Let’s just think about it from a common sense perspective.  Although I’m totally oversimplifying, the whole idea of Google is that it shows the most “relevant” or “important” or “most popular” pages that it knows about for a given term. Oversimplifying again, the basic way it does this is to track the number (and quality/type) of inbound links to a page and what that link “calls” the page (anchor text).  So, in general, the more inbound links a page has for a given term, the higher it shows up in the SERPS.  Each inbound link is like a “vote” for the site it’s linking to.

When you comment on a blog (for SEO purposes), most of the time, the “name” field becomes the anchor text of the term you’re trying to rank for , and the link is the page you’re trying to rank for.  Does that really look natural?  Is that really a “vote” ?  Contrast that with a blog post or comment that has the link embedded in it.  THAT looks more like a “vote” … doesn’t it?  Compound that with the fact that Google KNOWS these blog comments are completely abused for SEO, and don’t you think they’re going to do something about that .. if they haven’t already?

We also know that Google already has processes to value the weight or importance of links.  For example, links from higher PR sites are more important; reciprocal links are less important (perhaps even valueless); no follow links are less important (perhaps even valueless); links from known paid link sites are less important etc. So, is it really a stretch to think, that Google is now (or already has) started to seriously devalue links from blog comments.  I certainly don’t think so, and it seems like Google is hinting at just that in the blog post I mentioned.

My personal opinion (and that’s all it is!!) is that links from blog comments that follow the typical pattern of name of commenter = anchor text and link is the page you’re trying to rank are going to or already have been VERY devalued.   I have come to the conclusion that it may very well be a waste of time.  Heck, Google themselves are saying just that!  This is a quote from their blog post about comment links:

At best, a link spammer might spend hours doing spammy linkdrops which would count for little or nothing because Google is pretty good at devaluing these types of links.

So what should you do?  I would (and I’m going to!) start to move away from using blog comments for link building (yikes…a gasp went up in the room).  I just think it’s common sense.  Blog posts with links and links within the body of comments (if you are able to do them!) would still be fair game I’d say, BUT…I think the writing is on the wall here.  I think the party’s over and it’s time to start focusing on other link building techniques.

Please note, I have no “insider” knowledge here and this is only my opinion.

We developed a study using 200 domains and lots of time and effort to answer this question.  Grab it from the direct link below…nothing to sign up for or anything…just sharing!  :-)

Download the report here!

I often come across people who think there’s some magic bullet or secret answer to this…that only gifted gurus and SEO experts know.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The dirty little secret, is that it’s mostly just common sense.

This blog post with 69 link tactics (and yup..there are really 69!) puts all of that in one neat package.  If you’re struggling with trying to figure out where to start or what it’s all about.  Just head on over and check out this post on WIEP.net