Most of you probably already know that you can boost your search engine rankings by getting back links to your site, but how many of you are using blog comments to get back links?
Those of you that aren't using blog comments for back link have probably heard some on tell you about no follow tags and how the search engines won't follow the link from comment on blogs.
There is a trace of truth to this but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't use blog comments to get back links because there are some blogs that don't have the no follow tags on their comments.
When WordPress is installed it automatically configures your blog to have no follow tag on comment but there are some blog owners that want you to comment so they will use a plugin to remove the no follow tags, either completely or based on the number of comments you leave.
Before I get into what to look for to find blogs without the no follow tag I want to cover comment etiquette.
Any comment you leave on a blog MUST have something to do with the content of the post.
If the post you are commenting on is about writing articles you don't want to leave a comment about extreme sports. If you site is extreme sports related you can have the link to your site but the comment text needs to be related to the post.
You shouldn't put a link in the body of your comment unless it is directly related to the post and is information that won't fit in the comment itself, such as a video.
I recommend that you set your blog up so that if there are links in the body of the comment it will go to the comment moderation. This way you will have to approve the comment before it shows up on your blog. This will keep the spammy comments of your blog.
Now your name or I should say the form field where you enter your name. This should be your name or your moniker. For example I will use Randy The Hermit because more people know me that way than by my normal last name. Your moniker can have keywords in it (only helps if there are not any no follow tags) but it should be related to you or what you do. For example if you teach people how to blog you could use the moniker Blog Boy or Blogging Teacher but your moniker should stay the same no matter what you use for a link.
That pretty much covers the etiquette but I can hear a lot of you out there screaming, "Why should I bother if it is going to have the no follow tag on the back link?"
This question can be given a few answers, such as:
1.With or without the no follow tag it is still a link to your site. You can get over 1000 links to your site by leaving 5 comments a day for a year. These links will be seen by 1000's of people that might come to your site.
2.If your comments are on topic and informative people will remember your name and you will become a known expert in the field. This is part of the reason you want to use the same name.
3.If your comment is informative you will also find that a lot of the readers will click on your link to find out more about you.
4.If you are selling advertising on your site through a service like text link ads they sometimes do their own back link research and ignore the no follow tag. This could result in you receiving more income from your ads.
Now how to tell if the comments have the no follow tag applied to them.
One way is to go to the blog and find a post with comments and look at the page source, find the comment and see if it has no follow tag on the link. This is a pain but it works.
An easier way is to use FireFox or Flock browser (If you are not using one these you should be) and get the SEO for FireFox addon (It works in FireFox and Flock) you can find it as SEOTools.com or just search for it in Google.
This plugin will provide you with a lot of SEO information but it will also highlight any links that have no follow tags in red. If you find a post with comments if the name for the comment is highlighted in red it has no follow tags. Don't worry if you get tired of the red highlights you can turn the plugin off with a click at the bottom of your browser.
There are a couple of plugins that blog masters will add to their blogs that automatically removes the no follow tag from the comments and another plugin that will reward the people that comment frequently by removing the no follow tags from that individuals comments. This plugin is Lucia's Linky Love.
Once Lucia's is installed the blog master can set up the comments so that after a person make so many comments the no follow tag is removed for that person.
Lucia's actually checks both the name and the email address for every comment so if you are posting on the blog you need to use the same name and email address the minimum number of times before the no follow tag is removed
The blog master gets to choose the number of comments it takes to qualify for no follow tag removal, the minimum number is 3 and the maximum is whatever they feel like. I usually see it set between 3 and 5 which means you have to make 4 to 6 post before you get a back link to your site.
How do you find blogs that use Lucia's Linky Love plugin? The easiest way is to use Google's Blogsearch, put your keywords in quotes and then put a plus sign and then Lucia's Linky in quotes and do you search. It should look something like this "keyword phrase"+"Lucia's Linky" you results should sow you posts that are related to your keywords and using Lucia's Linky Love plugin.
On my blogs I usually have this set at three and I review the comments on a regular basis any comments that read like pure spam I delete. Because I delete them the spammers never get to the magic number of three and the no follow stays in place. This leads to more comments that are usually more informative. - 16036
Those of you that aren't using blog comments for back link have probably heard some on tell you about no follow tags and how the search engines won't follow the link from comment on blogs.
