Blog Comment Backlinks: We Checked 325 Links in Blog Comments. Not One Was Followed
We read the comment sections of 22 recent posts on 13 blogs, across WordPress, WordPress.com, Blogger, Dev.to and Disqus, and recorded every link pointing to another site. All 325 were nofollow, and 224 were also marked ugc. We also read 14 ranking guides on blog commenting: all 14 still recommend it for SEO. Here is what Google says, and the one way a comment can still lead to a link that counts.
Blog comment backlinks are links you leave in the comment section of someone else's blog, either on your name or inside the comment itself. They were one of the first link building tactics, and they still turn up in "free backlinks" lists. But Google's spam policies name "forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature" as link spam, and blogging platforms closed the door years ago.
We checked 325 links in the comment sections of 13 real blogs. Not one was followed.
In a hurry? Here's the rule. A blog comment will not build a backlink. Every platform we checked marks comment links nofollow, most add ugc too, and Google says it treats those as hints to ignore. A comment is worth writing only as the first line of a conversation with the person who owns the blog. If that conversation goes well, the link you get later is in their post, not under it.
On November 11, 2026 we looked at:
- 22 recent posts on 13 blogs with open comments: self-hosted WordPress (Scott Aaronson's Shtetl-Optimized, Mr. Money Mustache, ProBlogger, Naked Capitalism, Schneier on Security, Krebs on Security, Hackaday, RecipeTin Eats), WordPress.com (Terence Tao), Blogger (windytan, Computational Complexity), Dev.to, and one Disqus thread on DSOGaming.
- 325 links in those comments that point to another site, read in raw HTML for the
relattribute and anchor text. Reply links, permalinks and links back to the same blog were left out. For Disqus, which loads comments in a frame, we read the thread's comment feed instead. - 14 ranking guides for "blog comment backlinks", "blog commenting for backlinks" and "blog commenting sites for SEO", tallied for what they tell you.
- Google's own wording and the WordPress change that put
ugcon every comment link.
How we picked the blogs. We wanted well-known blogs on each major platform with recent posts and comment sections busy enough to contain outside links. We started from a mix of marketing, food, finance, tech and science blogs and kept every post we could read. We tried 37 pages in total. Three were blocked by Cloudflare (Budget Bytes, Sally's Baking Addiction and the DSOGaming page itself), Substack and two big marketing blogs load comments by script, and seven posts had comments but no outside links. None of those are in the 325.
What we found in 325 comment links#
All 325 links were nofollow. 224 carried rel="nofollow ugc", the WordPress default, and the other 101 carried plain nofollow. Zero were followed. Zero used ugc on its own.
Here is the split by blog. The big counts come from busy comment threads, not from any one site being an exception.
| Blog | Platform | Posts | Links | rel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shtetl-Optimized | WordPress | 2 | 115 | nofollow ugc |
| Mr. Money Mustache | WordPress | 2 | 53 | 21 nofollow ugc, 32 nofollow |
| ProBlogger | WordPress | 1 | 47 | 44 nofollow ugc, 3 nofollow |
| Naked Capitalism | WordPress | 2 | 30 | nofollow |
| windytan | Blogger | 2 | 25 | nofollow |
| Schneier on Security | WordPress | 1 | 19 | nofollow ugc |
| Krebs on Security | WordPress | 2 | 13 | nofollow ugc |
| Terence Tao | WordPress.com | 2 | 11 | nofollow ugc |
| Computational Complexity | Blogger | 2 | 4 | nofollow |
| Dev.to | Dev.to | 3 | 3 | nofollow |
| DSOGaming | Disqus | 1 | 3 | nofollow |
| Hackaday | WordPress | 1 | 1 | nofollow ugc |
| RecipeTin Eats | WordPress | 1 | 1 | nofollow |
Is the sample skewed? Yes, toward tech and science blogs, because those still have lively comment sections and didn't block us, and 115 of the 325 links come from one blog, Shtetl-Optimized. It doesn't change the answer. The rel value on a comment link is set by the platform, not chosen link by link, so a busy thread just repeats its platform's default. Take Shtetl-Optimized out and it's 0 followed out of 210. Every blog in the table, on every platform, scored zero.
Three more things stood out.
The platforms decide, not the blog owner. WordPress has added rel="nofollow ugc" to comment links by default since version 5.3. The WordPress core dev note says: "Starting in WordPress 5.3, links in comments and comment author URLs will use the rel="nofollow ugc" attribute by default." Blogger, Dev.to and Disqus all use plain nofollow.
On Blogger, your name often doesn't even link to you. 23 of the 29 author links on the two Blogger blogs pointed to the commenter's blogger.com/profile page, not their own site.
The spam is still there, and still worthless. About 7 commenters used a keyword or product name instead of a person's name, such as "AI Rap Video Generator" and "Video Text Remover". Six of them sat under one Krebs on Security post. All of them were nofollow. Someone still pays for this, and gets the same zero.
What Google says about comment links#
Google introduced nofollow in 2005 because of blog comment spam. Its announcement, Preventing comment spam, said: "From now on, when Google sees the attribute (rel="nofollow") on hyperlinks, those links won't get any credit when we rank websites in our search results." It added that the point was "to make sure that spammers get no benefit from abusing public areas like blog comments, trackbacks, and referrer lists."
