Should you add Keywords to the Name Field when you Leave Comments on a Blog?

I only comment if I have something to add to the other site, but I do include my name and URL. I highly approve of networking. However, when I look at incoming comments to my site, I first look at the e-mail or URL it’s coming from. If it looks shady, I take a closer look at the quality of the comment. Most of the time it’s from what I consider a “spammer” and I won’t approve it.

I use my blog name in the name field. It is far more identifying, it doesn’t come across as trying to sell something, and I try to make my comments live up to the name. Writing under a pseudonym is not a crime. Just ask Samuel Langhorne Clemens.
(I don’t claim that kind of writing skill, though.)

For over a year I always left comments with my full name, JoLynn Braley. Only recently did I start leaving comments as JoLynn from The Fit Shack.

I’ve never left a comment as “lose weight now” or anything like that – I personally don’t like that, but now after reading all of the comments above I wonder if I should just leave my first and last name. Why? Because the last thing on Earth I’d ever want to come across as would be a spammer.

I started out using forums in 2004 and only started blogging in 2007 so for me, I’m like many of the others here who are interested in actually relating to other people. I’ve been hesitant to do this but I’m actually going to put together a comment policy now because I do want comments left with a person’s name – if they want to leave their first name and site name that’s fine, but I am tired of responding to comments left by someone named “diet pills” (an example, no comments have gotten through with that “name” on my blog) – sorry, I just don’t get how that’s a real person.

Thanks for all of your comments, I don’t feel so alone now in how I’ve been feeling about this topic. And again, I’m wondering if I should just go back to using my first and last name and not even include my site name, but at the same time it’s natural for me to say “hi ya, this is JoLynn from The Fit Shack”, just like I would say on the phone, “hello, this is JoLynn from ABCD Company calling to speak to Jane Doe”, ABCD Company being my fictitious employer.

I’d love to see a specific poll just on that – if a commenter leaves their first name followed by site name, do you consider that spam?

Well I think its ok, with the most of us looking to improve our rankings (being webmasters) – why not give back something for the effort someone has taken to comment in the first place. I’d bet that keyword comments get more clickthroughs as well – which is maybe not so good for the blog hoster – but if we are in the business of rewarding contribution…

From a webmaster perspective, I immediately delete comments from http://www.somedomain.com rather than from a person’s name. I agree that leaving your name and URL is the equivalent of leaving a business card. However, you wouldn’t go to a networking event (which is what many blogs are) and pass out your business card and say “make $1,000 a day with Adsense!” everytime you passed it out. For that reason, I’m fine with just leaving my name and URL. If I provide value to the conversation, then I’m likely to get traffic, whether or not I use keywords.

Using keywords in comments seems like you are taking advantage of another blogger’s good will and/or reputation to build your audience, and doesn’t seem right. It’s like if you arrive at a party and then announce that you are also having a party, but it’s more popular and everybody who attends your party will become better people. So I don’t think it’s a good practice.

I have to laugh at the people who think that a name like Bill is just fine, but if you change those four letters to “debt” the letters now become “spam.”

Spam is unsolicited email.

Comment Spam is a made up word like Wiccan but does represent an intrusion so we let it live.

But a word on a web comment, written by a real person, that represents that person’s topic (like the subtitle on a business card that explains what you do) is just fine.

Bloggers who over-freak-out about using keywords in comment URL anchor text are probably broke anyway.

Why do you think there IS a separate field in the comment field anway – it’s for anchor text! A clue…

Rick Butts

I have no problem with the Name/Company or Name/Blog format in comments on my personal blog, but draw the line at Name – Keyword Keyword. Other blogs I write for have a range of different comment policies that are both more and less strict than my own, and that’s cool too.

For my personal blog, however, I’d like to be allowed to think that commenters are responding in a genuine way to the post, and it’s hard to maintain that pleasant illustion when faced with a bunch of keywords.

The other day, I was soundly chastised by one commenter for editing out the keywords in his name field — he thought I should be grateful that he was “helping search engines to know what this blog is about”! Wasn’t that thoughtful? Of course, it would have been even more so if his keywords were remotely on target… :D

I leave keywords only at marketing blogs, and I only comment when I have something to contribute. I figure that marketers “get” that I’m not trying to spam, but I’d appreciate a decent keyworded link.

By the way, nofollow doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get no credit for links. It just means that Google doesn’t share some of the page rank/Google juice, whatever you want to call it from the site.

Anyway, I think it’s interesting how people use their keywords or sites names.
– domainname.com
– firstname @ domainname (without com)
– firstname >> Site Title
– firstname from the blog title
– Site Name

etc. I wonder which goes over best? Personally I’d never use the @ because a bot could come along and translate it into an email address.

Burton

Personally, I use the name of my web site in the “name” field on every site that I leave comments on until I become a regular on that site.

I think if someone recognizes your “name,” they are more likely to lend your comment to being credible. And since, in my area (sports) people are more likely to recognize my site name rather than my individual name (since there are 6 collective writers on my site), I use my site name as my “name.”

Hi everyone, I have an important question please.

When bloggers leave a one time comment on my Typepad blog and enter their url should I leave it or delete it?

Once in a while they are relevant nice comments but i usually know which ones just stopped by to say something that I would ignore so they can add there link. Can that hurt my own Google rank or SEO numbers?
I have been deleting the Url’s of non relevant sites and only leaving the comment if it’s relavant to the post. Is that recommended? Or should I delete them all together or leave them alone?

I am sorry to ask so many questions but we have only been blogging a month and don’t know what to do.
Thank you all so much and God Bless.
Darrin & Josy

i think its ok to add the keyword in name field because if you are going to add some thing on others site’s or blog so you also need the back and backlink is not the big issue, backlinks is not only way to get the top ranking you also need to do other only one thing can’t make change in ranking so keyword in name i think
OK +1 :D

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