Are Blog Comments Still Worthwhile … Or Are They a Waste of Time?

A decade ago, new bloggers were often advised to leave comments on other blogs to start building traffic to their own blog.

But is it still worth doing?

For years, there’s been a lot of debate in the blogging world about comments.

Plenty of big blogs have disabled (and sometimes re-enabled) comments on their blogs, often due to spam or the time spent moderating comments.

With the rise of social media, many readers turn to Facebook or Twitter to share their thoughts about a post. So a lot of blogs find they only get a tiny handful of comments on each post.

So is it worth leaving comments on other blogs at all?

Yes, although it depends on why you want to.

Reasons You Might Comment on Other People’s Blogs

There are a number of  reasons why you might want to comment on other people’s blogs. And some of those reasons are better than others.

Reason #1: You Have Something Interesting or Useful to Add

Think about your own blog. Do you want readers commenting just to say “great post”? Or would you rather they add to the conversation? If you’ve got a story or tip to share, or even some words of encouragement, comments can be a great place for them.

Whatever your reason for commenting, you should always have something to say. If you can’t add to the post in some way, then it’s probably not worth commenting.

Reason #2: You Want to Connect With the Blogger (and/or Their Readers)

Commenting on blog posts can be a great way to get noticed by bloggers – especially if you comment fairly frequently. Of course, you want to be noticed in a good way. You don’t want them thinking, “Oh no, not again!” But if you comment in a positive and helpful way, the blogger – and other readers – will start noticing you, and may well respond to your comments.

It can be a great way to start a relationship if you want to pitch a guest post or ask for their help in some way.

Reason #3: You’re Trying to Get Your Name Out There in Your Niche

Do you want to build a reputation for yourself? Commenting on large blogs can be a good way to do that. If people see your comments on several blogs in your niche, it can give them the impression that you’re everywhere. (Keep in mind that more people will read comments leave a comment, so the readership for your comments might be a lot larger than you think.)

While commenting alone won’t help you build name recognition, it can complement other strategies such as guest posting or interviewing experts to get your name more widely recognised by your target audience and potential customers.

Reason #4: You Want to Drive Traffic to Your Blog

This is why many bloggers have for leaving comments, but it’s not the best one. If your sole reason for commenting is to get traffic, those comments can quickly lose their quality because you’re trying to post as many of them as you can.

It can also lead to some commenting habits that annoy bloggers, such as putting something other than your actual name/pseudonym in the “name” field. Using the name of your blog or a keyword related to your niche makes the comments section look a bit spammy, and your comment could be deleted.

Reason #5: You Want a Backlink

Another reason some new bloggers leave comments everywhere is they think it’s a good way to build backlinks to their blog that will in turn raise their standing in Google.

And that’s not a good reason at all. 

Not only does it encourage spammy comments, it’s also flawed login. Most blogs set their comment links to be “nofollow” (WordPress does this by default), which means the link you get will contribute very little (if anything) to your SEO efforts.

For more tips on leaving great comments, check out The Ultimate Guide to Leaving Comments on Blogs and podcast episode 20, How to Leave Comments On Other Blogs.

So is commenting worthwhile? It depends on your goals and why you’re doing it. But why not give it a try? Spend a couple of weeks leaving thoughtful, useful comments on blogs you regularly read.

You don’t need to go overboard. You might aim to leave three comments each day, focusing on posts where your comment can be one of the first (which is much more likely to get read).

See if this makes a difference to your traffic, and let us know how you got on.

Image credit: Pavan Trikutam