When you build a website with WordPress and utilise the Blog functionality, whether it is for a full-time blog or just for building authority with Google, you’ll notice that by default there is a Comments section at the end of the post when you publish it.
The primary function of the Comments section is to allow you to actively engage with your readers, and can also actually increase your rankings if you provide a response to those that post comments.
However there can be a downside to the Comments section, and you will find you’ll probably get a lot of nonsense spam comments from bots trying to just get backlinks to their websites, especially if your website is achieving a high PageRank score.
And while in most instances these comments need to be verified by the website Administrator before going live, it begs the question….
Do you disable the Comments on the Blog?
Firstly, if you do wish to disable the comments, you can, either one by one for particular posts, by first clicking the Screen Options tab at the top right of the blog post, which will give you a menu of the Boxes. One of these boxes is for the Discussion, which is actually the Comments. By clicking it on you will then see an option further down your page to untick the Comments section, and they will disappear from the that post. To turn it off on all posts you can download a No Comments plugin and install it, which will automatically disable all comments throughout the site.
But as the comments have a fair amount of value for your blog, and many people relate a popular blog to the number of comments you receive, I would suggest an alternative…
You’ll notice on the Maximum Web Success site that I have comments, but the original comments box has been replaced with a Facebook comments option. This has two purposes – I get the comments without the spam, and I attract more followers to share on Facebook at the same time, giving the site more value than just a standard comments box. To do this is quite simple.
Download the Super Socializer plugin and install it, which will add social commenting and social sharing to your website.
You’ll quickly turn your blog post into a much more social source of information!
