Following the tradition of my Speedlinking posts, I will be highlighting the top commentators from the month of October with this edition of Speedlinking.
The month of October brought some new names to the top of the list, as well as a few new people that are making their mark already in November. Out of the top five commentators, only Leo Chiang is a hold-over from the top commentators in September. But I would like to pass along a thanks to everyone for providing their feedback and participating as members of the community!
1. Nick waited for the latest update from BlogRush and then ultimately decided to remove the widget from his site. Seeing that Nick only received two clicks, I feel better about my decision to avoid BlogRush completely.
2. Leo Chiang announced the winner of his Halo 3 Legendary Edition contest and I was sad to see that I did not win. No word if the winner has requested that Leo autograph the game as I had requested when I posted about the contest.
3. MsDanielle hasn’t been posting as much lately at her personal blog as other projects are keeping her busy. But she did have a great post questioning the price of your reputation. I’m in agreement with Danielle that people that try to pull a fast one on people will eventually get what is coming to them. Danielle, sorry to hear you never received your Wii.
4. Jake wondered if Google will be sued by companies such as Text Link Ads or even bloggers as a result of their PageRank shenanigans. Do you think there will be any repercussions for Google?
5. Bobby Revell discovered that blogging for money is a dirty job and he didn’t like what his site had become with ads and the idea of paid reviews. While I’ve done a few PayPerPost sponsored posts on this blog, I do not accept opportunities that dictate my opinion be positive as I will not churn out paid posts just to make a dollar but I know where Bobby is coming from.
The month of November is off to an exciting start and there are some new names atop the list right now. Will they have what it takes to sustain their position? Or will some of the regulars come storming back to reclaim their position?
On a related note to the comments, what does everyone think of using SEO keywords in the display name on comments? Thus far I have been letting them through but I am beginning to question whether I should allow this or not.
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the mention. Since the winner doesn’t have an Xbox to play the game, he may just hold his own contest and give it away, so I doubt he’d want me to autograph it 😉
An autograph huh? That would could increase (or decrease depending on who you ask hehe) the value of the game when it goes on eBay! I can see it now…a BSG autographed copy of Halo 3! Buy It Now gets free next day shipping! 😉
I am going to sign it with a caption, “NOT FOR RESALE”.
😉
Oh, how I look forward to the day that Google is sued. It might not happen because of the page rank stupidity. But as long as they continue on their current path, I have no doubt about the fact that they will be sued, and lose.
I just hope it is sooner rather than later and that they haven’t put too many small businesses out of business in the process.
Thanks for the link. What do you feel about the Google pagerank?
@Leo :: I was hoping I would win the contest so I had a legit excuse to go out and buy the 360.
@GDog :: Yeah, I am sure Halo purists would think it detracts from the value but I thought it would be pretty cool and that is why I had asked Leo about it.
@Wendy :: Seeing the small businesses suffer is what drives me nuts. Unfortunately, these small businesses often lack the resources to even entertain the idea of suing a company like Google but I am sure it will come some day soon.
@Jake :: Today I realized that my personal finance site suffered a drop in page rank and I was a little bummed about that. The publicly displayed page rank has lost quite a bit of importance in my eyes as a result of everything that has transpired recently. It is starting to feel like the Alexa ranking – relatively insignificant yet still important as advertisers use it as a means of determining the value of a site.
Derek,
I’m not sure PageRank held that much sway before these updates (apart from people/companies buying and selling links of course).
Have you seen any decrease in search traffic on the site that got de-ranked? I’d be willing to bet you haven’t.
My amount of traffic has stayed the same on most of my sites and on a few of them has actually increased.
I agree that it probably hasn’t made much difference for traffic, it’s just kind of discouraging to see a site’s rank fall and also can have a negative effect on advertising revenue.
