More than a few years ago, blog comments were a trendy link building strategy. But, since many people started to abuse blog comments to promote their links, this trend had to stop. Now, they are not that useful anymore. At least, not for link building. Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean they are completely useless today. High DA backlinks from blog comments help rankings in other ways. They are still a viable tactic to increase your visibility and drive traffic. But only if you know how to do it properly.
How can high DA backlinks from blog comments help you increase rankings?
Before 2005, blog comments were open fields for everyone to drop their links. If you had a chance to look at one of them, it was a complete mess. Thousands of comments without any particular value were filled with an unbearable amount of links. No one even paid attention to them, but they had their purpose. However, since Google introduced the “no follow” tag to help owners deal with spam, and it significantly reduces. When you apply the “no follow” tag to outgoing links, you tell the search engine not to pass any value through those links. Even today, some people are still, unfortunately, trying to use it as a link building strategy. Maybe due to ignorance or something else, but ineffectively.
What direction to take?
There are many ways to improve your online rankings with quality backlinks. But, high DA (Domain Authority) backlinks from blog comments can eventually help you increase traffic to your blog. When used properly, they can be an excellent way to build up the exposure of your website. The greater exposure is, the greater the chance to potentially increase the traffic. As a result, in the long-term, it will increase your position in SERPs. However, you need to be aware of the next couple of facts:
- The relevancy of comments should be the priority.
- The number of referring domains is more important than the total number of backlinks.
- Backlinks from high DA sites have a greater value.
- Relationship with the audience, and blog owners, is much more important than a mere number of links.
- Unethical behavior on other people’s blogs can be counter-productive.
- Keep commenting only on your niche.
- It takes time for indexing to provide you with results.
- The optimal number of quality links should not surpass 2 per week per blog.
What can high DA backlinks from blog comments improve?
The primary objective is to get people’s attention. At least at first. Here is how, in general, blog commenting can be effective:
Increases visibility
When you leave a relevant and valuable comment on someone’s blog, you expose yourself to others. In most cases, people scan through the comments to find something interesting. If your comment catches their attention, it might interest them into visiting your website. This is also a valuable method to get your brand recognized.
Improves credibility
To improve credibility, you need to provide some value through your comments. If you are just posting without adding anything useful to the ongoing discussion, you will probably be ignored. On the other side, if the audience gets the impression that there is a knowledgeable person behind the comment, it will catch their attention. Once you become a regular, others will recognize you as an expert, and probably follow your links.
Commenting can help you build relationships
By participating in the comment section, you have the opportunity to build two kinds of relationships. First, it’s the connection with the audience, like we discussed above. Second, with blog owners. The point is, once you add enough value to the subject, your chance to connect with bloggers increase. In the long-term, it can lead to cooperation and other benefits.
Leads to traffic increase
The key is to follow a relevant niche. Don’t stray out of your industry because not all industries can contribute to each other. It’s alright to comment on pet blogs if you are into the pet food business. But, it doesn’t make much sense to leave pet food link on vehicle enthusiast’s blogs. If you want people to check out your link, you have to provide them with something meaningful. That useful info will, eventually, increase the traffic to your website.
How to write comments?
First, in order to write a good blog comment, you need to forget about spam. Simple “check this link” is not something people want, or expect, to see. In most cases, it can even undermine your potential relationships and credibility. You need to stay on the subject and consider if your comment will be useful. Only if you are contributing with a valuable insight you can feel free there will be no negative effects.
Second, don’t be one of the jesters that obviously comment only to promote their own content. People see through this and bloggers will definitely don’t appreciate that. Be smart about this. There are millions of blogs out there, more than enough for everyone to find their appropriate place to insert a couple of links here and there. In essence, you have to be smooth and civil, and others will know how to return the favor.
Third, don’t forget to ask questions. They are one of the best “ice-breaking” methods to engage in the comment section. Just, don’t forget that relevancy and contribution play a great role here as well. Ask mindful questions and establish trust. And finally, don’t forget that this is a game that requires time before you see results.
Bonus tip when dealing with high DA backlinks from blog comments
At some point, you will have enough backlinks leading to your homepage. This is the right time to consider turning some of your homepage links into landing pages. Or, to continue to add landing page links instead of simple homepage links. Obviously, it can benefit you more since it gives you the opportunity for deeper linking.
For example, imagine you are commenting on some problem, and have a direct solution in the shape of a product or an app. Don’t just post a homepage link hoping you will cover a greater area with it. Hoping, once they are on your website, visitors will explore it thoroughly. They will rarely do so. What they need is a direct link to the solution, without having to browse through your website aimlessly. Without this, you can only expect too many bouncing clicks from disappointed visitors.
Staying on track with current trends requires you to do some research. Some methods, if given enough time, can provide marvelous SEO results. Others, if wrongly implemented, can give no results at all. High DA backlinks from blog comments can give you great results only if you know exactly what they should be used for. If you miss the point and try to trick the system, well, it will be your mistake only.