Look how old this is! I post at SearchCommander.com now, and this post was published 16 years 9 months 14 days ago. This industry changes FAST, so blindly following the advice here *may not* be a good idea! If you're at all unsure, feel free to hit me up on Twitter and ask.
You know the drill by now… Searching the web for subject relevant blogs, then posting an intelligent comment that you hope will get you a counted backlink to your own domain or webpage of your choice.
It’s a tedious process, but one that’s been proven effective for building backlinks and traffic. However, it takes an awful lot of time to not only find those blogs in the first place, but then evaluate the domain and the post to see if it’s even worth the effort to comment. That’s where this software comes in.
Direct link to demo – Updated 11-1-2012
The inclusion of the rel= “nofollow” tag on blog comments to prevent spam has made this practice less popular, but there are a large number of sites blogs out there that have removed the no follow attribute from their comments, and have started what i guess is called the “DoFollow” community.
Once you find a blog in your subject matter that allows followed comments, you can only do yourself so much good (link-wise) by participating, because it’s better to get multiple links from multiple domains. Besides, if you spend all your time commenting on just a couple of blogs you’ll become more of a stalker than a commenter!
Recently I received an e-mail about a new piece of software designed to help identify and locate blogs on which to comment almost effortlessly, and at first I was skeptical, expecting the majority of results to come back to me with nothing but junk.
However, after using it almost daily for nearly 3 weeks, I’m not only finding some real gems out there, but I’M ALSO seeing it add to my inbound link count and improve the related search rankings.
The software is called Fast Blog Finder, and it’s really simple to use. You just enter a keyword or phrase in quotes, and the software searches the web for all of the blogs out there that allow comments, providing you with a link t othe blog, the page rank of the domain, the page rank of the actual post, the number of outbound links on the page, and the type of links it allows, either green (DO follow) or pink (no follow).
Instant column sorting lets me do a quick search for a phrase, sort by type of link, and then instantly read and comment right inside the software, or in a web browser if I prefer.
Once a comment is submitted, the software automatically adds a note for future reference, so you can see that you’ve commented there before.
A typical search for a phrase may come up with several hundred blogs, a couple dozen posts that allow Dofollow commenting, and just a handful that have actual page rank on the post page. The amount of time it saves is almost immeasurable.
Obviously, the idiots out there will abuse this software and attempt to make pointless comments with nothing but keyword rich name links, forcing the blog owners to delete their comments as spam. DO NOT DO THAT!
But if you use your head, and leave a thoughtful and relevant comment, linking back to your site, your page, or your clients site, then there is no reason the blog owner will not approve the comment, and the backlink will be a good one.
When I first saw this software I was pretty impressed, and now that I’ve seen some actual ranking bumps and inbound links increase for brand-new domains, I’m even more impressed.
There’s a completely free version of the software you can download here, and I would encourage you to give it a try, even though it only returns 50 results in the free version. You will still likely come up with some DoFollowed links the you can create instantly and almost effortlessly.
Another great feature is the fact that once the report has been run, you can export the entire list into an Excel (.csv) spreadsheet, and pass it along to an employee to work on over a period of time.
That’s great, because you cannot run this software on multiple computers without an individual license for EACH user. That’s worth noting. If you have a stable of employees, and you want THEM to do the research, then you’re going to have to buy a version for each one of them. However, at only $49 a pop, I can tell you that the time saved will be well worth the investment.
I’m spending less than 10 minutes each morning taking the time to post just one link for one of my own domains, but I’ve sent spread sheets and assigned the task to a couple of Search Commander associates, and I give this software a wholehearted thumbs up.
It’s totally white hat, totally useful, and I cannot imagine doing the job without this software any more. If you want to see how much time you can save, here are a couple of links… (and yes, of COURSE they’re affiliate links!)
Please comment here with your thoughts…
I love this software too. I hope more people get on the bandwagon for dofollow so that the blogs not only have a word in them related to my niche sites, but actually have whole posts and blogs related to them.
I think adding a dofollow might be a great way to increase traffic to a blog for now too, especially if it is web marketing related.
Thanks for the recommendation! This seems like an excellent piece of software for finding DoFollow nuggets! I’m definitely going to pass this along to my team and have them start using for social campaigns, blog marketing and link building projects.
I have tried this tool also.Wow! it’s great! It would be easier to find do follow blogs.Indeed!the software automatically adds a note for future reference so you will know that you have commented already.
The software thows a nasty error when clicking on a blog in the list:
“A runtime error has occured, do you wish to debug?”
