I believe in spreading “Google Juice,” and have this horrible conception that if I help others, maybe they will scratch my back once in a while as well, whether it is the occasional link from one of their sites or even a simple thing such as adding me to their favorite bookmarking site.
I will moderate comments. I may give some love to the links in the comments only if they are super useful information, and contribute to the community.
If your site is just random garbage, I don’t link to it, and please don’t link back to me either.
If your site is just a reblog of snippets from an article site, I am ashamed for you. Surely you can do better than that! I don’t want to be ashamed of you, so I don’t link to it.
If all you have done is taken an affiliate feed and chucked it into a WordPress blog with no additional benefit to your readers over the other 100 blogs using the feed, in the same way, I don’t link to it.
If your site is just an affiliate link, it doesn’t belong here. If you leave such a link, I am most likely to make fun of you, and destroy your credibility. I will also report you to the affiliate manager for the product involved.
What I will allow which others probably wouldn’t;
Links to sites with 100% duplicate content. Lots of national newspapers have duplicate content that is fed to them from various press agencies. I am quite happy with sites made up of nothing but duplicate articles from article directories, as long as you have “niched” them, and maybe added some additional value. Technorati, MyBlogLog & Blogcatalog are creative uses of duplicate content. Obviously, I love the odd backlink.
I am pleased to review niche websites in any niche. Just make sure it is a site you would be willing to “hang your hat on.”
You retain ownership of your comments to use wherever you like. You grant me the limited right to publish them in whole or in part on domains I own. Comments will never be used out of context, and would certainly not be used as a testimonial for a product without express permission.
The intention is to allow me to move content around as needed and not to use your comments related to something that wasn’t intended.
I reserve the right to contact you via email regarding any comment you make.
Update: 2017, Keywords
- No linking to offensive sites. Porn, pills, gambling, payday loans, etc. are out. No linking to sites Google has gray boxed.
- No more keywords within anchor text in the comment fields
- No sig links under comments
- Highly relevant links in the body of a comment can contain anchor text such as the blog title, but they will be judged on a case by case basis.
- Even after these changes, I still expect to delete 90% of comments as the vast majority are just an attempt to get a link rather than adding real value to the conversation.
- SEO Consultants/Agencies – If I catch you commenting but linking to a client’s site, your online reputation, your firms and that of your client are being put at severe risk.
- I can link to a page or a blog that can be identified as being about you so my readers can gain additional perspective on your point of view and where necessary, sufficient disclosure.