So we know that leaving comments can make you famous.
And we all know link building is an important part of SEO. The more links the better. The stronger links the better. Obvi, right? 
The use of building links through commenting on blogs is one weapon in the link building arsenal that most people don’t think about doing.
Before you start commenting on every blog you can find, you need to understand “nofollow” and “dofollow”.
Let me explain.
The use of “nofollow” and “dofollow” attributes is actually misused and misunderstood. The “dofollow” tag does not exist. A link is either tagged with the “nofollow” attribute or it is not. The term “dofollow” means this tag is not present on the link itself.
There have been several plugins developed for WordPress bloggers (I know you are using WordPress by now, right?) that will take the “nofollow” tag out. These plugins allow the blog owner to moderate comments and actually be able to pick and choose which links will be followed. There is a large following of bloggers whom have adopted this practice and strongly promote its use.
If you want to implement a commenting campaign that will be beneficial to your link building efforts, you can begin by performing a search on Google for “dofollow” blogs. Find those related to you niche and begin leaving comments.
You can use keywords as your name field which will give you a backlink with your keywords as anchor text. Be careful not to do this every time, however, or the blog owner will become annoyed with your efforts to use his or her blog for your personal link building.
Comments left on these blogs should be pertinent to the post itself. Don’t simply comment with a phrase like “Great post!” This will not be received very well by the blogger and either won’t get approved or, if it does, it will be tagged as “nofollow”.
Be aware of popular blogs that do not follow or pass on page rank to commenters. These blogs will still get traffic to your site simply from others reading comments and clicking on your name or site link.
The vast number of visitors to a popular blog will almost always guarantee you some traffic when you leave a comment. As stated before, your comment should always add to the blog community for maximum effectiveness.
Blog comments are still a viable option for increasing your backlinks and overall traffic. Make a habit of reading blogs related to your niche. If a post peaks your interest, leave a comment with your opinion. Over time the practice of commenting will become an integral part of your internet marketing efforts.
Author Info: Brian Horn, of HornDog Search Marketing, is recognized by many as the "Glazer-Kennedy Secret Weapon", because of his role in helping not only Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer with search engine optimization and social media, but also many of the top Information Marketers in the world.
Brian shares SEO tips for small businesses over at at his blog, BeOnPage1Blog.com. 
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I never approve comments that stuff keywords into the name field. I think that is shady falls into to same category and meta tag stuffing, cloaking, and doorway pages.
Solid advise Brian… gee, wonder if leaving a comment here at DK will make me famous… or at least get me a Do Follow link? Let’s test it and keep a close eye on Analytics.
Every little bit help, right?
“Great post!” This will not be received very well by the blogger and either won’t get approved or, if it does, it will be tagged as “nofollow”.
clearly, I should improve my commenting skills.
thank you Brian
Yes great post… Oops I supposed that really wasn’t what I should have said.
Very informative! Well written and to the point!
An absolute must for any blogger using wordpress!
I’ve found this to be true. I have more links back to my website because of comments I’ve left on other sites. Its really cool to see my comments bringing me traffic. Interesting about the nofollow attributes.
Well in that case, I’m leaving a comment!
There are several Firefox add-ons which you can use to highlight the do follow or no follow blogs so you can tell which are worth spending time on for the Google juice and those which it is illusory.
I have a big blog and get too much comment spam.
It really is important to write a comment that adds value or takes a contrary view and gets a debate going if you are going to push the anchor text to keywords rather than a name.
Short platitudes are OK – we all like compliments – but if it’s too general and you’re b;atant about the SEO aspect, you’re probably wasting your time.
One extra tip which will help to get your comment published is to help the blog with it’s SEO by reinforcing the targeted keyword. You can normally tell that from the title. In this case, its that blog comments can help SEO efforts and improved rankings in the search engines.
I don’t think that using using a moniker with keywords can be compared to doorway page and cloaking. It’s a smart strategy, and if it’s accompanied by a relevant and insightful comment, the more likely it is that a blogger won’t mind in the least.
great post Brian!
when posting comments on a blog, the magic words are: “provide value.”
I have made many new contacts and business ventures simply from the interacting on blogs and interacting with other commenters, besides the posters themselves…
same goes for social media… its all about the “VAI”…
“value-added interaction.”
(just like this post does!)
What a bonus to have you sharing your vast SEO knowledge with us here on this blog, Brian!
I will now be able to be more purposeful about my posting on others’ blogs, and I have a better idea what to look for on mine.
Thanks!
From what I can tell, the majority of bloggers make blog comments no-follow because otherwise, the spam becomes too much to handle. There are so many spammers who search for do follow blogs to post on! I always assumed that I didn’t get much link juice from commenting but I do it to get to know people – and a little traffic coming my way wouldn’t hurt either.
Great explanation of do follow and no follow, it made my understanding more clear what I need to do to get out there. I have also heard not to put website names in your comments, is this true?
As long as your adding value to the conversation then you should not be listed as no follow, am I correct?
I LOVE reading this
Fantastic blog Keep update thx for share good information seo
Thanks for the info Brian. I am new to this blogging stuff and was wondering why I was getting so many comments with links that were totally irrelevant to my post.
Please tell me, If I comment on a certain article and leave either my blog address or the link of the specific article, will it be right? Is it one of the correct ways of backlinks
But it doesn’t apply on all situations if you have some sort of media or news website than it will may work but for the sites who are existing just to make sales or they have different theme which have nothing to with leaving comments than I think this will may not work
I just ran into this. I never knew Glazer-Kennedy was into providing SEO advice.
Thanks
Thank you for this informative post. I have started reading blogs that are in my niche (investing in the Stock Markets) and commenting on the posts that I find interesting or useful. It was good to learn about the dofollow and nofollow here in this post. I also just learned how to make a gravatar which I will do next so my picture is always just some silhouette image!
thanks again,
David
This is a great article. I am pretty much impressed with your good work. You put really very helpful information. Keep it up.
I am sure you guys know that while you offer an amazing product and solution – as a consumer it can get pretty confusing
seo king