Then it gives a user-friendly info:
Line = 409
Error not implemented.
Sounds like the developer needs to test the product to get the bugs out!
@Portland Fisher, Adam, Chepay, thanks for commenting. Yeah, the title of the post may have been a little misleading, “Instant Link Building”, but it’s saved so much time I can’t beleive it. Every staffer can now spend 3 to 5 minutes reading a post and creating a backlink, instead of searching for places to post. It rocks.
*Warning* – use of a keyword rich “name” for the commenter makes it more likely that the comment will be disallowed by the blog owner. It’s better to have a link back with your name than no link at all…
@Harry, That’s odd – I’ve not seen that error, and we’re running the demo version on three pcs, licensed version on 5. Anyone else?
Scott, thank you for the recommendation, I had never heard of the software before now. I am curious about the quality of the link from blog comments like this one.
Would it make more sense to pursue higher quality links before comment links?
Regardless, I appreciate the information and will check out the software.
You’re welcome James, and thanks for commenting.
Concerning “…the quality of link from blog comments like this one.” I ‘d point out that being brand new, this post naturally has a PR of zero, so some would say a comment backlink is completely worthless here.
However, I’d be quick to point out that my domain is fairly authoritative with lots of backlinks, and even under penalty* it’s still a PR4.
Also, this particular post has already gained a few links back to it, and one of those is from Search Engine Land, so it likely won’t stay a PR0 for long.
Throw in the fact that I’ve “Dofollowed” my comment links, and I think participation on this blog will have some benefit.
In my opinion, a link back from a blog post is no less valuable than a link back from a webpage because a blog post is still just a webpage. All of the same factors apply when trying to determine “value”, including page rank, the number of outbound links, and even subject relevance (to whatever degree that can actually be determined).
That said, I believe you should continue to pursue links of all types, but you can’t put all your eggs in one basket, because you never know when the rules of the game are going to change. Also, if you did nothing but gain backlinks through blog comments it would likely not be as effective in boosting your rankings. You need diversity.
One key to successful link building is to appear “natural”, and a site that obtains no links other than from blog comments is probably going to stand out and possibly come under scrutiny.
This piece of software lets you search for a phrase, discover dozens or even hundreds of potential places you can comment, and let you sort by page rank or no follow status with the click of the mouse.
Sorting that way will then eliminate 95% of those results, and then you just spend a few minutes reading a post and commenting intelligently to build that permanent one waylink. Compare that minimal effort to some other options, and to me, the use of it makes a lot of sense.
* – I believe my domain is still under penalty due to the sale of a couple of Text Link Ads that I’ve not removed from the home page (bottom left) and interior pages of pdxtc.com. Although TLA’s are not shown in the blog, or SEO101 sections, I was a PR5 nearly two years ago, before adding TLA, and have gained hundreds of authoritative links since. I’m not yet caved in to Google and removed them to try to get my visible PR back. Sigh… I probably will though…
I think you will find the freely available SEOQuake plug-in for Firefox a lot more useful.
It shows the essential details on inbound links, deep linking ratios, as well as automates the use of Yahoo’s Site Explorer tools.
A very robust tool with great productivity features!
Thanks Harry, and yes, I do use SEOquake regularly. However, it’s a totally different tool, for a different purpose, and does nothing at all to help you identify or build links.
It’s got tons of useful features, and I’d never be without it, especially when trying to gather data =about competitors – but in this case, it’s like comparing apples to oranges, so I don’t see the connection at all.
With this software, you just enter a phrase, and get all of the relevant places you can comment, and add a link.
In about as much time than it took me to reply to this comment, I could have added a DoFollowed link to a site of my choice.
Scott,
Just took it for a test drive. It’s a nice piece of software. Much better than most. Just tried ‘Real Link Finder’ and this is much better.
Arnie
Yep Arnie, thanks for commenting. I tried that one too, but this seemed to be superior.
It’s taking up permanent space now on my second monitor right by my chat and my Twitter feed 😉
Scott,
I am always interested in tools for SEO that I haven’t heard of before, so thanks for the post.
At the same time I’ve got to disagree with you on this point, “Besides, if you spend all your time commenting on just a couple of blogs you’ll become more of a stalker than a commenter!” I think a lot of people who try and build community around their blogs rather than just using them for content machines and/or seo would also take exception to this.
Thanks David, for the input.
I agree with you, and do not mean to downplay the importance of community development for site owners and community participation for those with valuable insights.
