leave a comment about extreme sports. If you site is extreme sports related you can have the link to your site but the comment text needs to be related to the post.
Don't put links in the body of your comment. This is very bad etiquette unless the link is to a resource that expands on your comment. This doesn't mean if you have a site on sports fishing you can put a link to your site in the comment body but if the post is on a new way to string a leader you can put a link to a page (on your site or another) that shows how to do this.
I recommend that you set your blog up so that if there are links in the body of the comment it will go to the comment moderation. This way you will have to approve the comment before it shows up on your blog. This will keep the spammy comments of your blog.
Now your name or I should say the form field where you enter your name. This should be your name or your moniker. For example I will use Randy The Hermit because more people know me that way than by my normal last name. Your moniker can have keywords in it (only helps if there are not any no follow tags) but it should be related to you or what you do. For example if you teach people how to blog you could use the moniker Blog Boy or Blogging Teacher but your moniker should stay the same no matter what you use for a link.
That pretty much covers the etiquette but I can hear a lot of you out there screaming, "Why should I bother if it is going to have the no follow tag on the back link?"
This question can be given a few answers, such as:
1.People will see your comments and your links even if there is a no follow tag. If you put 4 comments on blogs per day you will end up with over 1,500 links in a year. These links will be seen by potentially tens of thousands of readers that might visit your site.
2.If you comments adds value to the topic of the post the author and readers will start to recognize your name and you will be branding yourself as an expert.
3.If your comment is informative you will also find that a lot of the readers will click on your link to find out more about you.
4.Some of the ad services and search engines, like Ask (the last time I checked) don't read the no follow tag. With the ad services this means that you site will look more relevant and it could lead to higher pay outs on your ads.
If comments have the no follow tag activated how do you tell?
One way is to go to the blog and find a post with comments and look at the page source, find the comment and see if it has no follow tag on the link. This is a pain but it works.
The good news is that you don't have to do it that way. If you are using FireFox or Flock as your browser you can get an addon that will highlight all the no follow tags on a page. It is called SEO for FireFox and you can get it from SEOTools.com or you can search SEO for FireFox addon in Google.
This plugin will provide you with a lot of SEO information but it will also highlight any links that have no follow tags in red. If you find a post with comments if the name for the comment is highlighted in red it has no follow tags. Don't worry if you get tired of the red highlights you can turn the plugin off with a click at the bottom of your browser.
Then there is another plugin that some people add to their WordPress blogs that will reward the frequent commenter. It is called Lucia's Linky Love.
Once Lucia's is installed the blog master can set up the comments so that after a person make so many comments the no follow tag is removed for that person.
It checks the name and email address to see if this person has ever commented before and keeps track of all the ones that match. If you use different names (which has already been pointed out as a no no) or different emails you will never have the no follow tags removed.
The owner of the site can set the limit from 3 to whatever they feel like but most of the time if they are using the plugin it is set from 3 to 5. This means you will have to leave a relevant comment 3 to 5 times before the no follow tag is removed but when it is removed it is removed from any comments you make from there on.
You might now be wondering how you find blogs that are using Lucia's Linky Love, the easiest way to do this is to go to Google's Blogsearch and search for your keywords in quotes plus Lucia's Linky in quotes (it should look like this "keyword phrase"+"Lucia's Linky" ) and you should find some posts for your keywords that this will apply to.
I use this on my blogs and I have it set at three. Because I read the comments and if they are spammy I delete them manual link spammers never get the three links they need. This encourages better comments and more comments. - 15431
You have probably heard that you shouldn't waste your time with blog comments because the search engines don't follow the link because of the no follow tag.
There is a trace of truth to this but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't use blog comments to get back links because there are some blogs that don't have the no follow tags on their comments.
The default installation of WordPress automatically adds the no follow tags to the comments but if you know what you are doing you can find blogs that don't have the no follow tag or will remove the no follow tag in return for you making a certain number of posts.
