Borderline Spammers Beware – Use KeywordLuv!

| Created: May 29th, 2008
General 115 Comments

This is just a quick post to warn the borderline spammers that leave comments here: If you just leave keywords in the name field, I’ll remove the link! You must use the KeywordLuv syntax: yourname@your keywords.

In the past, I’ve been pretty easy on people leaving keywords in the name field, but that ends now that I’ve provided the KeywordLuv functionality.

I have no problem with people leaving keywords in the name field, in fact you’re welcome to, but you must leave your name too. Don’t worry, you’ll get your link juice, as KeywordLuv will strip your name out of the anchor text.

If you don’t use the KeywordLuv syntax, I’ll remove the link and you’ll see something like this:

Spammers Beware

Note the link has been removed and a message added to the comment.

Oh, and of course, you have to leave a decent comment that adds value, or I’ll just remove the comment. The full comment policy is as follows:

Rules: Leave your name! Enter YourName@YourKeywords and KeywordLuv will use YourKeywords as the anchor text. No inappropriate or offensive comments. No links to inappropriate or offensive sites. Comments must contribute to the discussion.

I don’t think this is asking too much, do you?

115 responses on “Borderline Spammers Beware – Use KeywordLuv!

  1. Olivier @ 7 laws of attraction

    Excellent policy. I also use keywordLuvon my blog with a similar policy and I love it. I hope more people will start using it.
    Btw, you preview function for comments rocks! Is it also a plugin? If yes, where can I download it?

    Olivier.

    1. Follow

      Kinda silly that you have changed your blog to no follow. Better comments come from commentators that feel they can get something in return

  2. Rome@NDS Games

    These will certainly teach people. Again, Thank you Stephen for opening your blog to us.

  3. Flora@replicadesignerhandbag

    Informative post thank you. I almost wish I had not read it, cos now I am going to be reading all the information you have included, then downloading the plugin etc. Several hours later I may get back to writing the blog posts that I should have finished by now!! But at least i will have another way of dealing with spammy comments on my blog.

    I also get a lot of strange names trying to sign up as users: they only leave a gmail address and no name. They don’t make comments, I delete their user names as soon as I see them but I don’t see what they are trying to do?

  4. phil@belt buckles

    Ok this is interesting but I’m not really seeing the point. Is it that you want people to leave their name also? Are you just being nice and allowing people to get a little link juice if they contribute to the conversation.

    I’m interested in your motivation here. Can you please explain a little more.

    Phil

    BTW this is my first venture into blog commenting for link juice but I’ve been doing SEO for years

    1. phil@belt buckles

      Ok now that I read your plugin page I get. That is an awesome idea. I really do hope many people adopt it. Kind of a payment for taking part. Very cool. Now I’ve got to get someone to write a similiar module for drupal.

      You Rock!

      Phil

  5. rivers@voip philippines

    Heya Stephen, came here from veganmomma(dot)com. Just want to say what a great plugin you’ve created. Gives us “borderline spammers” a chance to prove that not all of us are slimebuckets. Great work and great blog too! I’ll be back.

  6. Eric@Discount Plantation Shutters

    I think I may have been one of those that failed to do this last time. I got it now, and will be making sure anytime I comment that i use the fully intended purpose of this plugin you have.

  7. Zath@Games to Play Now

    I’m really liking the new innovations with regards to blog commenting these days – especially when combined with dofollow.

    I’m thinking of implementing KeywordLuv on my site and also considering bringing back dofollow – I originally removed it last autumn when Google starting penalising paid links blogs – I thought that dofollow might be the next target, thankfully that has not ocurred.

  8. Steve@Soy Candles

    Thanks so much for the opportunity for us to use keywordluv. Blog commenting has seen lots of innovations lately.

  9. Fred @ Debt Relief Advice

    I think that this is a great policy. I hate leaving a anchor text link on a blog and not leaving my actual name too. Blogging is meant to encourage discussion and commenting. The Keywordluv plugin is perfect for this.

