How to Deal With Links in Comments?

by trentonlaura

Posted: 13 years ago 21 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

I'm just starting to get traffic to my first blog type site and I recently had someone leave a self serving comment (which I have yet to approve or disapprove) where they agreed with most of what I said then linked to their business site. It wasn't spam in the Akismet sense which is why it wasn't written off as such.

I was curious as to what you all do in this case. Do you not allow the comment, do you allow it making the link nofollow? I wouldn't feel right editing the comment to get rid of the link. I mean he already gets the link in his name so I guess I just should treat anyone who links within their comment as spam?

#comments #deal #links

SmartHealthShop 13 years ago

its completely up to you - if you want more comments for content sake, then make the link nofollow. if you allow only the commenter name to be the link, then disapprove it.

Create a policy on how you will approve or disapprove the comments and stick with it consistently and you will have fewer of these situations to think about.
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- oneplusone 13 years ago
  
  You've posted this in the wrong section, it should be in the SEO section.
  
  But I'll answer your question, I'd personally approve the comment and leave the links there.
  
  If someone makes a thoughtful, relevant comment on one of my blogs I'm happy to reward them as long as their links don't point to websites which involve adult material -- or anything else which might be troublesome.
  
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  mikeroosa 13 years ago
  
  I would allow the link if it was relevant, but otherwise not. Most likely if you start allowing links, you'll start seeing lots of them and then your blog will just become another link farm.
  
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  bretski 13 years ago
  
  Thanks for that awesome posting. It saved MUCH time :-)
  
  Sorry, I couldn't resist. I don't think I have gotten one honest comment that wasn't spam over the past two years +. I have thought of approving them and stripping the links out of them but they would all just be like the above...
  
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edv 13 years ago

Well it depends on the type of blog you are writing. I wouldn't delete it if the comment consists a good reply to my article. If the link was to another similar blog I would suggest a co-operation to that blog owner.
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settingsail 13 years ago

Don't allow it. Other people might see that he got away with it and take it as an opening to post his or her own link, next think you know your comments are filled with links.

I guess you could wait and see how it goes first. I would edit out the comment though.

Unless you want to be a good guy and let people eat off of your plate
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peter gibson 13 years ago

Strip the link, leave the comment. If it's a quality comment, leave in their self serving link and encourage the conversation, but if it's just happy crappy bull$h!t leaving the link intact is an invitation to other knuckleheads that you may not be paying attention.
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- vicone 13 years ago
  
  If the comment refers to the specific article which is the basis of the comment, I'd strip the link and leave the comment.
  
  However, if the comment is a generic one, which agrees with me or praises the blog without referring to the article, I'd delete it.
  
  Ivan
  
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  TBInternetMarketing 13 years ago
  
  Yea I'd definitely leave it if it was a thoughtful relevant comment. I guess it's a kind of reward to the guy for taking the time to read your post, instead of just writing "cool post".
  
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  bebsicles 13 years ago
  
  [DELETED]
  
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  peter gibson 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by bebsicles
  
  The decision is always yours. They cannot do anything if you will reject their comments. So you better decide for your own good.
  
  Earn Extra Money At Home
  
  Seriously, what is with the link? Read the forum rules.
  
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  tomrobert 13 years ago
  
  Deal With Links in Comments is depends on the type of blog you are writing. I does not eliminate it if the comment is a good response to my article. If the link was similar to another blog I would suggest a co owner of the blog.
  
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aheil 13 years ago

If it's not a quality comment I delete the links. If you don't other people come in and type stupid stuff like "I like this good job" there and that's basically spam. FYI they probably didn't read what you wrote.
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Ash R 13 years ago

I highly recommend adding the Growmap anti-spam plugin: it is amazing and stops spammers better than akismet.

I'd strip out the link though, especially since it's their first comment. I might reply to their comment and continue the discussion, and explain that I'd removed the link because it was their first comment on my site. I would allow links in the future though (personally) unless he was stealing customers from me.
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Rashell 13 years ago

Originally Posted by trentonlaura

a self serving comment (which I have yet to approve or disapprove) where they agreed with most of what I said then linked to their business site.

Since it's obvious to you that it's self serving, I'd kill the link. If it's not directly related to contributing to the conversation there's no reason for it.

I've been tossing around the idea of creating a "comments policy" myself. It'd be low key, not for regular reader types but for comment spammers. I don't mind giving people links but there definitely needs to be some ground rules. Figure it'd save me some awkward moments and retries (whenever I don't approve a comment so they keep trying as if I'm going to get tired of hitting the delete button).

Rashell
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Peggy Baron 13 years ago

If it's not self-serving I might leave it in - if it contributes to the conversation. Otherwise I take it out.

It also depends if this person has built a relationship with me and I feel good about the whole picture the link presents.

Peggy
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trentonlaura 13 years ago

Yeah on second reading the comment all it is is agreeing with my post then most of the rest of it is him talking about how his service is awesome. I didn't see *how* self serving it was before.

When we're saying take it out, do we just mean the link? It doesn't matter in this case because if I took out the link his comment wouldn't make any sense. I don't feel right about just rewriting someone's comment, I guess the only alternative in these situations is disapprove the comment.

thanks everyone for the input!
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ButterflyGarden 13 years ago

More often than not, if there is a link in the comment and it does add significant value to the response then it should be considered spam.
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Andrea Wilson 13 years ago

I will just turn it to no follow. If the comment makes sense then allowing it to be posted is fine. Just tell your commenters next time that they should not add a link in the body of their comment unless it is relevant.

Andrea
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laurenswuyts 13 years ago

I always delete the links, because I hate that other people jsut comment on your website only to get a backlink
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BurgerBoy 13 years ago

I always delete the links too.
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haymanpl 13 years ago

Most comment systems offer no follow on comment links so it may be a good idea to put little sign above your comments so the spammers won't waste their time
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