Blog Commenting Tips for Link Building

It’s not as easy as it once was to get a backlink from a blog. Google’s updated policies have brought the possibility of penalties when links are seen to be used purely for link building purposes and thus many bloggers have a blanket ‘nofollow link’ policy. However, you can still use blog commenting to gain an incoming link and to increase traffic to your page. To benefit from commenting on blogs, you can simply leave an insightful comment along with your name, email and link. Over time, this will help to make your brand more recognisable and authoritative. If you want to use blog commenting to build your links, here are some guidelines on how to do it.

1. Due diligence

Waking up one day and leaving your comments on a bunch of random blogs is not likely to do you any favours. You need to take time to understand the audience you’re trying to reach so you can post your comments on the right blogs. You can make your efforts a little easier by setting up Google Alerts so you’re notified when relevant keywords come up.

2. Give the job to one person

When you have more than one person commenting on blogs, there is a likelihood of two or more people ending up commenting on the same blog. When you’re targeting a particular group of audience, the number of blogs that you get in touch with is limited so it’s easy for two people from the same company to end up in the same place. The bigger problem is when these two people from the same company have vastly differing opinions on a major issue. To make things easier, leave the work of commenting on blogs to one person.

3. Comment with a real name

Many blog owners are wary of comments that come under the name of a particular company. Some of these usually turn out to be spammy advertisement messages and thus they may not even let your comment go through even if you’re offering a valid comment that contributes valuable information on the discussion. A better approach is to use the name of someone who holds an important position in the company.

4. It’s not just about link building

Commenting on blogs just to build links is a practice that has become obsolete because most blogs are set to ‘nofollow’. However, commenting on blogs can still get you a lot of organic traffic and make your brand more recognisable.

5. Link to pages, not the site

For the sake of relevance and so as to make better contributions to the discussion, link to internal pages in your site that have something to do with the topic being discussed.

6. Be patient

Your blog comments will not always go through. At the end of the day, the blog or site owner will have the final say. If you’ve tried two times or more to leave a comment and failed, move on to another blog.