  10. Lee@eBooks AudioBooks and Cybooks

    Wow, this is really cool… I didn’t actually know that a tool like this existed. Great implementation, btw… your commentators are happy and you don’t have to worry about messy links/spam. Thanks!

  11. Anthony king@Display Cases

    thanks for the tip on this plugin now i can let people comment on my site, reward them and they dont have to the name wed design or seo

  12. Jeff@blogformoney

    This is a really great idea for a plugin. I hadn’t seen it yet so I think I’ll add it to my blog!

  13. K-IntheHouse@How to unblock blocked websites

    Oh Stephen, it is definitely fair. Since installing KeywordLuv I have seen my comments going through the roof! But, I haven’t had people not leaving their names yet but I will adopt a similar policy if that becomes the case.

  14. Andy@Autos Cars

    Indeed a very fair policy. Actually this is the first blog I have seen working with it. So I hope that people stick to it, as otherwise you as the blog owner will have to react. The only thing is whether you really want to have 100 comments at the very end.

  15. Boris

    It’s your blog and I understand your point somewhat. For me, if the comment is relevant than I don’t mind that they are using my blog for an anchor text link. I think it funny because the blog is a no follow blog except in the body of the post comment. I will allow Do Follow is it is a truly useful link.

    Having said that we own a “Do Follow List” over at Tucson SEO. If you would like your blog taking off please let us know. Everyone looks at all this a little different.

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      Hi Mazda,

      You really should at least read the articles before spamming them! If you had read it, then you would have used your name and your keyword instead of just your keyword…

  16. Magnus@Sokmotorkonsult.se

    Just wanted to see if I got it right, and thanks to introducing me to Keywordluv. Didn’t want to mess up so I just set my domain as anchor anyway.

    This is a sweet plugin, looks realyl neat.

  17. Felix Schastlivtsev@Star Wars Funs

    Stephen, thank you for your plugin. I am going to use it almost immediately.. it is just necessary translate it on russian.

  18. Jean@Koala Bears

    No it is not too much to ask, its quite simple.

    On my own personal blog, I too delete wasteful comments that others leave. The usual “Thanks for the tips!” Is just a terrible comment ๐Ÿ™

  19. Nir@Belt Buckles

    This is really innovative and ends the games that different seo’s play.
    Thumbs up!

  20. MLBTV

    I am not a spammer. My mother named me after a website application. I swear upon the gods themselves!

  21. dean@cairnsseo.com

    Good post and tool, more and more SEO folks doing this these days as backward links become more and more inportant.

  22. greg@cosmetic surgery directory

    going to try this tool seems like a good policy to put in place

  23. john@best internet casino

    wow, i didnt know that such a plugin existed.

    Maybe i should add it to my blog…

  24. Richard@Calabria Real Estate

    Great post! and honestly I like it so much. I already added it to my blog.

  25. Chris Cox@opsec

    I really don’t see the downside of keywordLuv- it seems like real SEO folks would appreciate the anchored text (I know that’s probably the wrong phrase, but I’m new!)
    I tried to add it to my wordpress blog, but couldn’t figure it out. Anyone have any experience with KWL on wordpress?

    1. Chris@opsec

      Nevermind- I found it our when I installed wordpress myself, rather than using the built in module provided by my webhost! :S

  26. JamesZo@Boston Wedding DJ's

    Yay for this plugin, too often my blogs get a full day’s worth of comments from “Pet Care Philadelphia” or something like that.. and while I appreciate the comment, it just looks spammy.

  27. Jose@Diets Wonder

    I love this WordPress plugin!! It’s much better than other plugins out there…
    I have installed your plugin on my site!
    Thanks for the plugin!

    Jose

  28. Alan@essex wedding photographer

    Ah! The penny has dropped… I get it. Thank you Stephen. Will be downloading the plugin right now.

    Cheers

    Alan

  29. Rich@Idaho Falls Computers

    So other than more comments on your website, what do you get out of using KeywordLuv on your blog?

  30. Stan@Hospitality Furniture

    I think keyword luv is an excellent plug-in. I am thinking about putting this plug-in on some of my other blogs. I am still looking into it so thanks for the information.

