Do you know how to recognize comments you should keep versus comment spam? I’ve noticed recently that some of our clients are confused about what should be deleted. Some discard everything without a second thought, some simply ignore them until they have a zillion piled up.
Comment spam
- Piles up quickly.
- Is vicious, redundant, pornographic, or unrelated to the subject.
- Makes you wonder if the comment came from an English-speaking source that would understand your response if you choose to leave one.
- Leaves unscrupulous links.
- Looks spammy.
I don’t understand why anyone thinks comment spam benefits an online effort. Black hat SEOers are another comment irritation. They don’t understand link strategy, and they make reputable companies look foolish to each other. When my name and website are going to be visible to another company website I’m leaving comments on, I don’t want my comment to sound ignorant, use poor grammar, or be downright illiterate. I want to leave a comment that might generate a reply.
I seriously doubt many businesses have any idea that the SEO company they hired for back link generation made them look ridiculous to other companies, instead of reaching out to them!
Here’s a cheat sheet to refer to. Some are obvious, some … not so much. If you find out your SEO company is doing anything like this using your website URL, I suggest you fire them immediately.
Go ahead and delete comments that have any of these 10 attributes:
- “There is some validity but I’ll take maintain opinion till I look into it further.” Seriously? I’m certain that’s not right in any language. Delete any comment that makes no sense.
- Anything that requests that you follow a link to consider a purchase.
- Long paragraphs unrelated to your post.
- Movie stars or public figures in the email or website links, or any other links in the comment.
- Nasty language.
- Keyword names instead of an actual name, like website design or Rolex watches.
- Requests for links and comments. These can be made through a contact page or phone call. Really.
- SEO advice. If a good SEOer gets in touch with you, it won’t be through a dumb comment.
- Comments about your pages not loading in their browser or other technical advice.
- Comments from a forum link. These forums tend to have one member with no interaction.
Many times the spam is done so well, you won’t even notice it until you approve it, only to find seven more just like it the next day. Some spammers will use slightly different web-based email accounts but post the same comment under different names to different posts.
Following these links can open you up to security issues like viruses or worms. Even when they don’t, checking a link wastes your time when you find a spammy website or shopping page for a product you don’t want your name associated with.
High spam counts don’t mean you’re doing a bad job with your blog. It actually means that you’re being found online, though not by the company you’d like to keep. Be patient, learn how to recognize comments that should get deleted, and share your posts on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, and Posterous to get in front of the audience you do want. I hope this helps!
What spammy comments do you find most annoying? Do you use tools to limit the spam that shows up on your website? Share them with us!
Photo Credit: somaya on Flickr made available through a Creative Commons License.
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