More Lawyer Comment Spam
I’m with Nick Holmes, lawyers should know better than to drop comment spam, or let their SEO company do so on their behalf. To be even more blunt, Lawyers should fire their SEO company on the spot if the words “leave comments on other people’s blogs to boost your google rankings” comes out of their mouths! Leave comments & build relationships? great idea! Do so for google rankings & drop useless comments? Show them the exit door.
If we’re compiling a list of unacceptable online behaviours for lawyers, this would be in my top-10. Maybe top-3. We expect comment spam from viagra and casino vendors, not lawyers.
Now, here’s the rub, and something I’ve blogged about before: almost every blog software out there has a ‘no-follow’ attribute on comment links – as recommended by Google. That means, don’t index the outbound link AND don’t give the link any weight in the search rankings. And when was this ‘cutting edge SEO’ technique outlawed? If your SEO doesn’t know, you might want to inform them it was over 4 years ago!
SEOs or marketers that recommend comment spam are incompetent & unethical. Lawyers who use this tactic are acting in an unprofessional manner. If they knowingly endorse it, they should also be considered unethical.
There are lines no professional should cross. This is one of them.
B. Burger said,
Wrote on February 26, 2009 @ 9:59 pm
Steve – Here you are castigating people for commenting on blogs for SEO purposes and just yesterday I read a blog post from Larry Bodine that recommends commenting on blogs as the number one thing to do to improve SEO. All of this aggressively pitched, contradictory advice does a great disservice to our industry. I’m left scratching my head. Is Steve Matthews blowing self-serving smoke or is Larry Bodine “incompetent and unethical” as you suggest?
Steve Matthews said,
Wrote on February 26, 2009 @ 10:24 pm
Well to start, I never said Larry was incompetent or unethical. I’ve never seen Larry leave a comment on anyone’s blog that wasn’t his own opinion.
I have read the post you mention, and simply put, I don’t agree with the recommendation he gave. Blog comments help deliver new relationships, which can be a great value; but they do absolutely nothing to help your search rankings. Further, if lawyers sink low enough to drop comments similar to the one left on Nick Holmes post, then their business & online reputation will pay a price.
As to the merit of the tactic itself, check the links I cited in this post. My opinion is well supported. You can also do a ‘view source’ in your browser, and see that all comment links have a portion of the tag that reads: alt=”nofollow”.
gyi tsakalakis said,
Wrote on February 27, 2009 @ 10:53 am
Without being too “everyone wins” I think both Larry and Steve are right to a certain extent.
The truth is, many bloggers haven’t adopted the “no-follow” tag as standard. So, there is still some seo value to commenting.
On the other hand, comment spamming is an absolute no-no. Just like every other type of writing on the web, commenting should be relevant and value-based.
Don’t comment for the sake of commenting. If you don’t have something worthwhile to add, don’t add anything.
Commenting, as a general strategy, has its place. However, it certainly doesn’t belong amongst your seo firm’s core strategies.
Steve Matthews said,
Wrote on February 27, 2009 @ 11:04 am
Thanks for your comment Gyi, but once again I have to disagree. Bloggers *have* adopted no-follow. In most cases, whether they chose to or not.
Unless they are using a blog platform other than WordPress, Lexblog, MT, Blogger, or a host of others. This is a standard install feature, and one that requires a plugin or code hack to alter.
Blog comments help build relationships, not rankings.
Joshua Fruchter said,
Wrote on February 28, 2009 @ 8:54 pm
Steve – hi, I hear your point, but I don’t think it’s a black-and-white issue. Rather, I think it ultimately boils down to whether a comment adds value to the “conversation” or not. If it does add value, then I don’t have any issue with providing some “link love” to the person commenting in exchange for their contribution to the conversation. If the comment is nonsense, or otherwise clearly motivated by SEO, then I don’t even bother publishing it at all (better than using a “no follow” tag – first, why even give the spammer a link at all which could drive traffic to their site; second, “no follow” prevents you from giving “link love” to people who contribute valuable comments).
Steve Matthews said,
Wrote on March 2, 2009 @ 10:49 am
Thanks for chiming in Josh. You won’t get any argument from me on whether there is value to quality commenting, or engaging in any type of conversation for that matter.
It seems, however, that you are missing part of the technical side here. Bloggers don’t choose to ‘no-follow’ links; but rather blog software auto-converts ALL comment links into no-follow. See the Google link above which shows this is the default practice of all major blog software companies.
As an example, I just checked your blog’s source code, and none of the comments are getting link value. It’s just a default function. The links go in normally, but come out as ‘no-follow’, and thus worthless for SEO.
My point being, most bloggers have no clue about no-follow, but ALL of the blog software companies do. And those companies, along with Google, put an end to this nonsense 4 years ago.
gyi tsakalakis said,
Wrote on March 2, 2009 @ 11:44 am
Well put Josh. So well put, I included it my post. http://tinyurl.com/cmtaxp
Steve Matthews said,
Wrote on March 2, 2009 @ 12:13 pm
Gyi, thanks for routing out my readers. ;)
I just read your post, but here’s the issue: you are saying how things ‘should’ work rather than what they are in reality. Like it or not, this is the situation lawyers are dealing with. You can’t help clients build a strategy based on how you *want* the world to work. Right?
Also, I noticed you haven’t hacked your own blog to remove the no-follow attribute on comments. And links embedded within individual comments are completely disabled. Will you be changing that?
gyi tsakalakis said,
Wrote on March 2, 2009 @ 12:28 pm
Steve,
You’re right, no one should be commenting with the intent of seo benefit period.
In the end, my point is less practical and more philosophical.
As you point out, I too am a victim of auto nofollow. As I imagine is the case with so many others, at this point, the principle doesn’t outweigh the impracticality of hacking out the nofollows. However, I am looking at other hosts who haven’t implemented the auto nofollow.
In the meantime, all I can do is hope for a selective nofollow future.
Keep up the great blog!
Doug Cornelius said,
Wrote on March 3, 2009 @ 1:24 pm
Steve –
Everyday I check my spam comments and wonder what these people are thinking. Clearly a bunch of SEO experts are out there wasting their time and energy trying to create link relationships that add no value. They are also wasting the bloggers time and energy.
You should blog because you have something interesting to say. And you should comment because you have something interesting to say.
If you want your blog/website to rise in the rankings, write something interesting. That will do it.
I encourage bloggers to leave comments on other blogs. I actually encourage bloggers to leave more comments on other sites than posts on their own sites. But I encourage the commenting to get them into the conversation, not to explicitly generate links to their own sites.
Too many bloggers just post. They don’t respond to comments on their own blog and don’t leave comments elsewhere. That is like talking to yourself in an empty room.
Weekend Reading in the Law Blog Community | Law Firm Blogger said,
Wrote on March 29, 2009 @ 7:35 pm
[...] More Lawyer Comment Spam at Stem Legal Blog Steve Matthews says lawyers should know better than to drop comment spam, or let their SEO company do so on their behalf. (Amen!) [...]