Does disabling comments increase incoming links?

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  1. Csanad profile image71
    Csanadposted 14 years ago

    I have read that some bloggers disable their comments. This way other bloggers who want to discuss will have to write a separate article on that blogpost on their on blogs, so they have to link back to the original blog. This means more incomig links, hence higher SEPR, which in turn increases traffic.
    Has anyone of you experimented with this here on HP. Does it work? What's your opinion?

    1. thisisoli profile image79
      thisisoliposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I tsounds kind of logical, and I would be interested to know if it actually works.

      However, I think for an article to have that kind of impact it would need a readerbase of 10,000 plus daily minimum.

      Climber James, Hubscore is more a reflection of community and Hubpages value, it bears no impact on earnings or traffic.

      1. Misha profile image66
        Mishaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

        Oli, you are giving misleading advice...

        1. thisisoli profile image79
          thisisoliposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          how so?

          Some of my most profitable hubs have low hubscores.

          Traffic can sometimes affect hubscore, but not the other way around.

          Most other people seem to have had similar experiences (Never seen any information to the contrary)).

    2. psycheskinner profile image76
      psycheskinnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      To me disabling comments is telling visitors that you don't care what they think.

      1. aksana777 profile image60
        aksana777posted 14 years agoin reply to this

        yes, you are right. I don't like hubs without comments.

      2. BennyTheWriter profile image70
        BennyTheWriterposted 14 years agoin reply to this

        Yeah, I also agree.  It seems counterintuitive.  What if people who want to join the discussion don't HAVE their own blogs, or aren't writers?  Even if they are bloggers, they won't necessarily want to write a whole blog post just to respond to a hub.  And, as you said psycheskinner, it might turn off people who might want to contribute their insightful comments.

        Then again, I can see it happening if the hubber already has strong exposure on the 'net and he/she writes an extroadinary hub.  It seems risky though.  Regardless of whether there's a comment box or not, if a blogger really finds your hub amazing or thought-provoking, he/she will write about it and link to it anyway.

        But what do I know: I'm a total noob at SEO  : )  But for now, I'll err on the side of making my hubs interactive.

      3. Csanad profile image71
        Csanadposted 14 years agoin reply to this

        Yeah, me too. I am also thinking that frequent new comments seems to be active "minisites" to Google, as new content is created. Reading the new developments in Google' s search technology (Caffeine), Google seem to me that now it places more emphasis on active sites rather then incoming links.

    3. reagu profile image65
      reaguposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I thought having more comments is better for the hub in terms of search engine crawling since it will be getting fresh content over a period of time.  And I'm also under the impression that most commenters are hubbers, so they are not likely to discuss the topic in their own blog.

  2. Misha profile image66
    Mishaposted 14 years ago

    By the sound of it I would classify it as yet another urban legend. Did not try it, though. smile

    1. Csanad profile image71
      Csanadposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Seth Godin does it on his blog. Though he also allows retweets to each of his post.

      1. Pcunix profile image82
        Pcunixposted 14 years agoin reply to this

        Aside from being boring, trite and all that, the inability to comment is yet another reason why I don't read the uber-famous Seth.  Well, not on purpose: I get tricked into it now and then because somebody tweets something that looks like it might be interesting, but then, because it is Seth, turns out not to be.

        If the man ever had an original thought,  I've never seen it.

        But - he is a perfect object lesson for banal popularity and is worth studying a bit for that reason.

        As to comments, no doubt he doesn't allow them because he'd get millions, many of which would be unfriendly and far too many would be as boring aa he is himself.

  3. itech profile image64
    itechposted 14 years ago

    well, this condition occurs when our article contains some usefull content.... But disabling comments has very less effect on this....

  4. LeanMan profile image72
    LeanManposted 14 years ago

    I would guess that your post would have to be very important or controversial to get others to write articles pointing at your original.. I can't see anyone wanting to write whole articles with links to any of mine just because I switched off the comments...

  5. climberjames profile image58
    climberjamesposted 14 years ago

    Would'nt this damage the hubscore? I thought that the number of comments increased this along with how 'hot' it is?

