At what point to stop comments on a blog? Do too many comments hurt the page?
-
I have a page that's ranking pretty well, and driving sales. That page is starting to get 10+ comments per day and is starting to get quite long. I was wondering if there is a point where I should disable the comments? My gut tells me that people interacting with the page, and Google seeing responses with the users SHOULD be a good thing not bad. But, then I think that a majority of the content of the page is no longer the article, but the comments.
All the comments are good, non spammy and directly related to the topic. People just asking questions, etc. Good engagement, I should be happy right?
-
The only reason why I'd ever disable comments if I'm way to tired of getting them and having to approve them or I decided to stop replying to comments. I'll tell you why.
Your page is ranking well for many reasons. One of the reason is likely due to that its a great piece of content. If it still continues to rank well and drive sales, then the 10+ comments per day obviously aren't harming its ability to do that, so why change the process of accepting comments? In addition, if it is a great piece of content, people are more likely to share it and you'll get more visits. I've seen many blogs where they closed comments because it was already a year or two old and it just seems they don't want to bother with the comments anymore and I really want to provide additional insight and yadda yadda; my comments are not going to hurt your post especially if it adds more unique and fresh content to that page only to help it stay fresh in Google's eyes, right?
Unless you switch the position of your content and the comments around, the comments will have little effect on your page's rank and conversion rate.
If you're happy with the way things are, let the comments keep coming. Use your spam filter, make sure you have "external nofollows" on comment URLs and if you really want to keep the value of your content strong, only approve the really good comments, not just the five word comments like, "wow, what a great post".
Good engagement, you are correct. Fresh & unique content, Google likes. More social signals; a good thing.
-
Yup! That sounds like a good interaction and a lively page that will keep presenting fresh, meaningful content each time it's updated. The only comments I'd worry about are spam (which you've screened) and really off-topic comments, but neither of those seem to be a problem. Since people are commenting under the same topic(s) as the article, it just adds to the page as a whole.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Exchanging Guest Blog Opportunities - SEO Implications?
Haven't found a clear, recent answer on this. What are the SEO implications of exchanging guest blogging opportunities (in other words, we write an article for a partner blog with a backlink, and they write an article on on our blog with a backlink)? The partner site has a 57 domain authority and we have a 24 domain authority.
Content Development | | mikekeeper0 -
Why is redirecting all broken pages to the homepage is a bad idea?
I have a site where all broken pages are redirected to the homepage. I've been told that it's a bad idea in terms of SEO. I just can't figure out why 🙂
Content Development | | VinceWicks0 -
How long should a quality blog post be?
How long should a "quality" blog post be? General advice seems to be that a 300 word post just won't cut it, but advice on the optimum length is vague. I appreciate that all posts are different but is there a rule of thumb, is 1000 words good and 1500 too long...or should they are all aim to be 2000 words? Also with regards to pictures in blogs, can they just be taken from the web or are there sites that I should be using to source the pictures? Thanks
Content Development | | Studio330 -
Is it better to have your blog open in a separate window?
I've set up a blog on one of my websites, however it doesn't open in a separate window. I know from looking at other blogs that they usually open in separate windows. Is that good practice? Will it make any difference to your SEO performance?
Content Development | | AAttias0 -
Making More of Blog Categories
What are peoples opinions on blog categories and their importance. On many blog I setup a general news category and on others I have gone to town adding detailed categories. Is there a major benefit in doing this ?
Content Development | | onlinemediadirect0 -
How many words is suitable to use at a title photograph?
Hi! I don't have any idea about how many keywords is appropiate to include at a photograph's title, alternative text and description and how much does it affect to SEO. Could you help me? Thanks.
Content Development | | juanmanolo0 -
Different pages with very similar H1's - will I get a penalty?
I currently have text articles about various topics on my site - for this example say I have written about "Negative Reinforcement". This article is live over a month now and getting listed on the first google page with an added keyword which the article is specifically related to. Now I want to create an infographic related to the same topic "Negative Reinforcement" - but I want to call the page this infographic will go on "Negative Reinforcement Infographic" while the article is currently called just "Negative Reinforcement". Neither page will have duplicate content from each other. The article is 2,000+ words so I don't want to throw more into it by adding on the infographic and I want to specifically create the infographic as linkbait and on a stand alone page. I am curious if adding another page with such a similar title and H1 have any negative effect ("dilute" the strength of the other article), for example will google take having two different pages with such a similar heading as potential keyword stuffing and penalise the site?
Content Development | | GavinC0