  31. Jason@Atlanta SEO

    Nice…hardcore policy. I love keywordLuv. I always felt weird leaving anchor text besides my name in the name field. Now I can leave both, sweet! ๐Ÿ˜‰

  32. latif@Addicting Games

    very true. it really looks weird, where your name is asked and we try to put keyword instead of name. Thanks to you and developer of keywordluv. it rocks ๐Ÿ™‚

  33. Steve@alternative music chart

    This is the best way to motivate people to leave a comment but also keep some kind of presentation level going. Good work

  34. Bob Monie@Trestle Tables

    Keywordluv and Commentluv plugins have been a god send to any webmaster for SEO purposes and also my blog traffic has doubled in the last week due to commentluv traffic alone.

  35. dave@work at home

    Quite decent check list before posting a comment and should be respected as its already allowing to reward a keyword backlink. Only those (except offensive sites) can spam it, otherwise.

  36. Joel@Lake Chapala Mexico Vacation Rental Home

    Luv your approach.

    Give the poster what they want, great posts that are relivant.

    Give me (the commenter) what I want, a quality link with keyword rich text to my lovely Vacation Rental Home on the shores of Lake Chapala.

    Win- Win!

    Thanks,
    Joel

  37. dave@unique irish gifts

    Iโ€™ve only recently discovered the whole commentluv and keywordluv underground movement. That must mean itโ€™s becoming overground now.

    Happy Daze!

  38. Mike@Fort Worth Roofing

    I’ve been using comment luv on several of my websites, but haven’t seen an uptick in the number of people commenting. What additional benefit does KeywordLuv offer over someone just using their keywords instead of their name? – Thanks, Mike

  39. Alex@Tester

    basically, I turned on comments only for registered peopele due to a lot of sites paying money for students’ stupid comments ๐Ÿ™

  40. Marion @ intelligence hypothรจque

    This is just fair to the blog owner – give respect and you’ll gain some as well

  41. shawn@ clean red widgets

    I truly enjoy bloggers in the spirt of sharing have these plugins on their sites. Those of us that are not out to Spam find great use in them. We should also in the same spirit leave decent comment to give the owner of the blog valuable feedback and content for his/her blog. I believe when people are willing to interact in such a manner it can be a great asset to those involved. I am aware how something like this has the potential into turning in to a Spam fest, but I still think that those of us that are willing to persevere can help create a blogging word that is good for the most of us.

  42. Don@Alltex

    First of all great article. I have to say I do love comment luv and keyword luv. As a fellow blog owner, I have noticed a huge increase in the number of blog posts. Now some do tend to be there for strictly SEO purposes, but a lot of people still off great comments, and this is just another way to reward them for doing so.

  43. Glenn

    Informative post thank you. I almost wish I had not read it, cos now I am going to be reading all the information you have included, then downloading the plugin etc. Several hours later I may get back to writing the blog posts that I should have finished by now!! But at least i will have another way of dealing with spammy comments on my blog.

    I also get a lot of strange names trying to sign up as users: they only leave a gmail address and no name. They donโ€™t make comments, I delete their user names as soon as I see them but I donโ€™t see what they are trying to do?

  44. tony@Cheap web hosting.

    If they do not read the post and see keyword luv then thier is no doubt what they are doing. I think it is more than fair since your giving them a one way link with the exact keywords they want so it is least they could do and follow your terms.

  45. Adam@Vacation Rentals

    Amazing idea, i love the KeywordLuv plugin its amazing!
    Will defiantly use the same concept on my blog!

  46. Christian@ChristianHoughOnline.com

    I’ve been getting pages and pages of spam. I really need to get that sorted as it’s eating into my bandwith.

    Thanks

    Christian B Hough

  47. Brendan@Burlingame Real Estate

    KeywordLuv is a great plugin to not only give back to your commentors (provides them with keyword related inbound links) but if your site lacks commentors it will boost your monthly comments by at least 200%.

    This plug-in really got my new/slow blog up and running.