Regular participation and comments in reputable and relevant blogs and forums is definitely a way to improve your own reputation and visibility, and I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.
I do feel that in the context of this blog post (link building) it is beneficial to have comments in a variety of domains, and I’d also point out that I did say “if you spend ALL your time…”
That said, as a site owner with a bit of a community building up here, there’s nothing I enjoy more than seeing someone contribute regularly, and I do hope we’ll hear from you again – 😉
Thanks again for taking the time to write…
I think this seems to be a solid piece of software, I have tried the trial version and I will most likely purchase the full Gold version as well.
A note on David W’s comment about this software making you more of a stalker than a commenter. I think it makes a huge difference what kind of comment you leave.
If you use this software to just post comments to get a backlink, yeah, that would be kind of stalker like but if you actually read the articles and make a sensible informed comment, you will by defacto be a commenter.
Yes Tony, I agree, and thanks for commenting. That’s why I added this in the article –
“Obviously, the idiots out there will abuse this software and attempt to make pointless comments with nothing but keyword rich name links, forcing the blog owners to delete their comments as spam.
But if you use your head, and leave a thoughtful and relevant comment for your site, your page, or your clients site, then there is no reason the blog owner will not approve the comment, and the backlink will be a good one.”
Absolutely – the bottom line is that if your comment is relevant to the post, it doesn’t matter how you got there.
Really nice software. It does make commenting that much easier. I wonder though, is commenting really that good? I am pretty new to SE tactics though. Also, does the dofollow nofollow tags really matter. I have found links from craigslist in my inlink section and they have nofollow tags. Do you think the search engine spiders are that susceptible to being ordered around like that?
Jason,
It is a really nice software, I highly recommend it and I would also recommend reading an article on nofollow/dofollow, also read the comments as some of those are really informative.
http://www.fastblogfinder.com/can-nofollow-links-hurt-you/
@Jason – Yes, in my experience, a well written and well thought out comment on a relevant blog post will not only be approved, but will drive traffic and build your brand too.
Regarding the value of nofollow tags – oh yes, absolutely. But it won’t affect traffic, only ranking. Whether a link is no-followed or not won’t affect traffic, such as links from Craigslist.
You have to understand what the NF tag is, and how it works for Google, but I assure you, it does not not pass PageRank through a NF tag, and WILL pass it without one.
This article is a pretty good read –
http://sphinn.com/story/32325
@Tony – you beat me too it – I was going to mention that same article 😉 – Thanks
@scott – it is a very interesting article, great minds think a like, right?
I do like the article with the visual aid showing the use of nofollow, it makes it easier to explain the concept in laymen’s terms.
I like your site, Tony – Got any good nofollow info for Joomla?
Like… can you even get granular control on no-following the menu items?
That’s a killer to figure out, and I know a few people that would love to know.
I do have my own Joomla section, http://www.pdxtc.com/seo101 but I sort of abandoned it after I got hooked on WordPress…
@Scott – Thanks for the compliment, comming from you, that means lot!
I am actually working on a mini-seo article for Joomla, should be done over the weekend and of course I will include a tidbit on nofollow.
Unfortunately Joomla does not really do a good job at all with nofollow and I have just recently started to look for extensions to support just such a concept but it seems to be all or nothing with the ones I have looked at.
I do have a question about commenting. Do you try to include the link in the body of the text like here or do you just use the website field? If the website field is the best way, should anchor text be used in the Name? Thanks in advance.
Thanks for the heads up. It really pays to be updated with the latest news on technology and keep abreast with the innovations.
@Jason – I would not include a link in the text itself unless it lends to the comment that you made, like mentioning something that is relevant to the article, otherwise it may be considered a spam comment and deleted.
As far as your anchor text, you can use your name or as I did above, my first name and the web site name, it looks less spammy than just putting the web site name in there and still gets the domain name into the anchor text.
This sounds very good. I’m going to try out the trial version and if I’m buying it I will use your afiliate link for sure.
thanks for the tip.
Allan
All I can say is WOW! I bought this about a month ago, and went crazy the first day adding a ton of links. I spent nearly three hours using it, then promptly forgot about it.
Today, ranking has improved dramatically for all the pages I linked to – and I know exactly which those are because the software keeps notes for me. Thanks for this tip.
I haven’t used the software, but I have used other GLock’s tools like their proxy tester/finder and it was great.
A little self-promotion, for instant link building the black hat way, you should take a look at http://blogfarmexplosion.com
Hello, I’m just getting into learning about SEO and am still green but I truly enjoyed the message and learend a tons just from this blog post alone.
