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Personally, one of my favorite features on my site is the commenting, which is powered by Disqus.
But this being a site on search engines and SEO, how do I get around making sure Google, Bing and other search engines can index the comments? As many people know, Disqus comments are viewable only through JavaScript - so how do you get the comments to be indexed by the search engines?
When we implemented this on version 4 of the Search Engine Roundtable, I made sure to leverage the Disqus API.
Why?
(1) I wanted to own all the comments and have them as a backup in my own database.
(2) I wanted to make them search engine friendly
(3) But I also love the user interface and ease of commenting via Disqus, so I took that
(4) I also wanted Disqus to deal with the comment spam and server load issues caused by that.
So to a user, the comments seem to be fully powered by Disqus. But I manage the comments via the API but on the CMS backend we built. So when I remove a comment for spam, it removes it from both the search engine's view and user's view.
Let me say that this is not cloaking or anything like that because users and search engines are seeing the exact same content.
That being said, let me show you how it works.
Here are some comments on the blog:
If you view source, they show in the source code as this:
And yes, Google knows about the comments, it shows up for searches for the comments:
Anyway, it works well for me and I kind of feel I get the best of both worlds with this solution. It isn't "easy" to code this all out, but I feel the approved comments add a lot to the articles I post here and thus want them indexed by the search engines.
Forum discussion at Cre8asite Forums.
Note: This story was written earlier this week and scheduled to be published today.
Comments:
Jeff Yablon
09/29/2011 02:58 pm
Barry, thank goodness you're talking to SEOs, who in general have enough technical know-how to A) understand and B) implement what you're explaining. OTOH, let's face facts: many people, including SEOs, won't do what you've done. In fact, it's one of the reasons we neither use DISQUS nor recommend it; yep, you lose the comments juice, and that's after the reality that someone else "owns" your comments. But even if you jump through the hoop you've described-but-failed-to-actually-outline, you're still left with the dupe content question; I presume that DISQUS will look like the owner of the content to Google even though you're the originator and gave Google a roadmap back to it. At the very least, if DISQUS makes their data visible (duh!), they've got more juice than you do (I, almost anyone) based on their size. Fun tip, but ... probably pretty pointless, function-wise.
Michael Martinez
09/29/2011 05:32 pm
Actually, I like the fact that Disqus comments are not normally indexable. It keeps the SEOs who cannot see beyond their 10-year-old link building myths out of the way.
Tyler Hayes
09/29/2011 06:34 pm
Pro- or anti-SEO sentiments aside, glad to hear you were able to get this set up. For anyone else looking to render comments server-side, so they can be seen by search engines, see our Data synchronization documentation. And feel free to contact us at http://disqus.com/support or http://twitter.com/disqus if we can help clarify anything. For those using WordPress, our WordPress plugin already renders comments server-side so the documentation in the above paragraph is unnecessary. Our MovableType, Drupal, and Blogger integrations/plugins also offer an option to sync comments from Disqus back to the respective platform so they can be rendered server-side with a little extra love as well. (I was going to reply to the Cre8asite forums earlier when I originally saw the conversation there but once I registered I wasn't allowed to view the board anymore; I guess an administrator needs to review my account -- I'd just registered to post on this conversation -- before I can post.)
SEO Services
09/30/2011 12:36 am
It's great that you got your comments to be visible via disqus! I really like your site and your weekly recaps, and I'm glad to hear that you are willing to pass link value to your followers.
Maula Nurul Khakam
10/04/2011 05:24 am
hi.. what about the tutor to change source code of disqus like above??thanks
Mental Arithmetic
10/04/2011 11:09 am
Can you make an update on this post, eg. how to leverage Disqus API? :D
Search Engine Optimization
10/09/2011 02:40 pm
Hi, I really like diqus very much. I would like to see more possibilities for users to login (aol, msn, google, only god knows what else) I know open ID is very good too. but a lot of users dont know what its all about.
HeWhoMustNotBeNamed
10/17/2011 08:58 pm
Vince
10/24/2011 10:54 pm
Effective blog commenting is one way to increase your own blog's readers and search engine ranking. vancouver search engine optimization
Dan Stativa
10/27/2011 01:27 pm
Nice post. I think the search engines are indexing the comments anyway because these days Google at least executes js. And css and everything. Except flash :)
WildWestSEO
10/27/2011 07:32 pm
Great post. Personally, I find the value in DISQUS to be more community and networking than SEO. That being said, I'm a little confused. When I "Fetch as Google" from Webmasters Tools on a stock install of DISQUS it's pulling the comments just fine.
Stuart Stirling
10/29/2011 12:11 am
when I look at the source code on my blog where I'm using Disqus, all the comments and urls of commentors are there.. and I don't use any API... so does that mean it's good for seo?
Andy Harkness
10/29/2011 06:54 am
I disagree with Jeff's comment that Disqus comments are being treated as duplicate content. If you Google "I presume that DISQUS will look like the owner of the content to Google even though you're the originator and gave Google a roadmap back to it" you end up on with this page #1 on the search page, not Disqus.