    1. WryLilt profile image85
      WryLiltposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Comments increase the "freshness" of a hub which means google will get more impressed with it the more good quality comments it has.

      What's to stop someone simply going "Oh that's an awesome hub about Seaweed" and then saying "But since I can't leave a comment to point out some errors in the article, I'm just going to write my own with better keywords and information."

      Basically I see it as just another incentive for writers to take your article ideas and use them to write their own articles.

      1. climberjames profile image58
        climberjamesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

        Thanks WryLilt - I never realised that is how Google views comments.

      2. Csanad profile image71
        Csanadposted 14 years agoin reply to this

        That's why I always try to add the news feed to all my hubs.

  6. Misha profile image66
    Mishaposted 14 years ago

    Look at what exactly question you were answering? Is it what was asked?

    And traffic always affects hubscores... And hubscore can affect the traffic, both directly from HP and from search engines, through putting your profile/hubs on the higher page of every best list that has more link juice to give back to you...

    1. thisisoli profile image79
      thisisoliposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Haha okay so I wasn't answering the question directly, but I regarded it as pertinant to the users view of Hubscore.

      Getting on the best hubs list is definately a bonus, however I have always viewed it as a temporary one, I definitely do see your point though, and think it is a valid one.

      I might have to research just how much you get from having a top hub.

      1. anne.moss profile image60
        anne.mossposted 14 years agoin reply to this

        Nothing wrong with healthy discussion surrounding a question, IMO. Doesn't have to be a direct answer - a forum isn't an FAQ section.

        Can't recall having seen this done in blogs. The more successful bloggers I read always have comments turned on. I think the only time I've seen comments switched off is on promotional posts.

  7. Misha profile image66
    Mishaposted 14 years ago

    Oh, it definitely is a temporary effect - but it's quite cool while it lasts smile

  8. Peter Hoggan profile image68
    Peter Hogganposted 14 years ago

    I think one way search engines might evaluate a blog posts importance is by how many comments it gains over time. i.e. an important post on a current topic will receive comments quickly. As it becomes old news and receives fewer comments its importance fades and so does its rankings. No proof of this unfortunately, just a pet theory. I think that comments are pretty important to how a blog ranks, links are important too of course.

  9. relache profile image67
    relacheposted 14 years ago

    I would think that the only verifiable results that you will get from disabling comments will be having less comments.

  10. profile image0
    Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

    If you don't put the comments box on the page, non-HP traffic has nothing to miss.

    Over 98% of my traffic is from outside HP. Hopefully they find an adsense ad or product that interests them and off they go. Or they go on to another one of my Hubs with no comments.

    I've noticed no change in traffic or earnings, since I've stopped including a comments box. Every day I remove a few more from existing hubs.

    Life is just quieter and simpler without them. I have so many hubs that moderating them and watching for spam is time consuming.

    1. profile image0
      PJ_Deneenposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      This is what I've been doing and my earnings only keep going up and I don't have anywhere near the amount of hubs you have.  I'm not here for comments or community, and like you, I enjoy the peace and quiet.

  11. thisisoli profile image79
    thisisoliposted 14 years ago

    Does someone want to volunteer to disable all their comments to see if their traffic changes? tongue

  12. profile image0
    Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

    It's too boring a task to do it all in one day, but I'm working on it.

    I'm not in the least concerned about it reducing the earning power of my hubs. I have over 80 websties and blogs as of today with no comment boxes and they do great.

    Honestly, I find this obsession with "participation" quite unfathomable. With the right sales copy, selling stuff does not require a discussion.

    And I've never done anything else online except sell stuff. I make new friends the old-fashioned way - in person. And I'm not into the touchy-feely, hub topics. Perhaps for other things comments are more important.

  13. Pcunix profile image82
    Pcunixposted 14 years ago

    Even if you could provide absolute proof that I would double my income by disabling comments, I wouldn't do it.

    I don't even like moderating comments, though I had to start doing that at my main site some time back and I suppose eventually I will have to do it here.

    Comments teach me and my readers things I did not know.  People have corrected me in comments, helped me see where i made an error in my thinking, helped me see things from another point of view.

    People have boosted my ego with compliments and chided me for my ignorance. 