  48. Alex@Web Design & Web Tech Blog

    Cool WordPress plugin! I hate leaving a anchor text link on a blog and not leaving my actual name too. TNX!

  49. jeff@Best high yield certificate of deposit

    I wonder if you could make plugin remove any comment that uses keywords instead of name. Maube have it look for the @ and not allow the comment.

  50. sol@relojes de pulsera

    I agree with most, it is a great plugin, I met him recently and I liked a lot, tmabien I love commmentluv

  51. fava@web hosting reviews

    Thank you, Thank you, Thank you

    I have been wondering how to deal with this issue on my blog (which doesn’t exist yet). Now I know.

    Have i said Thank you yet?

  52. Eden@Concert Tickets

    I’ve seen Comment Luv but this is the first time I’ve come across KeywordLuv. I can see how it might be abused. Thank you for the introduction.

  53. Matt @ Cash for Gold

    I love keywordluv and commentluv….what are anyone’s thoughts on the use of do follow in comparison to both luvs?

  54. Benjamin@Online Furniture

    Alright ๐Ÿ™‚ We’ll follow your policy. However, I thought the comment is what that counts

  55. Gabriel@Eastern Maine Shopping

    So, is this plug-in too good to be true. I wonder if G will ever turn on people with backlinks of this type? Boy, I hope not.

  56. John@affiliate funnel system bonus

    Hello,

    I absolutely love keyword luv. I have begun to install it on all of my blogs. I love to read your blog and get inspiration.

    Keep up the great work.

  57. USnearby@Pubs in Ashland, Wisconsin

    I think if your that nice to give out some link juice (what isn’t self-evident these days) everyone can take time and “read the rules”. In my opinion KeywordLuv adds great value for discussions because you can promote different websites under the same synonym and keep up the communication with the blogger :-). So shame on all who don’t use the KeywordLuv Syntax! May they stew in hell!

  58. Luke@Leather Corner Sofa Guide

    I can’t deny – this is one of the most interesting things I’ve seen in a while.

    But I’m wondering: it’s great for me – but what’s in it for you?

    But then again when I think about it, you got me to read more of your blog, and to make a second comment.

    I found your blog via a Google search for Smart Pricing. I should have gone, but 20 minutes later, I’m still here!

    I would have forgotten about you by now if it hadn’t been for this feature. So all in all it looks very interesting and I will be watching to hear more from you and see what develops from this.

    Of course it’s not just the keywordluv” If it was nofollow, I wouldn’t be here commenting.

    That’s the truth. I hope you get lots of reward out of it.

    Thanks for the keyword luv ๐Ÿ˜‰

  59. Martin@HGV driver

    I wish some blogs would change and use KeywordLuv on their blogs because it really helps the community in the long run.

  60. Fairfield Inspection

    Iโ€™m thinking of implementing KeywordLuv on my site and also considering bringing back dofollow – I originally removed it last autumn when Google starting penalising paid links blogs – I thought that dofollow might be the next target, thankfully that has not ocurred.

    LINK REMOVED: because of failure to use KeywordLuv syntax (name@keywords)

  61. Jeff@Saab Dealers

    Firstly, thank you for sharing the keyword luv, i believe its important to put up some policies about comments. This is excellent. thanks again.

  62. Monica@Invoice Finance

    great post, thanks for sharing. I hope that now more blogs will implement keyword luv, that would do a lot of good by encouraging comments and at the same time share some link juice ๐Ÿ™‚ Excellent !

  63. Rick @ Inbound Call Center

    Dofollow and keywordluv plugins definitely get more readers and commentators involved. They also build relationships within the blogger community, too. But, I hope it’s not just about improving your rankings with backlinks: we all have a stake in furthering meaningful discourse in the blogsphere with strong grammar, proper punctuation and compelling content. As Thomas Paine once wrote, “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.”

  64. Hanna @ Watch Live Golfing

    I’ve been using Keywordluv and Comment Luv for quite a while and really like the results. However, I just don’t seem to understand what the DoFollow plug-in does. Could you respond with an explanation. Thanks in advance.

