Blog Comments and SEO

Michael Martinez has some interesting things to say about blog comments and SEO on his SEO Theory blog, so I thought I'd express some thoughts here too. I haven't really updated this blog in a long time, but I thought now would be a good time to start, and that blog comments for SEO would be a good topic to write about.

First of all, leaving blog comments for SEO purposes is an OLD technique. In fact, it's pretty much played out. The only way to get direct SEO benefit from leaving blog comments is to leave them in massive volume. That requires software and robots and all kinds of nastiness that you're better off not messing with. And if you own a blog and have to approve the comments there, then you've seen literally hundreds if not thousands of blog comments that were put there solely for SEO purposes.

Here's a question for you: What is SEO if not a marketing technique?

Here's another question for you: Is pissing off dozens, maybe even hundreds or thousands of bloggers an effective marketing technique?

I daresay that it isn't.

If you want to participate in a discussion on a blog, then by all means, leave a comment. But don't do it because of any kind of SEO value that you're hoping to get. Comments that read, "This post gave me a lot to think about." aren't going to fool anyone. And the links you get from those kinds of comments are practically worthless anyway.

If you want to approach blog comments as part of your marketing strategy, then leave thoughtful comments that add to a discussion. Don't bother linking to your site or blog. Or if you do link, just use your name instead of using some lame anchor text like "Texas holdem online." If you write thoughtful and useful comments, people will search for your name and find your site without your having to leave a link.

You do have a page on your site that ranks in Google for your name, don't you?