The Power of Comments-my 595th WA Post
I used this image last year when I did a post about comments I believe. It is just so cute! I wanted to point out the amazing power of comments on our websites if anyone is not familiar with this yet.
I have been requesting comments through the Site Comments again recently. It always amazes me when I do this and my post ranking and or traffic suddenly go up in the next day.
There is a direct connection between getting traffic and comments (if you get a comment you inherently got a visitor to your site in the process) and Google ranking. I don't know how much of the effect is from the comment vs. the traffic but comments seem to be much more effective than a visit with no comment.
There are several reasons why comments are valuable and rewarded with increased ranking by Google and the other search engines.
Comments Provide These 5 Benefits
1) Comments show engagement by our visitors. A comment shows that the visitor is interested in the content of our post. A visitor that just clicks away may not have any interest in the post or might not have thought it was very good. Most of the time people who comment are actually reading the content (though there are spammers that don't) and therefore it is an indication our content has some value.
2) Responding to comments shows we are engaging with our visitors.
3) Comments increase the time on page. A person who leaves a comment usually ends up spending much longer on the page than someone who just leaves.
4) Comments add length (word count) to our posts. A higher word count is a good thing. This is another reason you should respond to comments.
5) Requesting comments here on WA means we will be getting increased traffic to our post which in turn boosts ranking.
All of these points contribute to the massive and ever-changing list of algorithm factors the search engines use to rank our content.
If you have a new post I HIGHLY recommend you try to get some comments on it ASAP. Why wait for months to get your post out there and seen, give it a jump start right away.
I have over 1,500 comments on my primary website and 446 on my second site. My little second site has only 14 posts. I get organic traffic to it every day and sales on many days. This is partly due to having comments to keep my post rankings up and getting traffic. Of course comments are not the most important factor in ranking and getting traffic and sales. Using great keywords and writing quality content is crucial. You need to follow the training here at WA for all the key SEO components we need to include.
Quality of Comments
I have had frustration with the quality of comments recently as many of you have had as well. I have just figured out I have to be way more ruthless with disapproving the bad ones. I used to agonize over it but now I have to just disprove, explain why and move on. We generally get more than one comment when we request one anyway so it isn't like we are losing our credits if we request one, get two and disprove one of them.
WA Gives Us A Great Advantage
With the Site Comments platform we have the opportunity to get comments instantly after our posts are live. That would be very difficult for the vast majority of us who don't have super high powered sites with tons of visitors ready to devour our content. We could add a post and not get an organic comment for many months. Most visitors to websites don't leave comments so if you are getting organic comments you are doing something right! I am always thrilled when I see an organic comment and I am still very shocked to see one though they are getting more common.
My 595th WA Post
This is also my 595th blog post here on WA! This is not something I would normally brag about since I don't believe in posting every day just to post. I think we should only post when we have something to say. I have been a member here for 4 years however and apparently the posts have added up!
Jessica
Recent Comments
73
This is so good! I like site comments! But I am also hesitant to give site comments. Some of my very thought out comments get disapproved which I find very frustrating. Especially when I take the time to read the post and write a very thought out comment. But I'm going to still keep giving comments, I'm just going to make sure I triple check what the person is looking for in regards to the type of comment they are wanting.
Anna
Thanks Anna,
It sounds like some people are really ruthless about disapproving comments. I don't do that. I only disapprove the real garbage like when they didn't read the post and say things totally unrelated, copy and pasted someone else's comment that is already on my post, pitch their own product with backlinks rather then talk about my content etc.
When people use it correctly, it is great.
ruthless is a good word! I've never had any back link pitches yet, but I have had some copy and paste ones!
I have had quite a few backlink ones...some are organic or if they are WA members I suspect they have to leave them outside of SiteComments. I would not think Site Comments would allow links. I am not sure though.
I know the power of Comments on our websites. This is majorly why I spend most of my time in the SiteComments Platform gathering some Community Credits and Cash Credits (I usually withdraw these for USD) until I get a Laptop to work on my website that is currently in maintenance mode.
Thanks for sharing this. It's kinda motivating; giving me more reasons and energy to continue with the Site Comments.
I celebrate you ma'am 🥂.
Hi, Jessica. I'm ambivalent about using SiteComments. From the point of view of the commenter, It's frustrating to spend time reading a posts that you may or may not have much experience in, but still writing a comment that is well thought out and, I think, worthwhile.
Example: I read a post on a certain subject, I think it had to do with cryptocurrency, and, since I didn't know much about the subject, I asked for clarification in my comment on something the writer mentioned. I thought questions were good in comments.
The writer disapproved my comment, telling me that I should have done my research before giving him a comment.
What's up with that?
Grant
Well I can't vouch for how others handle their comments. Some people have very different expectations. I would not have disapproved your comment for asking a question though.
I just skip over sites that I have no interest in.
You can also purchase comments if you don't want to build up credits by leaving comments.
Whatever way you can get them they are valuable though.
Yes, it does count if you click the Not Interested button. However, you can just go away from Site Comments and come back later and usually get a different one. Sometimes that doesn't work and the same one is still there. You can also edit your preferences for comment topics.
I've done the editing part. I hadn't thought of leaving the site and coming back. I've found that what's considered as part of the preferences I've chosen is pretty iffy sometimes. I get posts to review that I have no idea about.
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I've had a couple of organic comments too, and they were even positive, so I was very delighted. I must admit I approved one organic comment I wouldn't have approved on WA, because the person just wrote "I love unicorns!" :D
On WA, I disapprove all low quality comments ruthlessly these days. I even had to buy some credits, because I had so many posts lacking comments, I couldn't keep up with leaving comments to other people to get enough on my site.