There is a trace of truth to this but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't use blog comments to get back links because there are some blogs that don't have the no follow tags on their comments.
When WordPress is installed it automatically configures your blog to have no follow tag on comment but there are some blog owners that want you to comment so they will use a plugin to remove the no follow tags, either completely or based on the number of comments you leave.
Before I get into what to look for to find blogs without the no follow tag I want to cover comment etiquette.
Any comment you leave on a blog MUST have something to do with the content of the post.
If the post you are commenting on is about writing articles you don't want to leave a comment about extreme sports. If you site is extreme sports related you can have the link to your site but the comment text needs to be related to the post.
You shouldn't put a link in the body of your comment unless it is directly related to the post and is information that won't fit in the comment itself, such as a video.
I recommend that you set your blog up so that if there are links in the body of the comment it will go to the comment moderation. This way you will have to approve the comment before it shows up on your blog. This will keep the spammy comments of your blog.
Now your name or I should say the form field where you enter your name. This should be your name or your moniker. For example I will use Randy The Hermit because more people know me that way than by my normal last name. Your moniker can have keywords in it (only helps if there are not any no follow tags) but it should be related to you or what you do. For example if you teach people how to blog you could use the moniker Blog Boy or Blogging Teacher but your moniker should stay the same no matter what you use for a link.
That pretty much covers the etiquette but I can hear a lot of you out there screaming, "Why should I bother if it is going to have the no follow tag on the back link?"
This question can be given a few answers, such as:
1.With or without the no follow tag it is still a link to your site. You can get over 1000 links to your site by leaving 5 comments a day for a year. These links will be seen by 1000's of people that might come to your site.
2.If your comments are on topic and informative people will remember your name and you will become a known expert in the field. This is part of the reason you want to use the same name.
3.If your comment is informative you will also find that a lot of the readers will click on your link to find out more about you.
4.If you are selling advertising on your site through a service like text link ads they sometimes do their own back link research and ignore the no follow tag. This could result in you receiving more income from your ads.
Now how to tell if the comments have the no follow tag applied to them.
One way is to go to the blog and find a post with comments and look at the page source, find the comment and see if it has no follow tag on the link. This is a pain but it works.
An easier way is to use FireFox or Flock browser (If you are not using one these you should be) and get the SEO for FireFox addon (It works in FireFox and Flock) you can find it as SEOTools.com or just search for it in Google.
This plugin will provide you with a lot of SEO information but it will also highlight any links that have no follow tags in red. If you find a post with comments if the name for the comment is highlighted in red it has no follow tags. Don't worry if you get tired of the red highlights you can turn the plugin off with a click at the bottom of your browser.
There are a couple of plugins that blog masters will add to their blogs that automatically removes the no follow tag from the comments and another plugin that will reward the people that comment frequently by removing the no follow tags from that individuals comments. This plugin is Lucia's Linky Love.
Once Lucia's is installed the blog master can set up the comments so that after a person make so many comments the no follow tag is removed for that person.
Lucia's actually checks both the name and the email address for every comment so if you are posting on the blog you need to use the same name and email address the minimum number of times before the no follow tag is removed
The blog master gets to choose the number of comments it takes to qualify for no follow tag removal, the minimum number is 3 and the maximum is whatever they feel like. I usually see it set between 3 and 5 which means you have to make 4 to 6 post before you get a back link to your site.
How do you find blogs that use Lucia's Linky Love plugin? The easiest way is to use Google's Blogsearch, put your keywords in quotes and then put a plus sign and then Lucia's Linky in quotes and do you search. It should look something like this "keyword phrase"+"Lucia's Linky" you results should sow you posts that are related to your keywords and using Lucia's Linky Love plugin.
On my blogs I usually have this set at three and I review the comments on a regular basis any comments that read like pure spam I delete. Because I delete them the spammers never get to the magic number of three and the no follow stays in place. This leads to more comments that are usually more informative. - 16036
About the Author:
About The Author: Randy The Hermit Baustert has been working online since 1994 and is the top rated SEO expert according to ExpertRating.com the industry testing services. You can find more free information on SEO and blogging at his newest blog How To Blog Site
