Who says blog comments don't count?

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SEO experts seem to agree that blog comments don’t count toward link juice. I bow to their expertise.

That said, don’t make the mistake of thinking that blog comments don’t matter. Blog comments can be picked up by the search engines and show up when someone searches on your name.

A case in point. Several years ago I was a product manager for Microsoft working heavily with the ERP applications designed for the manufacturing sector. I was quite into lean manufacturing principles and thought that everyone would benefit from applying these to every day life. I still do. I regularly read manufacturing blogs and every now and then I find a post that inspires me to comment.

I Googled my name and the phrase lean manufacturing. Below is a snippet of the results showing one blog comment and there is another one further down the page that didn’t make the cut.



Even if someone were to Google just my name, these blog comments could show up. I suspect that blog comments are more likely to show up if the blog you comment on is ranked higher by the search engines. I periodically have blog comments show up when I Google just my name. (BTW, I’m not doing for some sense of narcissistic pleasure. Googling your own name is something that everyone should be doing on a regular basis if they are concerned about maintaining their personal brand.)

The point is, blog commenting can work for you or against you in your effort to build your online brand.

It can work for you if you actively comment on blogs using the key words that you want to be associated with. I’m never going to show up in a search for “lean manufacturing”, but if I tell someone that I know something about it and they do the search for “Melissa Paulik” + lean manufacturing, I will have increased the evidence of my expertise (or at least experience in this case) because of my blog comments.

Blog commenting can also work against you if you comment carelessly. Commenting too much on blogs that are “off brand” might dilute your message if they start showing up in generic searches for your name. They can also work against you if your comments are poorly written or come off as “snarky.” I am always amazed at people who use the comment box as a chance to say something obnoxious.

Commenting on blogs is a great way to gain exposure. Just remember blog comments count toward your personal brand just like everything else you do online.