Regarding Google vs. traffic, content and comments

1. 91

   DzyMsLizzyposted 7 years ago

   Recently, I've learned that "The Big G" considers comments as content, this being the reason HP is going in to edit comments for proper spelling & grammar. 
   
   Also, along these lines, I've seen it said in these forum posts, that because it's content, comments that are very short don't help, and may hurt. 
   
   So--is that saying that people who just stop by and leave 2 to 5 word comments are not helping the article?  I'm torn as to whether to approve or deny such comments as "Nice piece" or "Very informative article."  I don't like to hurt people's feelings, (by not approving their comments), but neither do I wish to hurt my traffic chances from G.

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   1. 77

      jackclee lmposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      My opinion is all comments are good except for spam. The fact that someone read an article and is moved to comment or react, positive or negative is a good thing. I read recently, many news sites have decided to scrap the comment section because they were too toxic and full of trolls...
      It is up the author to add a comment module or not.

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2. 86

   Marisa Wrightposted 7 years ago

   The fact is, if you don't delete those comments, HubPages will - that would count as a "low quality" comment and they periodically cull those.

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   1. 91

      DzyMsLizzyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Ah, ok, thanks, Marisa.  Good to know.

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      1. STAFF

         Matt Wellsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Comments like "Nice piece" or "Very informative article" will not be removed by Moderators. We are mainly focused on removing spam and comments that are difficult to read and understand.

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         1. 91

            DzyMsLizzyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you, Matt, for clarifying that!

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         2. 86

            Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            That's interesting, because when the feature was first introduced, the discussion suggested very short comments would be caught in the filter.

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            1. 77

               lobobrandonposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               I personally do not remember it saying anything about very short comments. Just spammy comments. This is done through people working at mturk and it's not a script that's controlling this stuff, is it?

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               1. STAFF

                  Matt Wellsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  This is what the HubPages Newsletter said regarding the types of comments that are typically denied.
                  
                  "Comments that are admin denied will be deleted (only spam or extremely low quality comments are typically denied this way)."
                  
                  Comments that have not received a decision by the author within 7 days will be reviewed by a Moderator.

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   2. 87

      Venkatachari Mposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      But, what about previous (old) hubs? Should we go through all of them and remove those short low quality comments?

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3. 88

   firstcookbookladyposted 7 years ago

   I don't know, but that comment seems spammy to me.

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4. 77

   lobobrandonposted 7 years ago

   It's usually your followers who leave such comments. What I personally do is approve them (if they are not culled, as Marisa has pointed out). I even go ahead and reply to them. I wait 2 - 3 days, give the commenter time to read my reply and then delete both, the comment and my reply.
   
   As I edit old hubs I also go through the comments and delete any old comments that fall in this category and my replies too.

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5. 84

   Jesse Drzalposted 7 years ago

   Do you guys think Google likes to see the author replying to comments on articles interacting with readers? Just a thought. Probably does not matter.

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   1. 77

      lobobrandonposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Does not matter. There is no schema markup being used to say you are the author and are replying to comments. Not yet at least.

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6. 84

   Jesse Drzalposted 7 years ago

   That's pretty much what I thought.

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   1. 100

      DrMark1961posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Jesse, I disagree. If someone asks you a question about the best sites in Cape Cod, and you provide more details than is available in your hub, your hub might show up if a specific question is asked related to your answer.
      Have you ever done a search for something and found that the answer is in the comment section, and not in the body of the article? I have. Can I give you an idea on how important it is or how often this happens? No, not at all.

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      1. 77

         lobobrandonposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         That's not what he asked.

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         1. 100

            DrMark1961posted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Which is why I explained that answers need to contain information. If someone asks a question and your reply "yes" or "no" I doubt Google cares.
            You stated that there is no scheme being used to allow Google to know you are replying. Do you know this for sure? Are you privy to the information that Google uses to rank its pages?

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            1. 77

               lobobrandonposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Yes I do know this for sure. I work on OnSite SEO myself and I do follow the Google guys and various webinars.
               
               Content in the comments helps for sure. It's content. Period. It also helps update a page and adds freshness. No more to it.

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      2. 86

         Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         I think what Jesse was getting at was, maybe the mere fact of interaction is important - and in that case, keeping meaningless comments and replying to them might count for something.  Lobobrandon was saying no, it doesn't. 
         
         If you've got meaningful questions and useful answers in your comments then of course that has value because it's good content.  The fact of who is asking and who is answering - Google can't tell.

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         1. 77

            lobobrandonposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Yup that's what I meant. Thanks Marisa. Was on my phone and walking while I typed. I couldn't explain it clearly.

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