Do Comments by Others Containing OutGoing Links Hurt or Help

1. 58

   BaliMermaidposted 14 years ago

   If a visitor to any given hub makes a comment I believe that's a good thing. But what if that visitor leaves a link, usually embedded into their name, to another website or another hub. Thsi has happened a lot and generates a lot of questions in my mind.
   
   For example;
   If the hub is on back pain and the link is to a clinic for back pain; does that have a positive or negative effect on the hub. Since Hubpages have a good page rank does that link help the visitor more than it does my hub?
   
   If the link is to a website totally unrelated to my hub I am pretty sure that's bad. Is that assumption correct?
   
   How do they generate those links within their visitor name anyway?
   
   Thanks for any comments and assistance with this set of questions.
   
   Balimermaid

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   1. 60

      saleheensblogposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I am not expert, let me try to say what I understand:
      those links in name are created by HTML. Webmasters do this for anchor text backlink. I recommend deleting the comments with unrelated links or even with links that points to other websites or hubs only for promotions rather than solidly enriching the information. I find no problem with the links embedded in names.

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   2. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      BaliMermaid, try leaving a comment on someone's Hub when you're logged out. You'll see HubPages actually asks the visitor to enter their website name - and that creates the link.
      
      When you leave a comment while you're logged in, your name is also linked - to your profile.

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   3. 76

      sarovaiposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      There are chances to get more traffic because of the links. Or those webpages will benefit from this. Either way it is going to affect you hubs performance. So be cautious in accepting those type of comments. Hope they try to comments when your hubs are  appearing in the first page of search engines.

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2. 96

   Sally's Troveposted 14 years ago

   If a visitor leaves a useful link, that's a good thing, as you surmise. Nothing wrong with a visitor who has experience with back pain leaving a link to his back pain site.
   
   You always have the option to deny the comment. That's up to you. So check out the comment and the link and decide if you want to allow it or not.
   
   When someone is not an HP member, he can leave a comment and opt to include a URL embedded in the name. That's an HP feature.

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3. 68

   Silver Roseposted 14 years ago

   I get a ton of comments from people outside hubpages.
   
   If they've just left a comment with no link (i.e. they are just a member of the public), I always approve it.
   
   If they've embedded their name on a link, and their comment is irrelevant, I delete.
   
   If the comment is relevant to the hub, I check out their site. If I like their website I approve the comment regardless of whether their link is relevant to my page (it's the comment that's important, not the link, and if they've taken the trouble to write a good comment, why not spread a little link love around?) If I don't like their site, I delete.
   
   Everyone deals with these things differently. It's your hub, you make the rules.

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   1. 84

      Pcunixposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I feel the same way. If it isn't a spammy site, I don't fuss.

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4. 61

   Thrillerposted 14 years ago

   All links in the comment box are 'no follow' so as long as the comment is relevant there's no issue in approving it.

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   1. 85

      WryLiltposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I wasn't aware of this. Interesting.

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5. 61

   SEO Ibizaposted 14 years ago

   and even if they weren't nofollow there would be no harm putting the links live, the link will not affect the ranking of the hub in a negative fashion.

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   1. 65

      Mishaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Depends on where this link is going to. Could hurt quite a bit in fact.
      
      And starting your presence on the site with lies does not add to your credibility...

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      1. 61

         SEO Ibizaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         lol, "lies" is a bit strong?
         
         ok, if the links are to "bad neighbourhoods", you *may* have a point, although its extremely unlikely hubpages is going to be penalized because of one dodgy outlink.
         
         I was following on from this comment
         
         "All links in the comment box are 'no follow' so as long as the comment is relevant there's no issue in approving it."
         
         ..and so assuming the comment was relevant [and you checked to make sure the link isnt to p0rn or a gambling site] ..then i stand by the statement.
         
         now where did i "lie"?

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6. 75

   Shadesbreathposted 14 years ago

   I delete them simply because I think it's rude.  I don't believe for one second that people leave their name as a link by accident.  They leave it to get something for themselves off of my work.
   
   If they were to ask me if I was interested in seeing their site on a topic in a comment, I would say, "Sure, go for it," and they could put a link in a comment that followed.  I wouldn't mind because they were A) being polite, and B) actually participating in a conversation with me.
   
