Whether you are looking for information about CommentLuv or Comment Luv, you are in the right place.
CommentLuv is a free plugin that boosts your comments by showing people headlines of visitors on your blog.
Do additional blog comments help your SEO?
Blog comments show Google you have an active blog, and Google likes to show active blogs to its users.
Therefore, when you use this free plugin, you please Google and your commenters.
You’ll be happy as well when your blog becomes a community full of active commenters.
Let’s dive in and get started learning about this plugin that boosts comments.
UPDATE JULY 2020:
After five years, I decided to remove Comment Luv from my blog. My SEO expert friends felt the tool hurt my SEO. Since the plugin lets people leave their links on your blog, all these links were hurting my SEO, they felt.
I realize I won’t be included on a list of CommentLuv blogs any longer which was one of the perks of having the service.
However, I encourage you to read this review and decide for yourself.
UPDATES JANUARY 2019:
CommentLuv has a Facebook group.
After years in limbo, CommentLuv is being supported once again. Keep reading, CommentLuv is a valuable tool which once again has developers support.
Do you play detective?
I do. Every night.
I check Site Stats, Referrers on my blog’s dashboard, and if I see any links I don’t recognize, I investigate.
One night I discovered my link was on a site containing a CommentLuv Directory.
What is CommentLuv, and why does the site administrator consider CommentLuv so important she has a directory of CommentLuv users on her site?
She is here today to tell you. Please welcome my guest author Beth McIntire.
Why I Use CommentLuv For My Blog
In case you’re not familiar with CommentLuv, it’s a blog commenting platform with a unique twist. CommentLuv not only makes it simple for readers to leave comments on your blog, but it also offers an added bonus of letting them leave a link to one of their own recent blog posts. I discovered and began using CommentLuv shortly after starting my blog, LivingwithBeth.com.
Once I started using CommentLuv, I wanted to support other bloggers who use it, so I created a list of CommentLuv enabled blogs.
Most experts on Internet marketing, blogging and SEO emphasize the importance of reader engagement, including social sharing and comments on posts. On one of my favorite SEO blogs, QuickSprout, Neil Patel provides data proving that search traffic improves with increases in reader comments and writes about the benefits of responding to your blog’s comments. Besides the possibility of drawing more traffic to my site, I really wanted to encourage readers to engage with my blog posts and share their thoughts and feedback.
I can’t tell you how often I give up commenting on a blog post when it insists that I log in to a service or site, or create an account somewhere. Of course, bloggers need to use whatever comment system works best for them, but I wanted to make it super easy for readers to comment. To me, that meant not putting up any roadblocks or making people jump through hoops.
If you Google “benefits of CommentLuv,” though, you’ll find a bunch of writers trashing CommentLuv for various reasons. Here are some of the main arguments leveled against CommentLuv, which I call the Top 5 Myths of CommentLuv.
Popular Blogs Don’t Use It, So It Must Not Be Worthwhile
Bloggers have numerous choices when it comes to commenting platforms, including Facebook, Disqus, and JetPack Comments. Hugely popular blogs don’t need to encourage comments – comments come about naturally due to their thousands upon thousands of readers. Bloggers still building their readership may want to give people that extra nudge toward leaving comments, making it a seamless process, and allowing them to leave their links behind as part of their calling cards.
Plus, many popular bloggers actually do use CommentLuv, such as Blogelina, Budget Girl, Saving Money Never Goes Out of Style, top social influencer Marji J. Sherman, and this wonderful site, Mostly Blogging.
CommentLuv Encourages Spam Comments
I didn’t notice significantly more spam comments after switching from JetPack Comments to CommentLuv, but I also use the Akismet plug-in to filter most of the junk. In addition, I can easily remove links from comments without removing an entire comment.
CommentLuv Hurts SEO and Decreases Search Traffic
My blog ranks well for many keywords, and my rankings continue on the upswing. You’d think that if CommentLuv damaged my blog’s SEO, that wouldn’t be the case.
CommentLuv Breeds Frivolous Comments
I haven’t noticed many meaningless comments like “great post” on my blog with CommentLuv. As mentioned above, I can delete links if I feel someone has left a comment just for the link juice, but I rarely need to do that.
CommentLuv Decreases Average Time on Page
Some bloggers believe that CommentLuv attracts drive-by commenters – those who type a few words, enter their link and leave without reading the post – which can hurt important search metrics such as average time on page. My site has an average time on page of just over 3 minutes, which I think disproves the idea that people are quickly commenting and exiting.
Does CommentLuv Lead to More Comments?
It’s impossible to tell for sure whether my blog would have more (or fewer) comments without CommentLuv since I didn’t spend a lot of time not using it and don’t want to stop using it. Regardless, I feel better about making commenting as painless a process as possible. It’s important to me that readers can easily express their thoughts, feelings and questions.
Blogging isn’t a one-way street. It’s meant to be highly interactive, and I’m thrilled when a post receives tons of comments like this one did. I still use the free version of CommentLuv, but I’ve talked with other bloggers who use the paid version and think it was worth every penny.
How About You?
Does CommentLuv make it any more or less likely that you’ll comment on a blog post?
Beth McIntire writes for LivingWithBeth.com, where she shares reviews, giveaways, sales, deals, how-to advice, tips, recipes and general lifestyle posts. She lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband, two daughters and cat. Read more of her blogging-related posts at this link.
Me again:
I thought Beth wrote a great article. She gave the reasons you should be using CommentLuv, and then countered common objections against it.
We really appreciate Beth coming here today to explain what CommentLuv is and its value for bloggers.
If you would also like to guest blog for Mostly Blogging, here is the link explaining the criteria and the instructions for submission.
Before you go and install CommentLuv, please go show Beth some comment love and visit her blog.
I’d LOVE it if you shared this post, so other bloggers can learn about the value of CommentLuv.
Readers, what do you think? Do you think CommentLuv is something you might try? Have you already tried it? What is your experience? Do you think it helps get more comments and traffic? I look forward to your views.
Author: Beth McIntire McIntire uses Comment Luv on her blog and has for years.
Related Posts:
How to Quickly Get Comments on Your Blog
How to Boost Your SEO with 1000+ Blog Commenting Sites
CommentLuv FAQ
What is CommentLuv?
A plugin that has both a free and premium version. By showing commenters’ headlines, visitors are more likely to leave their own comments.