How to Verify Blog Comment Backlinks

Checking if a blog comment backlink is live or not is crucial for ensuring you are getting the most out of your commenting efforts on a blog. There are several methods to verify the status of these links, ensuring they contribute effectively to your site’s SEO. Let us explore these methods and discuss why comment backlinks are generally considered outdated and ineffective in today's SEO landscape.

Manual Verification

The first step in verifying if a comment backlink is live is to go straight to the source. Here's how to do it:

Go to the Blog Post: Navigate to the specific blog post where you left the comment. Rotate through the comments section to find your comment. Hover Over the Link: Place your cursor over the link you included in the comment. If the link appears clickable and is properly formatted, it is live. If it is displayed as plain text or missing, it is not live.

Viewing Page Source

Use the Page Source: Right-click on the blog page and select the option to view the page source. Use Ctrl F to search for your comment or backlink by typing in the URL or a keyword from your comment. Check if the link is present and if it has the correct anchor text and href attribute.

Using Backlink Checking Tools

RELIABLE TOOLS: Utilize SEO tools like Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMrush. These tools offer comprehensive backlink checking features, allowing you to see all backlinks pointing to your site, including those in blog comments. You can filter these backlinks to check if your specific comment backlink is live.

Google Search Console

Utilize Google Search Console: While Google Search Console primarily handles site performance issues, it can offer insights into whether your backlink is recognized by Google. You can use it to track and manage your website's performance and identify issues with your backlinks.

Online Link Checkers

Free Tools: Tools like Small SEO Tools Backlink Checker or Broken Link Check can help you determine if your backlink is live. These tools require you to input the blog URL and your target URL to verify if the link is active.

Why Blog Comment Backlinks Are Outdated

Comment backlinks, although a historic method of link building, are now outdated and generally considered futile. Here’s why:

Auto-Nofollow: For over a decade, blogging platforms and systems have marked comment backlinks as "nofollow." This is a response to years of black-hat spamming strategies used to build backlinks. Search engines automatically treat comments, whether they contain links or not, as spam when generating search results or for rankings. Wasted Effort: The auto-nofollow nature of comment backlinks means that they do not contribute to your site's SEO rankings in any meaningful way. Very few modern online entities and bloggers would activate these links as "dofollow." Focus on Value: To effectively build your SEO, focus on providing actual valuable content rather than investing time in spammy link-building tactics. While guest posting may have its imperfections, it is still significantly superior to comment backlinks for generating quality backlinks naturally. People are more inclined to share content that adds value to their readers' experience.

Conclusion

Given the above, there is no point in checking if comment backlinks are live or dead. They are automatically nofollows and are essentially useless for SEO purposes. Instead, concentrate on creating valuable content that resonates with your audience. This approach will yield far more substantial results in the long run.