This weekend is a weekend for discussion here at ProBlogger and I’m posting some questions submitted by readers via Twitter.
jophllips asks:
“should you add keywords to the name field when you leave comments”
So another way to put it – should you leave your name, blog name or some other keywords in the ‘name’ URL when you leave comments on a blog?
This is a question we’ve debated previously here on ProBlogger and it generated some great discussion. Looking forward to hearing your answers.
I wouldn’t leave keywords to the name field. It immediately turns off the reader from reading your wonderful prose and insightful analysis. Although it might increase viewership, it’s unnecessary and in my opinion unwanted.
I can’t see any difference from SPAM comments and leaving a keyword on name field. Looking forward to see other comments. Maybe I am wrong…
I don’t really see anything wrong with it. I mean, think about it practically. When someone is reading a comment that I have posted, do they really care that my name is Scott? No. As long as the comment itself is not spammy, I’m fine with it.
To leave keywords is the closest way to say: “hello! don’t read my comment, I’m just another spammer!” But I don’t see a big diference about leaving your name or your blog’s name, if your are the only writer on it, you can be easily identified.
As a webmaster that immediately comes off as spam to me, even if the comment is good or even insightful. I usually end up editing or deleting those types of comments personally.
I’ve seen a few variations, and some are definitely better than others. For example, some use “name – keywords or blog name” and I view that as better than just plain keyword. And I can see using blog name as your name in a comment, but only if it’s not too spammy. If your site is one of those with lots of hyphens, it’s probably overdone on the keyword side of things, and just looks bad.
Mostly I consider how much I want to look like a person when I comment, rather than a blog.
No.
Comments are supposed to be for user contribution and opinion. There are plenty of places to build links, but spamming comments with keywords is not one of them.
I hand edit the majority of my keyword-spammed comments, and believe everyone else should too.
That would be a big fat NO.
When leaving comments, I think it’s important to show just a little common courtesy and respect for the site you are commenting on. Don’t go spamming my blog with “keywords”, just to drive more traffic to your own site, please. I’d either simple delete comments like that or sic the spam filter on them.
Maybe I’m missing an opportunity.
From now on I’ll simply identify myself
with my first name only–and my website
will be some sort of HERBal blog.
Leaving keywords in the name field violates the unspoken trust agreement that blog owners and readers have. It’s near impossible to respect the comment when you see a blatant keyword spam attempt.
Of course, having the keyword link is good for SEO purposes as long as there’s no no-follow, but at the end of the day the contents of the comment should be used to build your reputation in a way that adds more value to your name and ultimately your business than one keyword rich link.
No – I’d most likely treat comments with key words in the name field as spam and either delete them or mark them as spam so that Akismet can deal with them in future.
For me that is spam… a polite spam but continue to be spam…
The Url in our name/nick is enough to get visits! dont need to be rude and leave a url in comment!
what? I didn’t even read the post…
Kidding aside. If I received a comment with someone leaving a keyword for their name I would nuke it rather fast. However I let people slide if they use their site name as their name. I get that.
Leaving your blog name, if you have one, seems appropriate in most cases. This is a good argument for including keywords in your blog name. Just leaving keywords seems spammy.
Well…I hope I’m not the cause of this whole thing, but I personally have always tried to comment with “Jeff – ScienceSays” because there are an awful lot of other Jeffs out there in the world!
I’m a big fan of ProBlogger and try to comment here whenever something gets me thinking, and having seeing other “Jeffs” post here, I like to differentiate what I think.
Nope.
If you leave keywords instead of your name, it looks like all you’re interested in is improving your search rankings instead of contributing to a discussion.
Oh heck NO. Wanna leave a specific entry in the website field? That’s okay to me. Still linking to your website.
But it’s a comment area for interaction, not a free-for-all.
I think if it’s your site/blog NAME, that’s okay. For example, if I put “Anubis Marketing” in instead of my real name. Not the way I’d do it, as I feel it removes the personal tone and makes conversing between commenters seem weird (“@ Anubis Marketing: I think you’re crazy!” versus “@Lara: I think you’re crazy!”) but still I think it’s okay.
