The Three Types of Blog Comments and How to Spot the Spam
If you have a blog, you know about comment spam. The moment you have an even remotely popular blog, you’ll be doused with every “SEO India” commenter out there. You might be asking yourself how to tell the spam from the non-spam. Here’s how.
Start with a clean slate
If you use WordPress or another content management system, you’ll want to take a look at your comment settings and make sure they are as high as you want them to be. For example, in my own settings, I’m alerted whenever a comment is approved or held for moderation, and comments with a link or more is held for moderation.
Stay on top of your comment spam
A comment link doesn’t give the linkee any added search engine benefit. It does, however, appear on your blog and clog up the legitimate comments. I’m not sure about you, but I’d rather not link to a Viagra scheming spammer.
Comments will typically in three forms: obvious spam, semi-obvious spam, and rock star comments.
1. Obvious spam
If you use WordPress or another CMS, your spam filter is pretty robust. It will pick up painfully obvious spam like this:
Obvious spam is pretty easy to spot:
- The comment itself will typically have nothing to do with your blog, and in many cases include a ton of links to an entirely bogus website.
- You’ll normally find an attempt at a keyword stuffed name (in this example, the commenter’s name and the message don’t even apply to one another).
- The website and/or email address will have signs of spam.
2. Semi-obvious spam
These are tricky, as they are often a compliment to the blog/blogger. The semi-obvious spam will usually sneak right through your spam filter and either be marked as needing approval or – yikes – be approved altogether!
Never fear. Here are some tips to spot the semi-obvious spam:
- Always check the name. Garden Canopies might have given me a self-esteem boost, but I can also count on the fact that they aren’t a real person.
- Do the website/email address look bogus? Often, the website will point to a deep page on a spammy website. No need to visit the site to confirm…unless you want to chance a computer virus.
When the spammer uses their real name, that makes these steps that much harder. However, there’s one question you can ask to solve any question of “to approve a comment or to not approve”: does the comment add value? The amount of value is up to you – but answering this question will quickly help you decide whether or not to approve the comment.
3. Rock star comments
These comments, hands down, add value. The commenter is committed to adding the conversation.
There you have it, folks. Now head over to your blog and start cleaning up that comment spam!