Thank you.
Very interesting software Scott.
I’ll give it a try, even if it is PC only. I will use it on Search Engine Optimization Portland.
Do you ever forget the .com?
Very interesting software Scott.
I’ll give it a try, even if it is PC only. I will use it on Search Engine Optimization Portland.
Finally installed the download, but it just hangs when you try to run it. Not impressed so far. Excellent idea, but it has to work.
good software and i will get alot from this in terms of time you time is how much important for anyone
I just downloaded the free version, and so far it’s pretty good, though I’m having trouble finding any DoFollow blogs for the keywords I’m picking.. 🙁
Is the best software ever for find dofollow blog. I was used search engine to find dofollow blogs like commenthunt or else one.
Regards
thanks a lot for sharing it!
you made commenting that much easier.thank you.
I love the software especially the new version
Hey Scott –
Are you still using / recommending this software? I’m also curious if you’ve just-happened-to compare to Market Samurai’s “promotion module” which does a very similar search/sort/report/export (hey nice rhyming scheme there;) function?
Would be very interested in hearing your input… thanks!
David
Yes absolutely, we love it, although haven’t tried the Market Samurai product in a long time…
Your post was sent out to me by SEMPdx and I have found it to be SO helpful. I’ve signed up for the blog finder, and can’t wait to get started. I do sort of the “General contractor” of marketing for small/med green businesses and having a tool like this will be extremely valuable! My goal is to make green businesses more successful so they can make an impact, low cost, high productivity web tools like this are just the ticket! Thanks!
Hey Scott,
I’m a big fan of Fast Blog Finder as well! I used to manually submit websites to webdirectories and such, but nowadays, that’s just not enough. Hence my search for a decent blog linkbuilding application.
I’ve tried Blog Comment Demon as well now, but Fast Blog Finder is faster, delivers more results and simply WORKS!
With our Internet company, we’re currently listed at page 2 for the search term “webdesign” in the Netherlands. All thanks to this programme.
To all who are reading this: Fast Blog Finder is a real gem!
By the way, have you tried other applications before Fast Blog Finder? Just wondering.
I’m an absolutely HUGE fan of Fast Blog Finder. I can’t recommend it enough.
We’re using the programme a lot at our company and it does wonders. Our Internet company, eRage, is currently listed at the 2nd page in Google on popular search terms like “webdesign” and “webdevelopment”. I wouldn’t have come so far without FBF.
It’s really worth your money. For how long have you guys been using it by the way? I’m on 4 months now and I’m still finding new blogs to post on.
I’m guessing that’s how you found this post?
Is there a version that runs on Linux?
Nope, not heard of one…
I am using FBF also, it’s a pretty cool tool. But how do you get more ideas as to the “keyword phrases”?
Use the free Google keyword research tool
We have been using fast blog finder for over a year. I would say it has saved us alot time. We have also found some really good blogs.
Like this one? 😉
Hi Scott – thanks for the great convo last night at SEMPDX – just FYI – the link above does not take us to the software anymore – I would love to give you the credit for referring me.
I did find it elsewhere on the net – but if you send me another link I will use that.
Sounds like great software.
I just installed free version (only activation) – and I surprised how slow it is. After 2 mins of scanning for phrase spiderman still nothing 🙁
I don’t want to link to anything broken, so I just downloaded and installed to test on an old pc – registered at a hotmail address – I started, then entered a phrase then chose a suggestion from the dropdown – It found me 50 in under a minute before offering the upgrade – Seems ok to me.
That said, the value in blog commenting has gone WAY down and webmasters are savvy to any attempts to scam a link. Remember to participate, add value, and don’t promote. Do that, and blog commenting still “works” just fine…
thanks for your post, but please i have one question, do search engines consider continual backlink building spamming?
Somehow Adam, I missed your post, I’m sorry. Here’s my reply, 6 months later…
Yes, continual backlink building is considered spamming if you’re not adding any value where you build the link.
The days of building links just for the sake of increasing link counts are long gone, but USEFUL commenting on RELEVANT blog posts is AOK in anyone’s book – even Googles.
Looks like a good tool. I don’t have a “blog comment strategy” because I simply don’t have time to spend evaluating and reading blog posts for this purpose! I typically just leave a comment when I am inspired to, but if I ever did decide to comment strategically, this type of tool looks like it would be very useful. I’m with Rene in thinking that as more people find out about this it’ll be spammed before too long. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.