Is Blog Commenting Dead Or It's Different Now?

Different.

Not dead, but not an effective use of your time, either.

I no longer blog comment, nor therefore run tests on commenting SEO, so I can't really (wait for it) comment on the SEO value. But, having been an SEO since search engines first arrived on the scene, I can at least tell you what others have said: Google updates have reduced the effectiveness to nil, depending on whom you ask.

So is it dead?

No, as I say, not really. The value of commenting amounts to relationship-building and getting positive exposure within your niche community. If, for instance, you become quite the authority in the comments of a particular blog, then you'll become more well-known in those circles, perhaps even beyond that blog alone. Second to that: you open yourself up to networking opportunities.

Now, that said?

There are far more effective uses of your time; far more effective ways to accomplish what you can with blog commenting. Example? Social media, which has the added benefit of your comments potentially going viral. The social infrastructure is also better. Audience collection is part of that infrastructure. In other words? If someone sees a valuable comment on Facebook, say, it's easy for them to click the name, see his page or profile, and hit the Like button. But when commenting a blog? Unless you're linking to your social page, Joe Consumer is hit with a website, and more often than not, the website isn't designed to efficiently collect Joe.

I would imagine that you're putting a lot of time and effort into those comments. IMO: you're wasting valuable time; time that could be spent on generating real traffic and real followings. And one last thing to consider: should you put all of that work into someone else's site or one of your own properties?

- Tom

tbh most places ima lookin' in on blaaahgs or forums is cos ima need help.

Kinda ...

Dear Mysterious Leg Rash Forum

Thankfully I ain't too hairy in the GAL LEG department an' could prolly pass the BABY'S BUTT test from the knee down if'n the person performin' the examination got summa the key sensory nerves between brain & fingertips snippoed, but I was wondrin' why I got excessive bleedin' after trimmin' myself closer to my delicate areas with a chainsaw?

It is only on WF an' a few other key internet hotspots where my personal prowess fires me up as any kinda expert.

One of the main benefits of leaving comments was you could get some link juice for your efforts. Nowadays, that seems to be an exercise in futility.

Certainly, you can leave comments for their own sake if the blog post resonates with you, but if you're looking for some linking benefits you might to check and see if the article has 'follow or 'no-follow' parameters.

You can check by right-clicking on the page and selecting 'view page source.' Then do a search for 'follow' on the document. If the 'follow' is preceded by a 'no-' you might want to save your comment for another time and another place.

They are not worth the time investment. Almost nobody is ever going to click over to your site when you leave a comment. Anybody that says otherwise is full of crap or trying to sell you something.

If commenting is dead, then spam and trolls killed it xD

It depends on your audience. Obviously most visitors just read without commenting and only a small percentage like to indulge in discussions at the comments section of your blog. An interesting or a controversial topic is what you need to get more comments and the more visitors you have, the more comments you'll get. Try something like this:

Earth is not flat or round shaped. Earth is conical.

Some news sites get 500 comments in the first 24 hours. I know that news sites are not blogs, but I'm using this info to build on the fact that commenting is not dead, you just need to take your blog to the next level to attract more visitors and readers.

I've appeared on:

- Virgin (Richard Branson's blog)
- Forbes
- Fox News
- Entrepreneur

primarily using blog commenting as a way to build friendships. Those friendships brought me success.

Keep at it buddy! 3 months is too short a time. Give it more time. Plus promote fellow bloggers on social media and thru your blog. Friendships form, and friends are the most powerful blogging currency.

Ryan

that's exactly what i thought, i will not give more energy on blog commenting, i guess i'll move on to other promotion channels that are more effective.

Sometimes, I see some increase in traffic, but there are no sales at all!

When you are doing Blog commenting how do you direct traffic back to your website without spamming or getting banned? How do you find high traffic blogs to comment on?

its now difficult.

Not dead but a waste of time in my opinion as majority of people wont aprove your comments when they see a link as they dont want people leave theyr blog and move to yours

Anybody can be featured on any of those sites. They have a pool of users they allow to post content in a user-contributed section. You were not "featured" on any of those publications by a real journalist.

What you "achieved" was nothing special.

Personally, I wouldn't say it's dead but it's not a great use of time (unless you outsource it, but still).

It can work, but it's very hit and miss. I think you'd be better off putting your time and money into other ways to drive traffic.

Most blog owners nowadays either disengage the discussion section of there Blog or
the website link of your comments, so i would say it is not as popular as before.

Sometimes with blog commenting you're going to have to do it lots of times before you find something that sticks. What tends to happen lots of the times is that people go around commenting on blogs, but leaving stuff like nice post and such.

The next time you comment really go in-depth with your comment. Show the owner of the blog that you really read the content and that you enjoyed it.

Blog commenting is not dead it's just a lot different right now as with everything in the online world. Everything changes. You've disqus now which makes it a lot harder, but instead of thinking for it as harder or dead I just say time to add more value.

The more value you add the more your comments will stick and the more people will click on whatever you link to in the post.

Hope that helps.

Blog commenting is certainly not dead, just the old way people did it is. In the past people were only concerned with getting link value back from such sites. If this weren't the case they were focused solely on being one of the first to comment to a new post in the hopes of getting traffic. People were way too concerned with posting long-tail keyword backlinks. Now you have to focus on actually providing insightful comments and finding high value blogs to comment on.

In my opinion blog commenting is at least dying (perhaps not dead yet). Focus on social media!

Blog commenting still works if you know how to do it correctly.

1. Don't spam

2. Don't just agree for the sake of pleasing the blogger and other readers commenting

3. Make sure the information you provide is relevant and subjective to the topic the blogger writes about whether you agree or disagree with his views.

Nowadays people don't prefer blog commenting may be because of spamming but this doesn't mean you will stop doing blog commenting.
If you want to gain traffic and see positive results then find and comment on relevant sites i.e. which are related to your industry. This is the only way by which you can succeed in blog commenting.

+1 to "it's different". I am using comments to either ask or reply to a question, or some other thing that may lead to an interaction. It is much less likely to see those comments being considered spam by the blog owner, and you are being real.

I agree there are better ways to use your time anyway.

Make sure your going to high traffic blogs which actually relate to what your website is about.

I would say to focus on building up your social media for traffic its a lot faster then posting on blogs.

I think blog commenting is good for traffic, but not for SEO. If you can find a few high traffic blogs in your niche, and leave comments frequently, it can send you some traffic. Plus, it might help build a relationship with the webmaster, which could lead to guest posts or additional links. Just my two cents.

All great tips. Thanks for sharing.

I also suggest you keep track of how many comments you leave and on what blogs, so you can track it in Google Analytics. Just my two cents.

I would also suggest you reach out to the blogger by email before leaving comments. Let them know you like their blog and would like to contribute frequently. That way when they see your comments they approve them quickly.

Thank you all for your contributions, based on the comments i received in intended to give up on blog commenting, but i'll give it a try once more for few months to see if things can work. my aim for blog commenting isn't for SEO, it's to increase website traffic, but if SEO is improved that's an added bonus.

As long as you are providing value, do not worry too much about traffic to your sites.

Do it often and slowly you will see those traffic coming in.