In 2019 Google added ugc. The announcement by Danny Sullivan and Gary Illyes says ugc "is recommended for links within user generated content, such as comments and forum posts", and that "all the link attributes—sponsored, ugc, and nofollow—are treated as hints about which links to consider or exclude within Search."
Today's guide to qualifying outbound links recommends "marking user-generated content (UGC) links, such as comments and forum posts, with the ugc value", and says "links marked with these rel attributes will generally not be followed." The spam policies list "comment spam on blogs" as user-generated spam, and "forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature" as link spam.
People who sell comment links lean on the word "hint". It's true that Google may count a nofollow link. But Google gets to choose which ones, and a link in a comment is exactly the kind of link the attribute was invented to discount. If you want the detail on how the two values differ, our dofollow vs nofollow guide covers it.
What 14 guides still tell you#
We read the top-ranking guides for three blog commenting queries. Every one of them still recommends commenting for SEO or backlinks.
- 14 of 14 recommend blog commenting for SEO or backlinks, though some add caveats.
- 13 of 14 come from sites that sell an SEO service, tool, course or affiliate product.
- 5 of 14 say comment links are usually nofollow, and 3 of 14 mention
ugcat all. - 2 of 14 cite their own data, and 2 of 14 quote Google.
- 1 of 14 still offers a table of "DoFollow" commenting sites.
One guide stands out. TheGuideX reports checking 871 blogs and finding that only 2 of the 104 that showed commenter links gave any followed link. That's close to our zero, and it's the only guide we found that tested the claim before making it.
The pattern is the same one we saw in forum backlinks and free backlinks: the tactic survives in guides long after the platforms switched the links off.
A comment link is a business card left on someone else's desk. The value is in whether they call you, not in the card.
When a blog comment is still worth writing#
Comments don't pass links, but they can still do three useful things.
- Get the author to know your name. Most bloggers read their comments, especially on smaller sites. A specific, useful reply (a correction, a data point, a counterexample) is remembered. "Great post, thanks!" is not.
- Send a few real visitors. A nofollow link still gets clicked. On a busy thread, a reply that answers someone's question can bring readers who care about the topic.
- Show you're part of the conversation before you ever send a pitch. When you later email that author, you're not a stranger.
None of that needs a link stuffed into the comment. Leave your real name and your site in the website field, and keep the comment itself about their post.
Skip the comment sections. Paste your site and GenLink's backlink agent finds blogs already writing about your topic, sends each author a personal pitch and tracks replies. The free plan costs nothing to try.
How to turn comments into links that count#
The link that counts is an editorial one: the author choosing to cite your page in their own post. Here's how to get from comment to that.
- Pick blogs you'd actually want a link from. Relevant to your topic, real readers, still publishing. Comment where you'd want to be cited, not where the comment form is easiest.
- Comment on fresh posts with something they can use. A figure they didn't have, a case that complicates their point, a source they missed. Keep links out of the comment unless one genuinely answers a question.
- Follow up by email when you have something relevant. A short note that mentions the exchange and points to one page of yours that adds to their post. Our link building email templates show the shape of a good one.
- Make the page worth citing. Original data, a clear explainer, a useful tool. If the page you'd send isn't better than what they already link to, no amount of commenting will fix that.
- Don't buy comment link packages. At best they're nofollow and ignored. At worst they're the "comment spam on blogs" Google names, and they leave a trail on sites you'll never want associated with you. If you inherited a pile of them, read toxic backlinks before you do anything rash.
Steps 3 and 4 are the real work, the same as any link building outreach.
The comment link is the business card. The link that counts comes from the conversation it starts.
Want the conversation without the comment grind? GenLink's backlink agent finds authors already covering your topic, pitches your page from your own mailbox, and follows up. Start free with your site's URL; paid agents are $50 a month.
Frequently asked questions#
Do blog comment backlinks help SEO? Not directly. In our check of 325 comment links on 13 blogs, every one was nofollow, and Google says it treats nofollow and ugc as hints to exclude links. A comment can help indirectly, by starting a relationship that leads to an editorial link.
Are blog comment links dofollow or nofollow?
Nofollow, almost always. WordPress adds rel="nofollow ugc" to comment links by default since version 5.3, and Blogger, Dev.to and Disqus use plain nofollow. We found zero followed comment links in our sample.
What does rel="ugc" mean on a comment link? It marks the link as user-generated content. Google recommends it for "comments and forum posts" and treats it as a hint, like nofollow, about which links to exclude.
Can blog comments hurt my SEO? A normal, relevant comment won't. Mass-posted comments with keyword names or optimized links are what Google's spam policies call comment spam and link spam. Usually Google just ignores them, but they're wasted money and a bad look for your brand.
Are "dofollow blog commenting sites" lists real? Rarely, and they go stale fast. One guide we read still publishes such a list, while another reports that only 2 of 104 blogs it checked gave a followed commenter link. Check any site's raw HTML yourself before believing a list.
Is blog commenting still worth it in 2026? For relationships and a little referral traffic, yes, on blogs that matter in your niche. For backlinks, no. Spend that time on pages worth citing and on personal outreach to the authors you've already talked to.
How is blog commenting different from forum link building? Both put your link in user-generated content, and both get nofollow or ugc. Forums are about answering questions over time; blog comments are about a single author. Our forum backlinks post has the data on forum software.
