Should you allow users to leave comments on your website?them Can Google says that as long as you can tweak them, you can help with SEO.
Google’s search advocate, John Mueller, discussed this topic in a Google Search Central SEO office hour hangout recorded on February 18th.
An SEO professional named Vahid Parsa joined the livestream to ask Mueller a number of questions, one of which involved user comment and whether they are considered ranking factor.
It would be inaccurate to say that site reviews are a ranking factor, as your site won’t rank better just by allowing users to leave reviews.
However, depending on what users type in the comments section, they have the potential to help improve search rankings.
Here’s how Mueller explains the SEO value of user reviews.
How User Reviews Help SEO
User reviews can add SEO value to a page in an additional form context.
If users stay on topic and leave comments related to the content of the page, that information can help search rankings.
Comments related to a page’s topic can help Google better understand the content and understand what types of queries it should rank for.
Mueller said:
“I think what’s really useful about these reviews is that people often describe the page in their own words, which gives us more information about how the page is displayed in search results. So from that perspective, I think reviews It’s a good thing to be on the page.”
vice versa.
When users leave irrelevant comments, they can degrade the quality of the entire page.
Off-topic reviews can send Google mixed signals about what the page is about and which queries should be displayed.
The site is responsible for user comments, even if those comments may have been written by people not directly affiliated with the site.
If it’s on your website, it’s your responsibility.
For example, comments that contain spam links can get you penalized or demoted in search results.
That being said, it’s best to only allow comments if you are able to moderate them.
As Mueller puts it, the biggest challenge with user reviews is making sure they stay on topic:
“Obviously finding a way to maintain them in a sensible way is sometimes tricky because people also spam these comments and all kinds of crazy things happen there. But in general, I think if you can find A way to maintain comments on web pages that give you more context and help people who search in different ways find your content too.”
Hear Mueller’s response in the video below:
Deleting comments may affect search rankings
If your site currently allows comments, keep in mind that removing comments may affect your search rankings.
Depending on your situation, the impact can be good or bad.
Cleaning up comment sections full of irrelevant and/or spam content may improve rankings.
On the other hand, removing comments that add valuable context to a page can lead to a drop in rankings.
Mueller talked about The SEO Impact of Deleting Site Reviews In a previous hangout, said:
“From our perspective, we do see comments as part of the content…Ultimately, if people find your page based on the comments there, then if you delete those comments, obviously we won’t be able to find you The page is based on that.”
When it comes to user reviews, there are many aspects to consider, as they can both help and hurt SEO.
Featured image: Screenshot from YouTube.com/GoogleSearchCentral, February 2022.
