Comments have a beneficial impact on SEO (Search Engine Optimization). A high volume of comments can indicate active user engagement, potentially boosting search rankings. Consequently, platforms like WordPress and Tistory often face an influx of spam comments. While spam comments negatively affect SEO, well-crafted, quality comments can be advantageous. Recently, AI-generated comments using ChatGPT have also begun to appear more frequently.
If you manage a WordPress blog, you may find that many sites receive very few comments. This can lead visitors to perceive the blog as unpopular. By utilizing the Comments Engine AI plugin, you can generate comments on your site with ChatGPT. ChatGPT comprehends the content of your posts and creates comments in various tones. This could aid in both enhancing SEO and invigorating your site.
Comments and SEO
Comments can indirectly contribute positively to SEO. Google's search algorithm recognizes comments as part of the content, which helps to increase keyword density and maintain content freshness. Particularly, comments related to the topic enrich the context of a webpage, allowing search engines to better understand the content.
However, the SEO impact of comments varies based on their management. Spam or irrelevant comments can lower the page's quality, so it's crucial to properly manage the comment section and encourage quality user engagement. In summary, comments can provide potential benefits to SEO by increasing content length, diversifying keywords, and enhancing user interaction.
I recall a blog that had only a few older posts but, after a single contentious article, it accumulated around 600 lengthy comments, leading to a top ranking on Google for desired English keywords.
While Tistory often receives numerous comments with little substance, it seems that WordPress blogs generally tend to receive fewer comments. This particular blog has been running for about a decade and accumulated approximately 12,000 comments. In contrast, celebrity social media accounts can amass over 10,000 comments in just a few days, making my comment count seem low. 😥
It's worth mentioning that in Tistory, a popular Korean blogging system, comments used to be well-exposed on both Google and Naver, the most widely used search engine in South Korea. However, they are no longer shown in search results, meaning that even if you have a high volume of comments on Tistory, they do not influence SEO. Instead, focusing on high-quality content and keywords is far more important for better ranking.
On the other hand, WordPress comments are effectively indexed by Google. Upon checking, I found that comments appear on Google approximately three weeks after posting. However, they do not show up in Naver search results for this blog.
In summary...
- Comments can positively affect SEO.
- However, spam comments can have a negative impact.
- Tistory comments do not appear in search engines.
- For this blog, comments show up on Google after about three weeks but do not appear in Naver search results.
Enhance Engagement with an AI Comment Generation Plugin Using ChatGPT
With the introduction of ChatGPT, various applications of artificial intelligence (AI) have emerged. In WordPress, some users employ automated posting plugins to generate articles, while others use affiliate product posting plugins to share affiliate content.
Personally, I do not recommend automating posts using ChatGPT, as there may be inaccuracies in the information presented, and AI-generated content often has a formulaic feel. Search engines like Google are also tightening their filters against automated postings.
If you run a Blogspot blog, it's possible to transfer Blogspot posts to WordPress and modify them with ChatGPT before publishing.
If you're struggling with a lack of comments on your WordPress site, consider using the Comments Engine AI plugin to generate comments through ChatGPT on your blog posts.
To generate comments with ChatGPT using this plugin, you first need to create an OpenAI API key.
Once you have your OpenAI API key, navigate to WordPress Admin Page » Comments » Comments Engine AI » Main settings.
Settings:
- OpenAI API Key: Enter the API key generated from the OpenAI website.
- OpenAI GPT Version: You can choose from several AI models. Selecting GPT-4o mini works well.
- Language: Set to Auto or to Korean if your site content is in Korean. For English blogs, you can choose either Auto or English.
- Author's Nickname Source: Set to From OpenAI. If you want to use specific nicknames, select User Custom List to input a list of nicknames.
- Custom Prompt: You can use the default prompt or input your own. I've noted that comments tend to be short, so I added, "Please write comments that are at least five sentences long."
The premium version allows for bulk comment generation and displaying avatars of commenters. The free version permits manual comment generation per post.
Start by trying the free version to see if it meets your needs. After evaluating the results, you can enhance your prompts for better-tailored comments.
At the bottom of the post editing screen, the Add comments section appears, where you can select the number of comments and the tone.
Typically, selecting Neutral or Informative tones yields favorable results. When I selected Argumentative, comments arose opposing the content of the article. 😄
- Neutral: A neutral tone
- Positive: An upbeat tone
- Negative: A negative tone
- Informative: A tone focused on conveying information or knowledge
- Argumentative: A tone that incites debate
- Ironic: A sarcastic tone
- Sarcastic: A biting tone
- Lyrical: An emotional or poetic tone
- Comical: A humorous tone
Comments can either be published immediately or scheduled for a specific date range. Upon receiving comments, reviewing and adjusting them can lead to improved quality.
The free version requires manual input for each comment and has limitations. The premium version allows for bulk commenting.
Features of the Pro Version:
- Bulk comment generation across multiple posts
- Randomizes the tone of the author for diverse comment generation
- Allows for gender specification for nicknames
- Enables intentional misspelling of certain words to mimic human written comments (similar directives can be added through prompts in the free version)
- Allows replies to comments to foster active discussion
- Fully customizable Cron settings for automation
- Compatible with popular tools like REST API, WPeMatico, FeedWordPress, WP All Import, WP Automatic Plugin
- Adds avatar images for personalized comments
- Configurable comment length for more nuanced content
- 24/7 premium support
After testing the free version, I found the quality of the generated comments to be reasonable and not spammy. By fine-tuning the prompts to avoid empty comments like, "Thanks for the great information," you can achieve even better outcomes.
For more details about the premium version, visit the Comments Engine AI plugin page.
Dealing with Spam Comments
To manage spam comments in WordPress, plugins like Akismet can be utilized. I've configured mine to send all new comments on my Korean blog to the trash, reviewing them daily to recover only genuine comments and permanently delete the rest.
I have also added a code to limit comment lengths so that only comments between a certain range (e.g., between five and 300 words) are accepted. This has significantly reduced the number of spam comments.