Posts Tagged ‘ blog commenting ’

Avoiding Bad SEO Blogs

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

It is very common today to run across a site or blog made specifically to create backlinks to a company website or a client’s site. In order to filter through the clutter to find well versed and reputable sites which to comment on and post links, it is very important for you to be able to tell the difference between good blogs and bad ones. Posting links to your site through bad blogs can be detrimental to your SEO efforts and can cause your site to loose ground to some of your competitors who have created good quality links.

What to look for:

1. Spelling

By looking at the spelling and grammar of the content, you can get an idea whether the blog you are reading is generated by a professional with attention to detail. Although some misspellings are excusable, too many of then can be a red flag that the blog you are reading will not benefit your own SEO. Remember that other readers just like you will notice it too and will likely not take the post author as a serious authority. In order to maximize the quality of your links, make sure they are posted in sites which provide valuable information and make an effort to be professional.

2. Grammar

If you find yourself having to read the same paragraph a few time trying to make sense of what is written, chances are that other readers will also find it confusing and will leave the site without reading the blog, and most importantly without reading your comments. Although elementary grade language is encouraged to help all visitors have an easy reading experience, avoid posting links on blogs that were written by elementary educated authors.

4. Check the Host

If the blog has links back to a domain, check the domain out to make sure it is a reputable site, and that it has related content. Avoid posting links to sites which you may fear to be spam sites, or link farms. You can take it a step further by checking out the neighborhood in which the site is hosted to make sure it is part of a good neighborhood of sites. Look at our recent blog post: Hosting Your Domain With Bad Neighbors for more details and a free tool to help you determin good and bad neighborhoods.

5. Read Existing Comments

If you see that the blog post has very few comments, it is okay because the blog may still be new and developing a following. If you are the first to comment, dont be shy to do so, but only if the content is related to your industry and if you found the information useful as others may also find it useful and will stick around long enough to read your comments. If comments exist, look at the comments and see if they are worth your while. Often, you will come across a link that will lead you back to a site which you would also want to comment on. Utilize this in order to build your network of industry professionals as they will likely also follow your links back to your site. If you see too many links that give high praise to a badly written blog, chances are that these comments have been generated by the auther himself or by a software built to create spam links. If spam links are obvious, you may have stumbled upon a blog that lacks moderation, and the author is allowing all sorts of links to their site without checking them. This is a red flag that the blog is maintained by software and not by a human who would otherwise check each comment for spam before allowing it to post.

Posting comments and links on a site are a valuable form of SEO that can lead relevant visitors to your site. It is a common form of link building that is still growing in popularity. Although there are many blogs in which you can comment, be sure you are only doing so on relevant blogs that are authored and maintained by reputable and authority figures in the industry. This will ensure you get the most out of each visitor, and will keep you from associating your site with spam sites or link farms that can otherwise hurt your search engine standings. Search engines will be able to tell the difference of a high quality blog and a low quality ones. By associating with bad ones you are in turn, showing support for bad behavior and your site may be penalized for your show of support.

Be sure to protect your site by getting expert advice before creating your SEO strategy. Call Saba SEO for a free consultation toll free at 1.866.937.1717. Also follow us on Twitter for valuable tips and tricks on helping you grow your website.

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