Top Commentators (kinda) Works
It's been one month since I added the top commentators links to the sidebar, and it clearly impacted the number of comments on this blog. Despite my less-than-prolific output lately (only 3 posts in the month of March), there were 3 times as many comments in the past month as in any previous month.
There's no doubt in my mind that the top commentators contributed to the increase. Why?
- 14 visitors found this blog via a search for the phrase "top commentators", about half of these immediately left one or more comments.
- 6 visitors left multiple comments in quick succession (usually exactly the number needed to get a link in the sidebar)
So if you want to increase the number of comments on your own blog, adding links to the top commentators is definitely worthwhile. If you're more interested in rewarding your existing audience and don't want folks commenting just for the links, I suggest titling your links with something other than "top commentators" and don't mention that phrase anywhere on your site - that way link hunters won't find you on Google.
Regardless of motivation, most of the comments were at least topical and showed that the commenter had read the post, so I don't mind if they were driven by the desire for a free PR5 link. Especially given my lackluster posting schedule last month - at least someone was adding new content here ; )
Everyday Weekender wrote:
yeah it works.. trust me it works )
Robert Irizarry wrote:
I just switched my guitar blog over to Wordpress yesterday and Top Commentators is one of the plugins I decided to implement. I think its a great tool for encouraging discussion. As long as the comments are on topic, I'm not going to concern myself too much with the commentator's motivation. I wouldn't know that otherwise so why concern myself with it in this case?
Spud Oregon wrote:
I think that last point about readers adding content is key. The more content there is, the more chance of getting ranked in the search engines, right? So, even if you're not posting regularly, your blog can still grow!
Dave wrote:
Hey that's a pretty neat idea! Thanks for sharing.
Matthew wrote:
We had that plugin added for a while but not much difference, might try it again
origami rose wrote:
Good recommendation ;). It does make a big difference. But, content is always king.
Andy Beard wrote:
You do well in the search results for some of the comments posted ;)
I much prefer followable links from comments though as that gives much better distribution. Don't forget to join my Bumpzee "no nofollow" community. (avoiding using one word that would bring even more comment trolls)
Kevin Henney wrote:
It's always interesting to see keywords from comments turning up in the search referrals; you never know what's going to catch the Googlebot's eye :)
robwatts wrote:
I use it too Kevin. I modified it a tad to allow sitewide links with nofollows on all but the home page. Seemed like a fair reward to effort compromise, without giving away all of ones link juice (potentially)
Kevin Henney wrote:
Great idea, Rob. I've been displaying the top commentators only on the front page, but I like your method better, so I'm going to try it out here. Thanks for the idea :)
Adriana wrote:
LOL, I am one of those who found this site by looking for "top commentators", but I spent about 20 minutes before deciding to post this. I read several of your posts, as well as comments, and looked to see if I can find something where I can post a useful comment.
It's true that some will come and post one liners, and just get their post count up. But most will probably try and help you out for that link.
Like others stated in previous comments, you never know which comment will catch Google's attention.
Regards,
Adriana
Kevin Henney wrote:
No problem at all, Adriana. Thoughtful, on-topic comments such as yours are always welcome here :)
Study Guide wrote:
Yeah, so did I. Do you still receive a lot of visitors for this particular query? (top commentators)
Kevin Henney wrote:
[Top Commentators] is consistently in the top ten search terms used to find this blog. It's not that surprising, considering this post has been fairly well represented on Google for that phrase (it's currently in the #4 spot).
Mark Raratonga wrote:
I wish I could add this sort of functionality to my website but my hosting won't let me use Wordpress. It's really dissappointing...
Kevin Henney wrote:
Don't be disappointed - change hosts. There are thousands to choose from, and I'd guess that 99% of them support WordPress.
You're not just missing out on plugins like this, your current site would also benefit from WordPress' search engine-friendly page structure, not to mention basic blog features like user comments.
Feel free to get in touch if you're overwhelmed by the thought of changing web hosts - I'd be happy to point you in the right direction.
Court wrote:
Switch hosts pronto! Are you using some kind of web builder or something? I can't really think of a scenario where WordPress doesn't work.
I would try to install just to make sure that it doesn't work. Sometimes people at the hosting company don't know what they're talking about, especially if you talk to them on the phone.
TeamTutorials wrote:
This is one of the best plugins I ave found.
J David wrote:
I only installed it two days ago and it has already payed off for me!
Bob wrote:
I have been thinking of implementing this. Will give it a go tonight.
Justin Slife wrote:
Well, I'm one of those that found you searching for the term "top commentators". This is my second go at your site. I really don't think it matters what the motivation is, I really enjoyed this post...very interesting stats.
Ilya Lichtenstein wrote:
I wish I could add something like this to my blog...unfortunately Wordpress.com does not allow custom plugins :(
MoneyNing wrote:
This plugin definitely works! At least for my blog anyway.
Health Club Fanatic wrote:
I think I am going to add this to my blog as well. Great stuff!
Robert Kingston wrote:
Kevin,
Smart move with the nofollow attribute on your top commentators! I've done the same on my blog and removed DoFollow from comments.
It may look stingy but you just can't verify the value of some people's sites in Google and it's against their Webmasters guide. So I say good for you.
Looking forward to seeing how you handle other spammy behviour.
Rob
keyworded name wrote:
I'm surprised that so many of them are keyworded names, I would never have thought that people would actively look for free links like that.. a nice little trick to remember :)
Paul Hancox | InternetInfluenceMagic.com wrote:
Well, I actually found this site because of doing a search on "top commentators", mainly because I wanted to get opinions on the actual plug-in, whether it was a "good idea" or not.
Seems its a mixed bag, but it does get you some extra attention from searchers like me :)
Nigerian Scam Baiter wrote:
This is a great plug in. As I love leaving comments in blogs, I really like the rankings. Comments make a blog more conversational. This is where the readers get to voice and perhaps offer an alternate view that may further engage the reader. Awesome idea!
Affiliate Mommy wrote:
I bet you'll see quite a few more real soon ;) Digital Point (a popular webmaster forum) has a new thead on the topic, as of now, it hasn't been brought up in the thread that a quick google search will bring up sites with the top commentator widget in them, however I'm sure it's beginning to dawn on some folks that have had plenty of time to think while waiting for other people to post links to sites with the plugin installed ;)
Kevin Henney wrote:
I guess that explains my recent increase in traffic coming from Google searches for "Top Commentators".
ba-loan wrote:
found it by searching for top commentators
High Stakes Living wrote:
I really like this plugin, It not only encourages your visitors to comment and get involved in discussions but also allows you an easy way to run different contests to drive more discussion.
Kady Malloy wrote:
I like this plugin a lot. I've seen some sites that use it increase their comments by as much as 37%. The only problem is that some blog owners mess with the code and screw up the plugin. I like to adjust the code to show only the top 5 commenters.
km
Sach wrote:
I think you have to reach a happy medium between posting decent, regular and unique content and getting comments and other user-generated content.
Rasesh Tanna wrote:
Yep, i added it to my blog as well and the number of commentators increased 5-fold!
Quentin wrote:
Same with my blog as well, I don't mind though, at least it shows people are finding my site!
tak? wrote:
good plugin, thanks
Greg Brave wrote:
Well, ironically somehow to leave a comment in order to get to the top commentators list to the post about top commentators :)
I guess this reply will definitely be optimized for the "top commentators" keyword!
I just wanted to say that black hat SEO doesn't work in the long run. NEVER.
Moldova wrote:
having a top commentators plugin on your blog is very good because this will motivate the readers to comment more.
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