Now, had I used “Blog design” or “SEO Internet Marketing” – then I’d say “hells nah!”
I see both sides of the fence but if the keywords help the commentor out and the comments are worthy of listing which helps the blog owner, is it not a win win for both parties. I see the selfish part of it but I think the social media craze has exploded much because of things like this. Some people use keywords for the same reason they have 3k friends on myspace. networking. I guess it is up to the blog owner to decide if they want the discussion enough to allow the commentor to have his cake and eat it too. At the end of the day nobody is getting shot so it cant be that bad, right?
I have been leaving keywords in the name field on this Blog’s comments – because my name is Robin and I discovered there was another Robin leaving comments here, and I noticed other people were using “funny” forum-type names, and liveforever was the first thing I thought of in a hurry.
I’d be HORRIFIED to think any one thought I was using “keywords” as a strategy of some sort. Give us a break – thanks for making my Sunday morning.
– Robin
Since the comment links on ProBlogger are nofollow I guess it doesn’t make much sense to use keywords as name, huh…?
I don’t mind blogtitles as names but I don’t like filthy keywords as names, like youporn or viagra or stuff.
I like this format of “name from company/website”. It does a number of useful things:
– Gives a name so you know who it is.
– It indicates where the link will go, so it’s not such a mystery meat experience.
– Gives a hint of your experience.
– More memorable than just a full name.
– Links the name with a website.
– You can still reply to just the name. eg @TimB
If this became a convention on the internet, or everyone did it on this site, I don’t think there would be a problem.
We should be proud of our work, it’s often a big part of who we are.
Depends on the no follow status…
Please Darren, please do a poll on this.
Personally I hate it when people leave comments on my blog using keywords. Sometimes I’ve deleted such comments and I’m thinking of adding a rule above my comments that stops people from using keywords. It’s just rude.
On from what Tim R was saying, just above me, I think a WordPress developer should create a plugin with a field like “Company/Website Name” and entries into that field will become the alt text for the commenter’s link.
Most comments with many keywords attached to it may get your comment to be marked as spam, and probably on many popular blogs you will not be able to post new comments.
I think that you don’t have anything good if you post main keywords for your site on other blog comments.
I always put the name of my blog in the title. There are other people with my name and I feel this helps to identify me. I thought most comments had “no follow”, so it never occurred to me that anyone would see it as spamming.
If the blog that you post comments on has implemented the dofollow plugin, your comments will be indexed and maybe you should add some keywords instead of your name / your blog’s name.
But there’s a high probability that the man who owns the blog will mark your comments as spam.
I wish this comment was number one so more people could see it.
This is a very “touchy” subject. Spam is not wanted anywhere, (I know I certainly don’t want it) but many people have different views as to what spam actually is. I personally allow key-wording on comments on my blog, but only when a comment contributes that of high quality and has proper spelling, grammar and punctuation(only to people who keyword).
This shows the reader actually put thought into their comment, and actually read the post. This to me is NOT spam, an I reward my readers by allowing them to keyword their niche on their comments as long as they follow what is mentioned above.
However, I do not do such a thing when I comment on other blogs because I know how touchy other web-master’s can be about this, and the comments above hold some truth to that. The reason I know this is because I once key-worded comments, but never did I leave a “spam” comment or tried to promote anything whatsoever. Every comment I posted was a useful comment and contributed to the post 100%. Yet a webmaster(s) decided to mark me “spam” on their Akismet and I was blocked from making comments.
Obviously this was a mistake I contacted Akismet and the problem was fixed. I even contacted Darren about the situation to let him know what was going on. He was very understanding and helpful and even let some of the comments I made that his Akismet caught as “spam” (the once he saw, as he gets a lot of comments) go through.
Conclusion – It is up to the blogger or webmaster to decide whether they consider key-wording comments “spam” or if they choose to reward their readers with this (the ones who contribute quality comments.
