How To Control Blog Comment Spamming

This problem seems to come in waves.

What problem is that?

Paid blog comments spam.

Comment spam is a real drag. Yes, there are plugins and spam filters and what not you can use to help stem the tide, but invariably some of it leaks through.

Here’s one that landed on Phoenix Real Estate Guy today:

How do we know this is a paid comment?

First, it was left on a post that is almost one year old. A post that gets very little traffic as it was written about a specific event from back in August 2009.

Second, the spammy active link to “Lansing real estate” is a dead giveaway that it’s at least a worthless hunk of quivering spam, even if it’s not paid for.

Third, it makes no sense. Wishing me luck on an event that occurred 51 weeks ago? What is the point?

Finally, “Agnes” has an email address (visible in the blog admin area) that ends in @netvantagemarketing.com. They do…wait for it…SEO work. Someone from the linked site, which is a Coldwell-Banker real estate brokerage, doesn’t have the time to peruse blogs and leave legitimate comments. But apparently they have enough disposable income to pay someone to leave comments for them.

Why would someone do this?

They think it will help them get ranked better in search engine results. They probably went to a seminar, or listened to some SEO company sales pitch and heard, “This is a great way to get links back to your site!”

You want to know what I do with comments like this?

Yep, I mark them as spam. And you know what happens then? The commmenters email and IP address get added to a spam database. When enough people flag their comments as spam, they get blocked from posting across sites using that database.

In this case, it’s Agnes and her company that get blocked. But often these paid commenters will leave YOUR email address, meaning YOU get identified as a spammer.

Not only that, you’ve just thrown money away. You might as well walk outside and light some cash on fire. The comment you paid for is nowhere to be found on the Internet.

What should you do with blog comments?

Comment on a blog because you want to, not for a link. Engage with the author and other commenters. Add value to the conversation. You know what happens when you do that?

People get to know you. With quality comments, people gain respect for you. Readers of the blog your are commenting on will click on your name in the comments and go read your blog. (Assuming you leave a valid URL in the form when you make a comment.) If you’ve got compelling content, you may just pick up a regular reader. If that reader happens to be a blogger (and many blog readers are also blog writers) then you may just wind up at some point getting a link to your site from them—a natural link. The kind of link Google loves.

Don’t just leave comments in hopes your links will be scattered about the Blogiverse. Leave good comments to engage with others, and build your online cred.

And for Pete’s sake, don’t pay some company to leave comments for you. That’s just silly—and a one-way ticket to a big giant pimple on the face of your online reputation.

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