   Otherwise, they are just using our work to promote themselves. That is selfish and empty and people like that can go suck blood out of someone else.  Not me.

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   1. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Shades, bear in mind that HubPages invites commenters to leave their website address when commenting.
      
      I remember when I first started commenting on blogs and was asked for my website, I didn't even realise it created a link in my name!  So I don't think it's fair to assume everyone is being rude, they're just completing the boxes HubPages is asking them to complete.
      
      Now, if they leave a link in the actual comment - that's rude.
      
      And it's true, there are people who leave silly comments just to get the link, and that's rude too.

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      1. 75

         Shadesbreathposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Hmmm.... I was not aware of this.  Seems paradoxical.  I'll have to see if I can find that.  (LoL, I'm so distrustful of big companies.)

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7. 83

   IzzyMposted 14 years ago

   Unless the comment is obviously spammy, I leave it in. As Marisa says, Hubpages invites commentors to leave their links, so they are not necessarily trying for a backlink, which is no-follow anyway so doesn't matter.

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   1. 61

      Business Infoposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      not to mention the fact that good relevant comment text can cause quite a lot of longtail hits you wouldn't otherwise of seen.
      
      I said what i said about external links not affecting rankings from experience, we have several blogs with dofollow comments up to 3.5 years old now, one has more than 900 external comment links, and it ranks extremely well.

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      1. 61

         SEO Ibizaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         whoops wrong username (comment above is mine) sorry.

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   2. 75

      Shadesbreathposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Ok, so, to pin this down a bit more:
      
      On my "I'm writing for cash" HP account that I finally made, I just got a comment from someone whose name was a link and who left a link.
      
      The link went directly to a website selling the same type of products my hub is selling, and the commenter's name went to the home page for which the product page was part.
      
      Would you leave that or delete that?  I can hardly see the benefit of letting someone pull potential shoppers off my site to theirs.  The SEO advantage would have to be enormous.
      
      Anyone care to comment?

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      1. 61

         SEO Ibizaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         in my opinion this is all about intent. if the guy who left the comment is taking the pi$$, just blatently linkbuilding, then delete.
         
         if they are adding value to the hub, then leave it.
         
         value could either be from an SEO POV, like they've written a mini essay of a comment and added a new spin to the hub, new things to rank for even, or if it adds value to a user arriving at the hub, maybe actually looking for exactly what the link goes to?
         
         but if it's in direct competition with you, then  of course delete it.
         
         *possible* rankings benefits against direct competition on your page?
         
         no contest

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         1. 75

            Shadesbreathposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            That's what I figured too.  He didn't write 'an essay' at all.  He said, "Oh, I buy lots of this kind of product.  They're really great.  I like getting a certain kind, I get it here: linklinklink .com"
            
            Plus his name.  So, yeah, I deleted.  But with what Marisa said up there, I wasn't sure if maybe I was missing something.  SEO often seems to defy logic to me.

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            1. 86

               Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               Shades, you say that his name was a link AND he left a link in the post itself, directing people to click it.
               
               If he had just made his name a link, as HubPages invites him to do, then I'd have no problem accepting it.  But I don't accept comments with a hyperlink in the comment itself -that's just rude!

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8. 67

   Peter Hogganposted 14 years ago

   The links are nofollow so little benefit is to be had by the commenter. Comments will help rankings in that they add fresh content to the page and search engines tend to reward fresh content.
   
   But as Misha correctly points out, it’s not a good idea to link out to sites of a dubious nature if those links are dofollow.

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9. 60

   Anesidoraposted 14 years ago

   Just wanted to add my two cents to this thread I'm belatedly stumbling upon. I almost always delete the comment when they do that. Sometimes no, if it really adds something more to the hub. But generally it's done on product hubs by people trying to directly compete with you, which yeah is just rude.
   
   I wouldn't do that to someone else and I don't want people doing it to me.
   
   But if it's more of an info hub and they provide a link to more info which complements the info I already gave, then I leave it.
   
   Links in peoples' names I don't care one fig about because I don't believe most people -viewers, clickers and buyers- pay any attention to those.

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