I don’t find using keywords wrong, especially if it’s related to your domain, but i can use Shiny Mikey Mouse in name field two.
Takes the whole fun out of it…I have no problem if other people do it…But for me it removes the personal touch….
Should you? Perhaps no. But the question would be better why not/to use keywords in comments?
Danny Mac said that people will not read the commentators content if he has used keywords. Actually I would pay more attention to those that do use keywords (especially if their keywords are to something related that I have interest on). It is just a way of “pre-describing” the website which you have linked on the comment. And this is a reason why to use keywords in comment.
However, maybe you don’t want to describe the nature of the site to which you are linking but rather you want to build your name among the others, thats a valid reason why not to use keywords in comments.
Just my 2 cents.
I’m going to use Darren as an example since everyone here is familiar with him. I prefer real names, so “Darren” is good. I am also fine with pseudo names or brand names that contain keywords, such as “Problogger”. It bugs me if it’s only keywords, such as “Earn Money Blogging Today!”
If someone leave a good comment and they are linking to a quality site, it is not spam. No matter what name they are calling themselves.
Labeling a good comment spam when it is truly a good comment is wrong. You are being bigoted about their name. You are getting all their comments labeled as spam even on other site that would think it OK. If you are calling a good comment bad, you are the one that is wrong.
If you do a post about Phil Collins and a commenter uses the name Phil, is it keywording? Yes. That does not make it wrong even if his name is not Phil (as long as he is not trying to impersonate).
Aksimet would work a lot better if people would think before they label stuff spam. If it is not truly spam, do not mark it so. Just because you do not like the commenter’s name is not a reason to send them to Akismet hell.
That said, if Darren used his name and left a truly spammy comment or linked to a spam site, it is spam no matter what the name used, even if it is your own.
If you have doubts, delete the comment, but do not label honest comments spam if they are not.
I think it’s fine (obviously).
If you’re trying to brand yourself, then use the name you want to be known by, whether that’s your given name, a nickname, an internet handle, a company name, or the name of your website.
As for not reading comments from people who don’t use their real names, I always read the comments first. If I like a comment, I might look to see who wrote it. But I’m there for the content.
If I have no problem with “anonymous” (and I don’t), then why should I have a problem with “MakeMoneyOnline?” Surely the latter tells me more than the former.
“The Science Guy” is more informative than “William Nye.”
What matters is the level of discourse.
So something like “Click Here to win $1,000” and the link is MFA site or Adsense link, would definitely be a no!
How about “Donate to Trolls”, Ney!
“Buy a Troll” No way!
“Free Trolls”, I guess no!
I think your blog title works best, unless you have “Scented Candles” as your title and you are selling Candles, then I do not know what you should use, because it comes out as Spam.
It doesn’t matter. Unless the post is nofollow free and is of the kind of quality that it becomes a reference with pagerank later on, it really makes no difference.
Google measures the links that existed on the page when the author hits ‘publish’ much more strongly than any user added link, including name.
Don’t bother.
From a branding perspective I would think it is a good idea.
It is so against the whole nature of blogging to me. Blogging is about conversation. The blogger writes. Readers comment. Other bloggers link or extend the conversation. I don’t talk with people named “credit card counseling”. I talk with people named Bill, Ted or Fred.
Even though most blogs add nofollow to the url, it has been proven that consistently adding keywords to the urls you use on blog comments does help for your rankings.
That is why I usually add the word Skype in the name field. I would prefer to use my real name, but since it does improve my rankings I guess it is an opportunity that I simply cannot let go.
Hey Darren, thanks a bunch for posting my question! :)
I personally find it annoying when people add keywords before or after their name when leaving a comment, or when people put only keywords. It happened many times I went to the blog that the commentator linked to and had to find the ‘real’ name of the blogger… and I edit the comment.. I don’t do this anymore though, too time-consuming. Now I just delete… I understand why people do this though.. or I should say that I understand that some people see it as a good way to brand yourself or get the search engines to love them.. but to me it’s just plain annoying :)
Thanks again Darren!
