Googler Tweets About Comments' Impact On Search Ranking
In case you’re interested in the latest on how Google views the comments on your content, Google’s Gary Illyes (a webmaster trends analyst) provided some insight in a conversation on Twitter. Hat tip to Search Engine Roundtable for highlighting the conversation between Illyes and Jennifer Slegg of The SEM Post fame:
@methode The same applies to comments on blog posts, correct? Esp since we do see content in comments ranking (and helps show authority).
— Jennifer Slegg (@jenstar) April 27, 2016
@jenstar yep. In general if we see that there's a healthy, thriving community on a site, that can help a lot
— Gary Illyes (@methode) April 27, 2016
@methode Are there any other SEO ranking benefits for comments / thriving community beyond "quality content" aspect?
— Jennifer Slegg (@jenstar) April 27, 2016
@jenstar it feeds into general quality. Say, there's good content, 5 points, great links from great pages, 2 points, thriving community, 1pt
— Gary Illyes (@methode) April 27, 2016
Of course a “healthy” and “thriving” community in comments means good moderation. Too often, spammers and trolls ruin this, so if you can’t keep things “healthy,” there’s a chance your comments could actually hurt your pages in Google’s eyes.
Like Illeys said, it “feeds into general quality”.