  65. Ajay@article writing

    Hi there. I definitely agree on you on this one. If they don’t follow your rule then delete everything. So they will know who is the boss!

  66. nicole@fashion indonesia

    hi steven,,thank you for plug in this keywordluv on your site.i just knew this plug in and i am very happy find this because i am a newbie.pls if there is another awesome plug in let me know.thank you

  67. forexwatch@Forex Trading Guide

    I have both KeywordLuv and CommentLuv installed. Won’t they conflict?

  68. rohadi@tukang nggame

    i think Keyword love is great! I will need it to use in my business blog!

  69. Sean@Lifestyle Management

    That’s great. I love the idea of this keywordluv thing. And @forexwatch, I don’t think they will conflict, well at least I’ve seen other people using both.

  70. ROHITK@knowledge

    Keywordluv is good plugin to know both the name and key word.It is very helpfull to author like u.
    And u had already deleted the link of Keno. U are a tough person.like that…

  71. Atlanta Travel City Guide

    That is an awesome idea. I really do hope many people adopt it. Kind of a payment for taking part. Very cool. I love to read your blog and get inspiration.Keep up the great work.

  72. Jimmy from Professional Web Design

    I don’t see why people can’t do as you ask. All your asking is for people to put their name and keywords – they still get the benefits of getting their keywords in.

    I see some stil aren’t doing it even even though they must have read what you said before commenting.

  73. chiery@addicting games

    I think people who don’t leave their name besides the keyword is someone who don’t understand how to use KeywordLuv ๐Ÿ˜›

  74. Hanna @ Watch Live TV on Computer

    Actually, Jimmy, people tend not to read and they certainly tend not to follow direction. Such is human nature!

    Now, when it comes to KeywordLuv, I have been using it myself and it does bring me more traffic. However, the increased spam activity drives me crazy!

  75. Amy @Free Xbox 360

    You’d think that after you’ve been decent enough to provide a way of getting decent quality backlinks that people would respect the Keywordluv. I don’t blame you for deleting their comments. I’m just glad you haven’t done what most bloggers have done and added a nofollow attribute. Respect.

  76. Saab Dealers

    Hello there, first of all thanks for shating the keyword luv. Not many blog administrators do that nowadays. I do respect what you;re saying but at the same time i agree this can be a heaven for spammers ! A minimum of control/moderation and capcha are needed…

  77. Ric@Make Money With Adsense

    Hey Stephen,

    I’m just about to start using KeywordLuv on my blog. Can you tell me if there are any disadvantages to using this plugin, I assume you get a tonne more span comments?

    thanks

    Ric

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      Hi Ric,

      Yep, the downside is that you can get a lot more spam. People will target your blog – some of these may leave good comments and even become regulars, but you’ll also get a lot of comments that you’ll have to delete.

  78. Jimmy from Professional Web Design

    Spam is the downside of KeywordLuv. I just wish everyone could make relevent comments on what they’ve read. All it takes is a bit of reading and some thought. Is that asking too much. Of course you can choose to not accept spam comments and only accept relevent ones.

  79. Bob Duncan@Piano Lessons

    I can’t understand why anyone would want to spam “KeywordLuv” . It is put into place for one reason, and that is to give good quality anchor text backlinks. Anyone abusing this great feature is only hurting themselves. I wish more blog owners would adopt a strict enforcement policy like yours.

  80. Office Design

    both commentluv and keywordluv are great tools that encourage activity on blogs. But dont you fear spams guys? Cause i believe this could be spammers’ heaven too…

  81. Matthew@Twitter for Business

    This is an excellent idea for a plugin. I hadn’t heard of this before. Is there a way of checking or finding out who’s running KeywordLuv and who isn’t?

    Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

    It’s good to see a blogger who’s found a positive way of helping people get links while still adding value to the blog.

    Also, is the comment preview thing a plugin? If so, can you let us know what it is?

