Note: this post is in progress.
The comments are getting a refresh in the Feast Plugin.
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Why
Comments can help bloggers rank for keywords not found in their actual content.
Search engines actually consider comments to be part of your posts' main content, according to this Webmasters video on UGC (user generated content).
Visitors reading your article will naturally have questions about things that aren't covered in your post - these questions and keywords should be added to your content, making the recipe more useful over time.
Comments can even encourage visitors to come back when they receive a reply, further increasing pageviews.
Deleting comments
We know that relevance infuses everything at Google - that's why you discuss recipe-related content on your posts, and not unrelated personal anecdotes.
The more on-topic your post is, the higher quality it is to search engines.
This same principle applies to comments.
If you've been waiting for permission to go terminator on your comments, here it is.
Delete comments that:
- Don't provide any reader value
- Are too vague
- Are spam
Do not delete comments that:
- Contain visitor ratings for the recipe card
- Contain valuable feedback, even if slightly negative
- Discuss aspects of the recipe that aren't covered in your post
Pagespeed
Comments can have a negative impact on pagespeed, by adding excessive DOM nodes. Because of this, you want to remove as much as possible by:
- deleting low quality comments
- disabling avatars
- removing the link from comment dates
- removing the “website” field from the comments form
- removing the "website" link from existing comments
- paginating your comments
Comment Settings
See the comments section of the SEO for Food Bloggers post.
Comment reply notifications
There's a couple options for this, but we haven't done any testing or offer any support for these. There's a fairly in-depth comment notification writeup at BlogAid, but it appears to be outdated.
The one we've seen used most often on customer sites is Subscribe to Comments Reloaded.
Some may require additional plugins to configure your server email settings.
Comments on third party platforms
Comments and engagement you get on social media and other platforms are essentially entirely wasted. They provide you with no long-term value.
They disappear when Facebook changes some setting or algorithm for fresh content.
Comments on your blog live there forever, gradually increasing the relevance of your post to visitors and search engines.
Jetpack and Disqus
We only support and recommend native WordPress comments. Having your comments externally hosted (eg. on Jetpack, Disqus) can slow down the site with unnecessary styling and javascript.
More critically, you're relying on an external provider for basic functionality. Much like Facebook, these external comment systems can disappear or change with a moment's notice.
KISS - keep it stupid simple. Use the core WordPress commenting system.
Resources
- https://crunchify.com/wordpress-comment-form-customization/
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