Pagerank definitely feels a lot like Alexa to me now as well.
thanks, derek 🙂
were most of my comments from your anti-croc movement post? 😀 lol
as for google, one way for them to keep their page rank valuable and legit is to not allow users (us!) to see it. would suck for us, but it could solve the problem on their end. either that or change their algo so it doesn’t rely on links, which could also suck for us, depending. in the meantime, it’s still all too easy to buy/sell links and fly way under the radar, even with the recent update…
on blogrush, i don’t think i ever even visited their site 🙂 now i suppose i’m glad i didn’t
Thanks Derek! When I did a few PPP & Smorty posts, I learned that they tell you basically what to write, how to write and how long it should be.
I guess that’s when I wondered how it could be considered original content! Well, it is what it is. It’s a pay check.
I’m starting my money blog very soon and it’ll be for making money! I’m sorry I never got back to you on that interview. I have been way too busy but I still want to do it.
Let me get this site up and I’ll be ready.
Hey thanks for the mention.
In regards to keywords as display names, I haven’t put an end to them on my site, but maybe I should consider it. I think the comments should be used more for community building than SEO and other purposes. Because of this, I think a name, nickname, or site name should be used and it should be pretty much limited to that.
Hmmm, maybe I’ve got a future post here.
@Danielle :: I didn’t look to see where each comment originated but you might be right. 🙂 With regard to BlogRush, once I saw the amount of hype it was getting from all levels of bloggers I decided to pass and thus far I have not regretted that decision.
@Bobby :: You’re right and that is why I haven’t done much with PPP in the last few months. As for the interview, I am ready whenever you get it put together. I’ve been trying to put together my own interview questions for something so I completely understand.
@Nick :: You’re welcome. The keyword display name hasn’t ever really bothered me but I have noticed it a little more recently. Hopefully more people will chime in as I am interested in what everyone thinks. The topic can certainly be a blog post.
Derek, you should ask the question if commentators like myself using seo keywords are in anyway having a negative impact on your forum or if they are detracting from the merit or content value your site offers.
If the answers to those questions are no, why would you mind me using ‘furniture stores’ instead of my real name. If you think my comments are worthless, moderate them; dont publish them, that option always lies with you.
What are your thoughts?
Hi Derek,
So, keywords as display name? Who would do such heinous things?! 😉
Joking aside, I think you should appraise commentators on any blog on an individual basis.
I would always ask myself whether they offer any value to the blog or are just spamming for SEO. “Great post, good job!” e.t.c would probably be an example of the latter.
Someone who considers the article and makes relevant comments on it, I personally always allow.
People want to get the most from their links, in my opinion keyword density in links to a page are a very important factor in ranking for particular terms. Certainly more so than PageRank. I mean a really, really long way more important than PR.
There isn’t that much people can achieve from one blog with keywords in their name though. They would need to change the keywords regularly, because having lots of links with the *exact* same keywords can actually be damaging to rankings because it appears unnatural.
Well, I went much further with this than I intended to…so lets end this comment abruptly…now
@FS and @JP :: For the record, I think your comments along with others that have used keywords have always been ones that add to the discussion and have certainly not had a negative impact.
That is why they have always been approved as well. But I do have to say that comments from both of you are always caught in the spam filters. Thus far I don’t think I have missed approving one but the possibility is there.
There are times it is nice to know a name or nickname, instead of having to say, “Hey Furniture Stores, what do you think about…”. I truly appreciate the contributions that you both have made to the community and don’t mind the keywords being used as long as it isn’t spammy.
I agree that if the comments add to the discussion that they should be approved, I just also think that comments should be used for community building and networking than SEO considerations.
The spam filters could also prove to be an inconvenience as the comments are not likely to appear on the site right away.
Finally, I think the aspect of knowing a name or nickname also helps to keep things a bit more friendly. If I were to have lunch with someone, I would use their name and not a keyword to refer to them.
Thanks for the kind words Derek, and you can totally moderate that one and not publish it 😉
I enjoy reading your blogs and commenting on them. I hope that you too enjoy reading my comments. I believe that what should matter is the quality and frequency of the comments and not any other consideration.
I have enjoyed your comments as well and believe that you have continued to add to the discussion. Thanks for being a part of the community!
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