You have an option to either turn your blog comments on or off. So, the big question is – are blog comments really helpful, On the positive side, turning on the comments on your blogs can give you great feedback on your posts. If you have a popular blog with lots of comments, it demonstrates to new visitors that you actually do have a popular blog. But on the negative side…
It Opens the Door to Spam
To be frank, a majority of the blog comments tend to be a waste of time for your blog readers since most people come to advertise on your posts in an attempt to get some traffic to their site. Others simply engage in empty talk or abusive language.
Of course, you can have spam prevention software in place, but some spam comments will still bypass this protection put in place by your software, meaning you may have to manually locate and delete them or pay someone to do this job for you.
It Is Time-Consuming
Sorting out and deleting spam and irrelevant comments can be time-consuming especially if you are running a popular blog. And it?s not just that – you have to be
dedicated because you have to do it every day.
Your AdSense Account Can Be Banned
Because of spam comments, Google can interpret that as fake traffic and consequently ban your AdSense account. Therefore, if you don?t delete the spam comments in your posts on time, you might be kissing your AdSense account goodbye.
The Tumbleweed Effect
This is the situation where you have turned on commenting on your posts, but then you fail to get any or only get one from your best friend or maybe from family. If you have enabled commenting and you fail to get any, it will appear as though you don?t have any traffic on your site. You and I are aware that most readers never leave comments after reading a post, but most blog readers are not aware of this. They will assume you don?t attract enough traffic which will make them doubt the authenticity and relevancy of your posts.
They Can Lower Your Search Engine Rankings
While a few comments will help you rank higher in the search engines, a large percentage of them could actually lower your chances of getting your pages ranked higher in the search engines.
Lack of control
Comments can get out of control since anyone can post what’s on their mind. This means your competitor can tarnish your name in the comment section by talking bad about you or your products. These comments could stay there for some time if you don?t scan them regularly. Unless you prescreen comments before they go public, you will have a hard time controlling what your audience posts.
Also, people can post sensitive information in your comment section. Imagine a terrorist posting that they have gone to blow up a building or assassinate someone. Do you think you and your blog might be put under investigation, It’s possible, and it could take time to clear your name. Who needs these kinds of headaches,
Also, some people can be malicious by posting defamatory lies about another company or person. Of course, there are laws to protect you. But again, who wants to invite a potential lawsuit just by keeping their comment section open, Although unlikely, it is a possibility.
The Reply Catch
Someone asks a question, and you answer them, or someone leaves a great comment, and you like or reply to it. All goes well until the comments become overwhelming and everyone expects to get a reply from you. Yes, you can reply because you want to encourage your readers to leave comments after reading your posts. But then again, would it be worth spending your entire day replying to 100s? of comments in your posts instead of creating new content,
The Bottom Line
Now that you have heard many reasons not to enable comments on your blog, here is one reason to do so.
If you have enabled commenting on your posts and everything is going well, then don?t change it. However, if you are starting out and you are tired of having to sort them out every day, then you might opt to disable them so that you can concentrate on creating new content and doing other valuable projects.
