Have you ever received a comment on one of your posts that looks like the image above? It is a prime example of LINK SPAM, and this appears to be a growing problem on ActiveRain. I found an email this morning in my inbox from ActiveRain telling me that user @happy xhia (now removed) had left the comment on my post.
What Is Link Spam?
Tech Target defines link spam as "the posting of out-of-context links on websites, discussion forums, blog comments, guestbooks or any other online venue that displays user comments. The purpose of link spam is to increase the number of external links made to a site the spammer wishes to promote." Simply put, link spam on ActiveRain occurs when people put comments on your post and the comment contains a link (or multiple links), thus we're specifically focused on COMMENT SPAM.
Why Is There Link Spam?
I can't imagine that this old (but still used) SEO technique amounts to a benefit for a website owner. In the distant past, you could put a comment on a blog post and include a link to your website and this helped your website's ranking. So why do we see comments like the one shown in the image above?
I believe there are two primary reasons:
- Some people really have no clue about SEO so they do things that they see others do. In the case of the email above, there were roughly 100 outbound links from that comment and article. Even if the search engines value every link on the internet equally, just how much mojo do you think 1/100th of the link juice from a low-authority page is going to be worth to each link recipient?
- SEO providers know that #1 is very true of their clients, so they do this to appear to be providing a benefit to the website owner. Caveat Emptor!
What Is The Impact Of Link Spam?
The short answer here is "nobody really knows for sure." A longer answer includes that it appears that the search engines devalue these types of links (or maybe even penalize a site for using them). I am fairly certain that the example above has provided no benefit to any of the 100 link recipients, so the only real outcome for them is neutral or negative.
But how about the impact on our blog posts on ActiveRain? What about the impact there? I believe you are passing out the valuable link juice that you should diligently dispense to your own important targets, like your real estate website or another blog that you write. Why let somebody else rob you of your mojo?
Of course, there is the aesthetic of ActiveRain to consider as well. Do you really want other Rainers to have to scroll down a quarter mile to find real comments? These long comments are definitely a buzz-kill for visitors with real interest in your post.
How Should You Handle Link Spam?
Fortunately, ActiveRain has made this easy. Report it! If you hover over any comment, 3 linked options appear:
- Delete
- Report
- Comment
Absolutely report the comment. Your report, once evaluated by AR, might result in AR removing all the comments by that spammer, meaning you not only will preserve your link juice, but you'll likely be helping all other Rainers impacted by this link spammer too! Do not delete it, let AR do that for you (plus you'll pick up 10 points for reporting the spam).
Remember, the ActiveRain community produces thousands of articles each day which primarily focus on real estate. This means that the search engines visit here often and the link juice produced by your content has some solid SEO value. Protect it by policing your comments from those thieves like @happy xhia who want to steal your mojo!
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