Well after reading all these comments I’ve changed my opinion. On my blog I want to hear comments from ‘real’ people, not from a advertisement written by a person. So I try to follow the same policy and use my name when commenting. Linking to your blog through your name is fine by me.
Until I read this though I wouldn’t include my blog name in the link, because it felt extraneous to a comment. However it does distinguish me from other Jarrods (obviously I’m not comfortable disclosing my full name on the web) so now I’m in agreement with that.
I still don’t like blog names without a person’s name, still feel touchy about blog names that just sound like an advertisement.
I often comment with the name Goddess Carlie – that happens to be my website title, but also my “name” for the most part on the internet. Which is think is part of the brand I’m building, but not any keywords.
i think that leaving comments is a way of getting to build relationships, and I know I don’t really want to build a relationship with someone who is just out to get a few keywords in a link back. As most blogs have the no-follow thing happening on comments, it is kind of pointless in that regards.
I think “Bob Shmob – mydomain.com” is fine because it identifies the person, especially if there is a lot of Bob’s around, but “Top Cleaning Products” – if you need to fill your name as such, I would think that you are not trying to build a relationship with me but only commenting to promote your own site, and I would delete yo arse.
My name is The Masked Milionaire and it shows up in the name field. My url is also TheMaskedMillionaire I have noticed that some people get p** off if you leave your url in the name field or as a signature. I have actually been blocked from leaving comments on some sites because of it.
I think it is petty.
As long as it is not spam for some weird site, people can leave their keywords, url, or just about anything in the comments on my blog.
I even take it one step further….when somebody leaves a comment on my blog, I will look at their blog, thank them for the commment and leave a link to their blog on my blog.
I’m not afraid of people reading somebody else’s blog. I’m not afraid they might leave mine. But for sure, there are some mighty big bloggers out there that seem to be scared to death that somebody might leave their blog to read somebody elses.
Live From Las Vegas
The Masked Millionaire
Yes. At least if you’re me. Why? Because I have the #4 most common first name for kids between 74-82 and the #2 most common last name. If you’re me, you’re either one in a sea of chris johnsons (Google it) or you’re Genuine Chris Johnson. I got no choice. IF I’m gonna stand out, I gotta do this.
@Carlie, Do not just delete the Arse, but mark it as Spam.
Especially if you have Akismet, then they will be Banned from other blogs as well.
I don’t like it when it’s just keywords, though I don’t mind if it’s “Name – Site Name” or similar. Personally, use my full name.
If the name field was intended for keywords, it would be called “Keywords”. Your name is not “SEO Marketing” or “Online Pharmacy”, so please don’t say it is for the purpose of using my blog to market YOUR site.
I delete any comment that doesn’t leave a real name, and heavily moderate all other suspect comments.
NEVER do that .. i was in top 20 for a teen keyword .. then i try to comments on blogs from blogrush . and leave my keyword their . and they keyword is really nice , you wont hate that keyword cause its related to teen .. or a person that is really sad .
then now my site is on 251 which i think its a -251 penalty .
im an idiot – i was commenting on websites /blogs about parenting where the topics are really on babies , new babies i mean .. instead of getting $1.77 for 1 shot , im now shot dead on my head ..
if you are the only writer/author of the blog then maybe yes but if not it’s a no. theres a URL field where you can put your/the site URL so why should put the blog url in the ‘name’ field. and the keyword, it is not good because it’s like you just commented to my post so you can attract visitors to your site. keywords on ‘name’ is a big no.
Online, as offline, the idea of having a keyword endeavour to join my conversations is not something I find attractive. “Hi, Iwillmakeyourichfasterthanyoucanblink, meet my friends Darren and Joe and Mary and Jenny. By the way, is iwillmakeyourichfasterthanyoucanblink your last name or your first name? Sorry, you don’t actually have a name? Hmmm, I must be at the wrong party.”