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To Approve, Or Not To Approve

by Ed Micah
17 replies
After hiring some guy on oDesk to SEO my new project (an authority blog), I'm getting lots of comments on posts after 2 days of work from him.

The point is that, most of them are pretty obvious spun comments and posted by bots? (I think), because what they have commented is sometime not relevant to my contents.

So should I approve these comments? Are they beneficial to my blog?

Thanks
#approve
  • Profile picture of the author Robert M Gouge
    Originally Posted by Ed Micah View Post

    After hiring some guy on oDesk to SEO my new project (an authority blog), I'm getting lots of comments on posts after 2 days of work from him.

    The point is that, most of them are pretty obvious spun comments and posted by bots? (I think), because what they have commented is sometime not relevant to my contents.

    So should I approve these comments? Are they beneficial to my blog?

    Thanks
    I disapprove any comments that aren't directly related to the topic of the post. The comments are to further the discussion of the post and add more value to it. If they don't, I don't see much point in publishing them. The spun comments should be trashed immediately, though.

    That is how I look at it, perhaps some others will chime in to share their experiences.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ed Micah
    So the point of them spinning comments and posting in other people's blogs randomly is only to create backlinks to their site?
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    • Profile picture of the author Robert M Gouge
      Originally Posted by Ed Micah View Post

      So the point of them spinning comments and posting in other people's blogs randomly is only to create backlinks to their site?
      Pretty much.
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  • Profile picture of the author MHWSO
    Yeah, I get a ton of those on all of my sites, and I don't ever accept them. It won't do anything for your blog, and it's just an underhanded way to get back links. It's a shame because the time they spend spewing out all those wasted comments, they could probably write a few, and actually get them published.
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    • Profile picture of the author John J M
      It doesn't only do nothing for your blog. It has a negative effect.

      People who actually want to be on a site and interact don't like seeing comments that are obviously spun/have nothing to do with anything.
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  • Profile picture of the author Coby
    Askimet is your friend

    It will block a high percentage of the spam comments like this and you won't ever have to worry

    Cheers,
    Coby

    P.S. For those that don't know (or realize) what Askimet is - it's the free plugin that comes pre-installed on your WP blog.
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    • Profile picture of the author Robert M Gouge
      Originally Posted by Coby View Post

      Askimet is your friend

      It will block a high percentage of the spam comments like this and you won't ever have to worry

      Cheers,
      Coby

      P.S. For those that don't know (or realize) what Askimet is - it's the free plugin that comes pre-installed on your WP blog.
      I was under the impression that the Askimet service had a subscription fee or something? Did they change this?
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      • Profile picture of the author jeffreyhuan
        Originally Posted by Robert M Gouge View Post

        I was under the impression that the Askimet service had a subscription fee or something? Did they change this?
        The Askimet service is absolutely free.

        I have been using this plugin to fight against spam comments for years.
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        • Profile picture of the author Robert M Gouge
          Originally Posted by jeffreyhuan View Post

          The Askimet service is absolutely free.

          I have been using this plugin to fight against spam comments for years.
          Wow, that's good news. I'll look into it.
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        • Profile picture of the author JackieGold
          Originally Posted by jeffreyhuan View Post

          The Askimet service is absolutely free.

          I have been using this plugin to fight against spam comments for years.
          Askimet service is only free for For non-business personal blogs
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  • Profile picture of the author OutsourceFactor
    Originally Posted by johnjmannion View Post

    It doesn't only do nothing for your blog. It has a negative effect.

    People who actually want to be on a site and interact don't like seeing comments that are obviously spun/have nothing to do with anything.
    I agree. No one really likes spam, or seeing spam. People will get discouraged to comment for the first time or comment back. Don't approve them.
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    100% Free Outsourcing Training and Resume Access.

    OutsourceFactor helps entrepreneurs GROW.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ed Micah
    I just thought those comments would make your blog look like popular, and possibly boost your SERP?

    But maybe not.

    I'll look into Akismet too!
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    • Profile picture of the author cjreynolds
      Originally Posted by Ed Micah View Post

      I just thought those comments would make your blog look like popular, and possibly boost your SERP?
      Actually, I sometimes take this angle when I have a new blog without a lot of content yet. The minute you put a blog up that allows comments on your posts, it becomes a spam magnet - it's unavoidable. So I sort through all the spun spam, (try to) find 2 or 3 that happen to sound at least close to the topic, and don't look too spun/spammy. I leave those in there to give the appearance that the blog isn't totally deserted.

      Then, as the posts collect a few legitimate comments, I can do away with the bot-trash.

      Otherwise, I ruthlessly mark them all as SPAM!
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      I just added this sig so I can refer to it in my posts...

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  • Profile picture of the author FIERCE IM
    I have many blogs, and all those spams comment will not do anything to your blogs, usually they just overload your database, and you have to delete them as well to your database. I get al most 1 millions comments in 3 months on some of my blogs, but the spam one don't really help my ranking.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    Originally Posted by Ed Micah View Post

    So should I approve these comments?
    No.

    Originally Posted by Ed Micah View Post

    Are they beneficial to my blog?
    No.

    Good questions, simple answers...
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  • Profile picture of the author Ismael Zarruqui
    If you allow those comments people will think that your blog is out of control and spammed to death..and it won't take long to get cluttered with junk content, unsolicited advertising ..etc

    Don't be a victim of spam ..stay away from AUTO APPROVE COMMENT
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  • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
    Sites with spam comments on them are eventually considered a bad egg and moved into a bad neighborhood by Google.
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