One of the ways to get backlinks that many of us are familiar with is blog commenting. The idea is that you find high Pagerank blogs that don’t use the “no-follow” tag, and comment on them. It is often taught as an “easy” way to get high-value backlinks for SEO purposes.
There is even some very good software just for that purpose. For example, Comment Kahuna is very popular, and very good at finding high-PR blogs.
However, most blogs with high Pagerank have that Pagerank on their home (index) page. Sub pages will generally have much lower pagerank.
When you comment on a blog, chances are your comments aren’t appearing on the home page where that post is. And even if it is, it will likely “roll off” the home page long before you get any of the pagerank benefit of that home page.
I’m not suggesting blog posting or commenting is a bad idea - it’s great for getting links, and is a central part of my own strategy. Also, the net value that’s passed on from a high-pr blog will always be higher than that of a lower pagerank blog.
However, you should be aware that when you comment on a post that’s on the home page of a PR4 blog for instance, you aren’t getting the same ‘value’ that you would for that same link on a static PR4 page, and in fact might not be getting much value at all.
Blog commenting should be used as one component of your linking & traffic strategy. Just be aware that you may not be getting as much value as you might have thought.
24 responses so far ↓
1 Haroun Kola // Sep 2, 2008 at 1:45 am
Thanks for this post, I’ve always wondered about page rank on blogs, and notice the distinct drop for the individual posts. But as you’ve correctly pointed out, I comment as part of a intergrated strategy to get traffic and hopefully backlinks, but since most comments sections of sites have a no-follow, I hardly expect it, so thanks for your initiative
2 Michael // Sep 2, 2008 at 2:38 am
Nice to see you Haroun!
As you know, commenting should be part of a larger strategy.
And while someone may read your comment and click through, commenting on “no-follow” blogs does absolutely nothing for link building.
3 lucho // Sep 12, 2008 at 2:37 pm
HI,
How do you know if a blog has the no follow.
I am new to this marketing idea and a few minutes ago I read in other blog about posting on blogs that are your niche and how it helps to link building.
http://www.chico-chihuahua.com
4 Michael // Sep 13, 2008 at 1:21 am
Hi Lucho,
I use the SearchStatus plugin which highlights all NoFollow links - along with doing some VERY handy SEO functions as well: http://www.quirk.biz/searchstatus/
5 John P. // Sep 22, 2008 at 9:20 am
I always find it ironic when there are blogs written about leaving comments for SEO purposes and then I leave a comment on that very blog for SEO purposes
6 Matt Hayden // Sep 28, 2008 at 1:43 am
Yes, I think that wanting to see too much benefit from dofollow commenting is the wrong attitude.
Not only will you be disappointed for the reason that you have described here, but there’s another reason: If you’re only commenting for the link juice you might get, then you’re not going to think as much about what you write. So your comments won’t be as interesting to the blog readers.
I think it’s best to treat every blog as nofollow, and just try to contribute well to the discussion.
7 deb // Oct 2, 2008 at 7:39 am
yes i agree
8 Sohbet // Oct 14, 2008 at 4:32 am
Thank You wery much
9 emma // Oct 30, 2008 at 2:09 pm
thanks
10 auction // Oct 30, 2008 at 2:09 pm
thanks
11 Green Nation Today // Nov 5, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Firefox has a great plugin I use for seeing if page has “nofollow” links, called Search Status. You can toggle on/off a setting that highlights nofollow links right on ANY page you are looking at.
12 Michael // Nov 5, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Hi Green Nation Today,
Thanks for that - I actually have Search Status installed, and it is one of my most valued add-ons.
In addition to highlighting “nofollow” links, you can see Google/Yahoo/MSN indexed pages for the site you’re on, “whois” info, meta-tags, and a lot more.
The homepage for Search Status is: http://www.quirk.biz/searchstatus/
13 Griport // Nov 8, 2008 at 8:50 am
ThankS!!
14 tampa web designer // Nov 23, 2008 at 5:41 am
Thanks for the nice blog. I am a Tampa website designer. I do a bunch of SEO and blogging. I try to contribute good information to the blog and if its related to other content I know of Ill drop in a link.
15 Rich // Dec 18, 2008 at 2:30 pm
An interesting perspective, and a good point. I’ve read a lot about PageRank and commenting over the last few days and you’re the first to point out the subpage/homepage Rank discrepancy. Obvious when you think about it I guess, but thanks!
16 vnhan2009 // Jan 16, 2009 at 7:53 am
Thanks for this post. I alway use the technique that commment on the other blog or web to have good backlink. It’s really a good one.
My webblog here: http://freshhome.wordpress.com
17 trampolineman // Jan 26, 2009 at 5:07 am
Thanks. Looking to build traffic for our blog:
http://trampolineman.wordpress.com/
Will try some of these techniques
18 suntuu // Feb 10, 2009 at 2:33 am
i just searched for this question only that commenting on pages having low pagerank of high pagerank is any goo.
and i found a very satisfied answer here.
as you wrote in your article about not getting much value from low pageranked or no pageranked(most of them are) ,i think then it is not good to see blog commenting strategy to increase pagerank.
19 Marriott // Feb 23, 2009 at 2:33 am
Thanks,
I was searching ways to increase traffic to my blog but I didn’t get any thing. At last I found something that is satisfactory to me.
20 Community Gifting // Mar 15, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Huh, I never thought about your comment actually posting on a page that wasn’t the high PR homepage. BTW, thanks for the info on the Comment Kahuna software. I’ll check it out.
21 vessel sinks // Apr 6, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Excellent post. I like these posts most of all, practical information that all bloggers can use.
22 Vinyl Decal Store // May 19, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Great information. Does anyone have a good estimate of what the safe percent of your blog commenting versus links in your overall link building strategy should be. I know there should be an equal bias of “nofollow” and “follow” blogs, but where does Google start to see that you are spamming? Or is it ever considered spam if you are adding informational comments?
23 Car accident lawyer // May 20, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Nice post, thanks !
24 Vancouver Web Design // Jun 29, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Great article, you make a really good point that the PR is diminished on the sub-pages, and that it can only be one part of a total SEO campaign. Words of wisdom…
Leave a Comment