If you read the comments section of a blog or major news site you’ve probably seen the spammers that blatantly advertise websites showing you how to work at home or promising to help you find a millionaire partner. But there are a few more subtle approaches being used that might slip past the quick glance. Here are the three biggest types of spam comments you’ll find on blogs (using real world examples I’ve found while assisting clients with their blogs!).
The Blatant Commenter
As mentioned above, this is the commenter that doesn’t try to hide that they didn’t read your article and they are only there to swipe your traffic.
Some examples:
“If you want to make $10-$150/hour and up to $3500/month of your free time working at home part-time then…”
“Get up to 100000 forum backlinks with our backlinks service & massive targeted traffic Get incredible online web traffic …”
These comments often have links within them. But what they're selling may just be a front - some may lead you to sites that try to unleash viruses on your system. Don’t follow the links – and delete the comment from your blog.
The Compliment Commenter
This commenter is a bit more sophisticated – hoping to hang out in your comments section undetected. Some blog comment sections allow you to share your name, email address and your web address. This commenter hopes to nab your visitors using these fields.
The comment itself is often benign – with no links and just kind words:
“Cool blog and nice post.”
“Hi! Fine post! Please keep us posted when we could see a follow up!”
“Thanks for posting this. I fully agree with your opinion.”
Easy enough right? Everyone likes to get compliments. But then you notice the persons name is Valtrex Online or Levitra. And either then name or web address they list links to a malicious website. Further – the comment often doesn’t identify anything about your post or your blog…often they’ll say “This blog” or “This writer” – nothing to show they’re a real human being who has read your article.
The compliment Commenter is the one I see most often left on a blog – and some even run the range of ridiculously obvious:
“I like <yourdoman>.com! Bookmarked!”
"I wish everyone could read <yourdomain>.com.”
And then there’s this one I found on a client’s blog:
“I precisely needed to thank you so much all over again. I’m not certain what I would’ve done in the absence of those aspects provided by you directly on such area. It absolutely was a very challenging case for me, nevertheless understanding this specialised technique you solved the issue forced me to cry over contentment. I’m grateful for this advice and thus wish you are aware of an amazing job you happen to be undertaking educating many others thru your websites. I am sure you have never met all of us.”
I mean – really? My advice: Compliments are nice – but delete these comments.
The Helpful Commenter
The twin sister to the compliment commenter is the *helpful* commenter. I confess, this one is a bit of a mystery to me. I’m not sure what the motivation is behind it, perhaps spammers feel it catches the eye more often. These comments try to alert you to a problem with your blog – without giving any detail:
“Hello, Neat post. There is an issue with your site in internet explorer, could check this… IE still is the market chief and a huge component to other people will leave out your wonderful writing due to this problem.”
“Oh my goodness! an stunning write-up dude. Thank you However I’m experiencing problem with ur rss . Do not know why Unable to subscribe to it. Is there anybody getting identical rss challenge? Any person who understands kindly respond. Thnkx”
Again, I’m not sure why these spam posts feel the need to alert you to something that doesn’t even apply to your website – but they do. In any case – delete them.
Rule #1 – Look for the link!
In every case of a comment spammer there is a link or a name or an email address that just seems fishy. If you have a comment that you’re unsure of check all these things and trust your gut. In some cases it’ll be obvious (the name might be Baseball Bags or Hearing Aids). In other cases the name might be Joyce – but Joyce’s email or web address points to an obvious ‘odd’ site.
When in doubt – delete it. Your blog needs to be a safe place for you and your visitors…it’s your virtual home, keep the door-to-door salespeople out.
Kevin Elam started with Synthesis in 2002 as a subcontractor and has been our Marketing Director since 2006. Kevin has a diverse background in a wide range of industries. He's been an actor, a private school accountant, a church business manager and worked in administrative support for the University of Missouri - Kansas City and Florida Hospital. Kevin is also a Walt Disney World alumni where he entertained guests as a Kilimanjaro Safari guide and later gave high touch guest service at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa – their flagship resort. Kevin was one of four Cast Members chosen to pilot the Resort Concierge program now used at all Disney resorts. He's also been designing websites since 1999 – and opened his own business, Goblin Cafe, in 2005.
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