Blog commenting still effective?

[Tmill]

I have never bothered trying blog commenting because whenever I get comments on my blogs with links they are always spam and they don't even make sense to begin with. How do people think that their comments will get accepted if the comment is spun so much that the person can't even understand what it says.

Well anyways, I know blog commenting has been an effective way of SEO in the past and I found a software that many people find useful for blog commenting.

What are your thoughts on blog commenting for SEO?

[JSProjects]

I look at blog commenting in two ways:

1. High quality, manual comments on moderated DoFollow blogs. (Preferably posts with PR.) This is my favorite method of commenting. If you're leaving good comments and getting about 40-60% of them approved, that's potentially a handful of high PR & DoFollow backlinks with a small amount of effort. Though I'll usually comment on a fairly recent post first. Just to ensure that the blog owner is actively approving comments. If so, I'll move on to one or two other posts with PR. If you leave GOOD comments that actually contribute to the post you should get a decent approval rate.

2. Automated comments. This is obviously a "grey" method. (Leaning towards black.) I'll point these at my lower tier links to help index and strengthen them. Usually not at my main sites. You CAN point them at your main sites, though you'll have to understand the risk. Also, if you want to rank a low competition phrase quickly, this can be a good way. (Usually a keyword / phrase that is starting to trend and there's very little competition.) There may be negative long term effects. So keep that in mind.