    Thanks,

    Matt

  82. Darvin @ Inexpensive Gifts for Men

    I’m a fan and a user of Keywordluv. I think it’s a great relationship builder between the blogger and the commenter.

    I response to Matt’s comment… I don’t own this blog, but I thought I’d let you know that their are lists you can search for of blogs that use keywordluv, but I must warn you not to abuse this lovely plugin by spamming these blogs! You could ruin the luv feast… ๐Ÿ™‚

  83. paul@contract hire

    To the poster above, any blog that allows comments is going to be a target for the spammers, but as with many blogs and articles they are becoming no-follow so realy little point in commenting for a spammer.

    Great policy for the article but i suppose you don’t want too much unwanted spam

  84. Paul@BBB 11

    Just an SEO questionโ€ฆ do you notice any drops in your rankings after you set up your dofollow plugins? I have heard some people suffering ranking dropsโ€ฆ maybe cuz they link out too much?!

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      Hi Paul, I had the opposite: a drop when I turned DoFollow off; although it recovered after a few months. I guess the search engines don’t like drastic change.

  85. Ste@set downloads

    I use keyword love also, and have the same policy on my comments. I’m not sure you have it set up correctly though, in some of the comments above it seems the person’s name is also included as part of the link.

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      Hi Ste,
      I don’t run KeywordLuv on this blog anymore, except on the plugin’s home page (I’m the author of KeywordLuv).

  86. Michael@NYC Condos for sale

    I just installed Keywordluv – how do I keep spammers who don’t even speak English off the site. Is there sometype of filter or plug-in that can be used to create auto comment approval settings? Why doesn’t the author of keywordluv use it anymore???

  87. Michael @ Manhattan Condos for sale

    Quick question: Does it matter where the “@” symbol is placed in the screen name? Whether it is touching the words or not?

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      Hi Michael,

      It doesn’t matter where the @ is – it can have spaces or be touching the words.

      As for your other comment, spammers are a problem. That’s why I don’t use it anymore. I don’t have an answer, but I did write the Comment Warning plugin to warn people who may be spammers.

  88. Grant in Nashville

    I am thinking about using keywordluv on my real estate site, but am VERY worried about spam. Has your policy worked well?

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      Hi Grant,

      The policy hasn’t worked particularly well. I guess people don’t read. The sad truth is if your worried about spam, you might be better not to use it (it can work and result in more traffic, but will also attract spam).

  89. Jay@London Wedding Photographer

    Hi Stephen,

    Stumbled across your post while doing a search for ‘KeywordLuv’

    I read your post about removing the ‘dofollow’ feature on your blog. Sorry it had to come to that. But I totally understand why.

    Ever since I installed a dofollow plugin, comments on my blog have increased, but I have to delete about 45% of spam comments left each day.

    I now combat this by first moderating the comments, and I’ve also installed a Wrodpress plugin called ‘Nofollow Case-by-Case’

    With that plugin I can now choose who gets a ‘dofollow’ link and who doesn’t based on the number of comments they’ve left and the quality of their comments.

    Don’t know if you’ve tried it already, but give that a shot if you haven’t. That way your regular quality commentors can be rewarded with a little link juice.

  90. Tokio Hotel

    I just installed Keywordluv โ€“ how do I keep spammers who donโ€™t even speak English off the site. Is there sometype of filter or plug-in that can be used to create auto comment approval settings? Why doesnโ€™t the author of keywordluv use it anymore???

    1. Stephen Cronin Post author

      Hi Tokyo.

      Comment spam can become a real problem. It’s especially bad for me as i rank no 1 for many of the searches they use, so I stopped using it here.

      You could check out my Comment Warning plungin (see sidebar). That may help.

  91. Willowleaf@warrior cats site

    Well, spammers tend to usually be bots, which won’t read the instructions, so it’s pretty easy to filter them out.

    I have never used bots to comment on blogs. Honestly, it is too much fun to give up. I love searching for blogs to comment, the link is a small bonus to give me the excuse to do more of it–I tell myself I’m doing something productive for my sites and internet marketing so I don’t feel as guilty ๐Ÿ™‚