But you should I am going to cover blog comment etiquette before I tell you how to find these blogs that will remove the no follow from your comments.
If you are going to leave a comment on the blog MAKE SURE the comment is relevant to the post.
If the post you are commenting on is about writing articles you don't want to leave a comment about extreme sports. If you site is extreme sports related you can have the link to your site but the comment text needs to be related to the post.
Don't put links in the body of your comment. This is very bad etiquette unless the link is to a resource that expands on your comment. This doesn't mean if you have a site on sports fishing you can put a link to your site in the comment body but if the post is on a new way to string a leader you can put a link to a page (on your site or another) that shows how to do this.
I recommend that you set your blog up so that if there are links in the body of the comment it will go to the comment moderation. This way you will have to approve the comment before it shows up on your blog. This will keep the spammy comments of your blog.
Now your name or I should say the form field where you enter your name. This should be your name or your moniker. For example I will use Randy The Hermit because more people know me that way than by my normal last name. Your moniker can have keywords in it (only helps if there are not any no follow tags) but it should be related to you or what you do. For example if you teach people how to blog you could use the moniker Blog Boy or Blogging Teacher but your moniker should stay the same no matter what you use for a link.
That pretty much covers the etiquette but I can hear a lot of you out there screaming, "Why should I bother if it is going to have the no follow tag on the back link?"
This question can be given a few answers, such as:
1.People will see your comments and your links even if there is a no follow tag. If you put 4 comments on blogs per day you will end up with over 1,500 links in a year. These links will be seen by potentially tens of thousands of readers that might visit your site.
2.If you comments adds value to the topic of the post the author and readers will start to recognize your name and you will be branding yourself as an expert.
3.If your comment is informative you will also find that a lot of the readers will click on your link to find out more about you.
4.Some of the ad services and search engines, like Ask (the last time I checked) don't read the no follow tag. With the ad services this means that you site will look more relevant and it could lead to higher pay outs on your ads.
If comments have the no follow tag activated how do you tell?
One way is to go to the blog and find a post with comments and look at the page source, find the comment and see if it has no follow tag on the link. This is a pain but it works.
The good news is that you don't have to do it that way. If you are using FireFox or Flock as your browser you can get an addon that will highlight all the no follow tags on a page. It is called SEO for FireFox and you can get it from SEOTools.com or you can search SEO for FireFox addon in Google.
This plugin will provide you with a lot of SEO information but it will also highlight any links that have no follow tags in red. If you find a post with comments if the name for the comment is highlighted in red it has no follow tags. Don't worry if you get tired of the red highlights you can turn the plugin off with a click at the bottom of your browser.
Then there is another plugin that some people add to their WordPress blogs that will reward the frequent commenter. It is called Lucia's Linky Love.
Once Lucia's is installed the blog master can set up the comments so that after a person make so many comments the no follow tag is removed for that person.
It checks the name and email address to see if this person has ever commented before and keeps track of all the ones that match. If you use different names (which has already been pointed out as a no no) or different emails you will never have the no follow tags removed.
The owner of the site can set the limit from 3 to whatever they feel like but most of the time if they are using the plugin it is set from 3 to 5. This means you will have to leave a relevant comment 3 to 5 times before the no follow tag is removed but when it is removed it is removed from any comments you make from there on.
You might now be wondering how you find blogs that are using Lucia's Linky Love, the easiest way to do this is to go to Google's Blogsearch and search for your keywords in quotes plus Lucia's Linky in quotes (it should look like this "keyword phrase"+"Lucia's Linky" ) and you should find some posts for your keywords that this will apply to.
I use this on my blogs and I have it set at three. Because I read the comments and if they are spammy I delete them manual link spammers never get the three links they need. This encourages better comments and more comments. - 15431
About the Author:
About The Author: Randy The Hermit Baustert has been working online since 1994 and is the top rated SEO expert according to ExpertRating.com the industry testing services. You can find more free information on SEO and blogging at his newest blog How To Blog Site
