Links, Stumbles, Diggs and Comments - the SEO currency of the Internet

June 22nd, 2008

SEO KarmaWhenever I get a few minutes spare, I search for interesting blog posts to leave comments on. From an SEO point of view this is time very well spent.

In an average 30 minute session I can usually leave 10 or so quality comments on blog pages with Google PageRanks ranging from 2 to 6. Yes Virginia, PageRank is still important and probably will be unless Google can come up with a better system.

I know that some SEOs poo-poo blog comment links, but in my experience they work exceptionally well. Some of my post powerful links come from other SEO blogs.

In 30 minutes I can usually get 10 new quality incoming links with the anchor text I’m looking for. In return for these links I usually Stumble or Digg the blog post as a way of saying “thank you for the link”.

If you are considering a similar strategy I advise the following guidelines:

1. Read, I mean really read, the post before leaving the comment. This will mean that your comment will be more relevant and acceptable to the blog owner. Bloggers love to be read. Reward them for their post.

2. Leave an interesting comment that makes it obvious that you read the post. Blog owners are becoming more suspicious of generic comments like: “great post. I was wondering about that.” If your blog post is interesting you will also generate natural traffic to your site from readers of your comments.

3. Think of a name that includes the anchor text but doesn’t make it too obvious your’re after link juice. An example could be “Brisbane golf club Girl”, if the anchor text I’m after is “Brisbane Golf Club”.

4. If you have found the high PR blog post using Stumbleupon, Digg or another social bookmarking service, make sure you give the post the thumbs up, Digg or other token of approval. The 5 seconds it takes to reward the blog post is a very small price to pay for the link you will get. Think of it as making a deposit into your social bookmarking karma account.

In summary, with thought, a little work and consistency you can probably get 50 high PR links from blog posts each week. In a few weeks these links will translate into more traffic and much better search engine rankings.

Trackbacks and comments welcome. Pay it forward.

Sphere: Related Content

Categories: Blog, Blogging, SEO General |

« Four Good Reasons to Pay Your Small Business Supplier on Time
How Laser Hair Removal Works »

4 Comments

  1. Fishing Holiday Guy June 26th, 2008

    Thanks for the tip. I love the concept of link Karma. I guess this comment is a good example?

  2. Internet Strategy July 3rd, 2008

    I totally agree with you…i mean commenting without reading makes no sense as one just ends up writing something irrelevent and might just make a fool out of himself…quite helpful tips…nice post.

  3. Martin July 13th, 2008

    Good post, having a look around your site and methodology, you appear to be one of the few Australian SEO’s who understand the power of links, relevancy and AnchorText in coaxing Google to place a site where it deserves to be ( often called Whitehat SEO )will put your blog in favorites, to keep up with progress, how do you find ” rel-no follows ” links, by the way in your comment equation, do you consider this or not ? Thanks

  4. Hackers September 13th, 2008

    Thanks for the commentMartin. I really don’t care too much about nofollow tags. In my experience they only prevent the passing on of link juice some of the time (I think Google’s still working on it).

    If the blog post is interesting and generates traffic, then it’s worth leaving a comment anyway.

Leave a comment