    There are people I know only through their comments, but they have been leaving  comments for so many years that they seem like friends.  No, they ARE  friends.

    Comments are conversation; without them you are just standing on a soap box shouting at the world. 

    I would never, ever, ever disable comments.

    1. profile image0
      EmpressFelicityposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      If the only purpose of my hubs were to sell stuff, then I'd happily disable comments.  In fact, I've just started up a second account which is solely going to consist of "come and buy 'x' on the net" type hubs, and all the comments are going to be disabled because I won't be using that account for social purposes at all.  It will be interesting to see how well these hubs do LOL.

      1. Peter Hoggan profile image68
        Peter Hogganposted 14 years agoin reply to this

        To sell effectively whether it’s online or not its important to overcome objections and address concerns. You might think you have managed that but there may be other unanswered questions that might be important to your readers. IMO by switching of comments you stop those questions being asked and with it the opportunity to understand the needs and wants of you target customers that little bit better.

        1. Pcunix profile image82
          Pcunixposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          And why would I buy anything from someone who dissent want to communicate with me?

          1. Peter Hoggan profile image68
            Peter Hogganposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I agree, I personally wouldn’t buy from someone like this either. When an online retailer deliberately makes it difficult for me to communicate with them I get a little suspicious and look for someone who places a little bit more importance on customer service.

        2. thisisoli profile image79
          thisisoliposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Good point, I have optimized some of my hubs based on the comments I have received, and seen an increase in sales because of it.

        3. profile image0
          EmpressFelicityposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          I suppose it depends on a lot of things.  Speaking about hubs (which is the only type of sales copy I've ever written), I can see where you're coming from if you're talking about a product (like - say - the iPad) that's quite costly and/or generates a lot of debate and controversy.  Just from reading comments on the forums here, I can tell that there are lots of differing opinions about the iPad and if I'd written a hub extolling its virtues, then it would be bound to garner a few queries and concerns from readers.   To convert the doubters into buyers, then yes - it would definitely be a good idea to provide them with a platform where they can publicly air their concerns, and answer those concerns in public too.  One single such "conversion" would represent a fair chunk of commission on its own.

          But if you're talking about low cost, low tech items like - say - plastic sandwich boxes... then I'd imagine that benefits of having a comments box are outweighed by the inconvenience factor of moderating the comments. 

          It would surely also depend on how many hubs you have.  I can understand that people like Nelle, with hundreds of hubs, just don't want the hassle of moderating loads of comments - the vast majority of which are probably spam or "nice hub" type comments anyway.

          I've a long, long way to get to Nelle's heights (whether it's in terms of number of hubs or income), but I totally see why she wouldn't want to put a comments box on her hubs.  I haven't got to that stage yet by any means, so my comments boxes are staying for some while yet - at least they are on my main account anyway.

          1. Peter Hoggan profile image68
            Peter Hogganposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            IMO it doesn’t really matter what you are selling or the price you are selling at. It’s the fact that you would be depriving your potential customers of the simplest and most immediate way to make contact with you.

            There is usually more competitors in low ticket price goods than in high priced niche markets, so there is still a need to differentiate you offering. With plastic sandwich boxes in particular unless you can cover every use that they will ever be put to, every cleaning agent that will ever be used on them, every clause in your guarantee, every shape size and color, and a whole load of other stuff that might not sound like a benefit to you at the time of writing, then a big question mark is left hanging over your product.

            A comment that gives positive feedback about your product or service is invaluable. However, if I was getting so many comments about a product, or products over multiple blogs, that they were becoming difficult to manage I think I would look at including the most important points into the blog post itself.

            It’s probably impossible to cover every eventuality, and after all you still want to have an effective direct response piece, so including every conceivable benefit for every customer in every circumstance would probably be counter productive. So I see comments as a way to handle this. Remember with a commercial blog post you sales pitch can continue into the comments.

    2. brettb profile image62
      brettbposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I get some good comments sometimes. However removing the linkspam comments is annoying, so I've started to drop the comments capsule. I also get annoyed when I write on a male orientated topic and I get women whinging about it. Come on ladies, you have more than enough of your own hubs here, stay out of ours!

 
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