May 04 2009
How to drop links in blogs
We get a lot of blog comments you never see because the SEOs who drop those links do not know what they are doing. Sure, you can add “great post!” comments to certain blogs and the bloggers won’t give you a second look — if they even exist. But when you want a comment link from an exceptionally picky blog, the average SEO trick won’t cut the mustard.
Here are a few tips that will work with any blogger (in my experience):
Limit your link to the submission form field – Blog software allows you to embed a link with your name as the anchor text. Use it. Limit yourself to that link.
Say something useful – I’ve often found myself approving comments from people I have not previously heard of because they have shared additional information or pointed out an error in something I wrote. Disagreeing with me doesn’t constitute pointing out an error in something I wrote.
Share a resource that you don’t control – Self-promotional links and promotions-for-clients stand out because they are disrespectful to the blogger and his audience. If you’re making a serious recommendation on someone else’s blog you tend to be more respectful in how you share it.
Participate in the discussion – I do occasionally comment on other people’s blogs, and those comments occasionally drive traffic to whatever sites I link to through my name. I’m not as interested in building traffic through comments on blogs as many SEOs but I do appreciate seeing the traffic. I generally refrain from commenting on blogs that I feel are faking it. If there is a legitimate discussion, even if I’m the first commenter, I’m more likely to comment.
Now, participating in the discussion isn’t a way of earning a link from a picky blogger — it’s a way of being a picky commenter. Just randomly dropping links on blogs because the articles contain my keywords isn’t my style. In fact, it’s a dumb idea (because people who do this are clearly and obviously seeking “relevant” links).
A truly relevant link is not connecting two sites through the keywords. Think about that.
It’s the concept that matters, not the anchor text and PageRank. A comment on someone else’s blog is an opportunity for you to prove to people you’re someone to be taken seriously and not just some link-dropping schmuck who doesn’t know what he’s doing.
Written by Michael Martinez
I don’t suppose this is a great time to write “Great Post” It is however quite surprising that SEO’s are still trying to use keyword anchor text in their blog posts, I can understand it from a relevancy point of view but how many people are really going to allow an average comment from “The Best SEO in The World Ever!”?
You don’t HAVE to drop a link each time you make a comment.
If there aren’t that a lot of comments on a blog, the author will probably appreciate a “I really liked this post, especially the part about xxxxx”.
This will make it easier to get links later, since you have demonstrated that you are a loyal reader, and aren’t just swinging by to get links.
And you can feel good about what you are doing – After all, you are showing your appreciation for other peoples work
I haven’t tested the above as a linkbuilding strategy, but I noticed that some of the owners of the blogs where I had written some short comments about how I enjoyed their posts appreciated it, and I would assume that this would make them more inclined to accept a comment with a link later.
Sorry for the delay in approving your comments, guys. It was purely a scheduling issue on our side.
Unknown Webmaster, in my opinion and experience any natural engagement has a high return in links when you make legitimate contributions to other people’s discussions.
We should not be focusing just getting the links. We should be focusing on building relationships.