World Traveller
10/31/2011 06:11 pm
By chance, would you mind sharing the code you used to make disqus SEO friendly? Otherwise, this post doesn't really help anyone looking to do this. It could take hours and possibly hiring someone to figure out how to use the API to export data. It would be nice if folks didn't have to reinvent the wheel. Thanks in advance.
Barry Schwartz
10/31/2011 06:12 pm
No, it is a custom thing, it wouldn't help you. This is not a wordpress blog.
World Traveller
10/31/2011 06:20 pm
Bummer. I came here from Google because the post said 'Making Disqus SEO friendly' and 'Here's how...' Too bad it doesn't actually say anything about how. I'll keep searching.
Tyler Hayes
10/31/2011 06:47 pm
Hey WT, just in case you didn't see my earlier comment, we have a Data synchronization guide which walks you through the steps on how to to do this for non-WordPress sites. If you have any questions after going through the guide don't hesitate to shoot us a message at http://disqus.com/support
Maahi
11/01/2011 10:44 am
I just read teh news that Google has started indexing Facebook comments and immediately started looking out for Disqus. But it seems like Google still does not index Disqus if they are embedded as a javascript code on your page. I am now thinking of using the method youhave mentioned i.e. API's.
WolfgangLW
11/02/2011 08:11 pm
Super useful, thanks a lot! Wolfgang Loss-Wells
Vancouver Video Production
11/06/2011 06:07 pm
I too am wondering the impact of Google indexing Facebook comments and if at some point they will index Disqus comments.
Multilingual seo
11/23/2011 09:29 am
I now DISQUS plugin auto approved but search engine not like their links one i create 20 links then i bookmark after one day when i check on search engine my ranking still. Next day i create forum links after then i bookmark these account and when i check next day my ranking increase little bit you can get link from disqus but not good response on search engine easily.
Facebook Likes
12/01/2011 08:54 am
Google search engine is very popular in all over the world because easily search every thing. That is why 95% people use it. I satisfied this engine. But now a days mostly people use other search engine why?
Niche Research
12/07/2011 12:27 am
Many website owners are now using Disqus for their commenting system. However, it would important things also to install a spam filter system to get rid of any spam that might ruin your page.
Manuel Garcia
12/08/2011 04:09 am
Is there any way to send automatic message if I approved the comment of the visitors?
amjad02
12/09/2011 02:30 am
Well, first off, far and away the best way of identifying a decent accountancy firm is to get a personal recommendation. This has two benefits over every other method. Firstly, it's easy to see exactly how good they are. Have they saved your friends a good deal of money: have they, in essence, paid for themselves and then some. Ultimately, that's the most important factor beyond being trustworthy. If you're paying more than you save, there's little point in having a specialist accounting firm, past mere ease.
Social Bullets
12/11/2011 12:14 pm
Yes its depend on what publisher uses for a comment section, sometime you saw your comments in source code and some times there is nothing so it is dependent feature by Disqus.
keepxxx
12/12/2011 01:29 pm
Thanks for your tips! But I am still not figure out how to do this. I use Disqus on HTML page, the comment did't show in the content like wordpress comment.
Brian Johnson
12/14/2011 08:45 am
Wow, I did not even know that disqus comments are usually javascript and invisible to search engines. That is definitely unfortunate. I noticed also that if you have a link to your site via your name, it is actually linking to disqus first and the routing you to your website. Tricky.
Tyler Hayes
12/14/2011 10:27 pm
Can you elaborate on that second point? We link your name directly to the site you set in your profile, not Disqus. (Though we do link to your Disqus profile when clicking your avatar.)
Brian Johnson
12/14/2011 11:46 pm
Well I see now that your site does in fact like directly to the commenters site, which is great! I assume that is part of what you have done manually though to improve SEO. I noticed on most (if not almost ever single on) of the other sites using disqus, it links to a custom disqus URL that forwards to your own link. Which, as far as I understand it, completely invalidates just about any SEO benefit for the commenter.
Tyler Hayes
12/14/2011 11:56 pm
Can you link me to one of those affected comments you mentioned? Comment links can usually be found by clicking the timestamp on a comment itself.
Brian Johnson
12/15/2011 12:20 am
You know I think I might be mistaken... I did it just yesterday and I swear it went to disqus first, but it doesn't seem to be doing it anymore. I guess I was wrong about it or seeing a glitch or something, I really don't know!
Tyler Hayes
12/15/2011 12:25 am
Sounds good. If you do see this again don't hesitate to reach out to us at http://disqus.com/support or http://twitter.com/disqus with a link to an affected comment and we'd be happy to take a look.
Haki
12/27/2011 05:23 pm
seo + nice interface + easy comment = intensedebate :)
Jonathon Hewitt
01/03/2012 12:51 am
I just got done switching 20+ WordPress blogs away from using Disqus commenting system for this very reason, THEY ARE STEALING OUR COMMENTS!! Even using the API each comment is going to get published in two places, the website AND a subdomain of disqus .com (yourshortname . disqus .com) so there is an exact duplicate of each one of your comments published out there on the web, devaluing your content. I have switched to livefyre and I'm liking it so far, although it is not as developed it seems as Disqus, at least your comments get published and indexed by search engines as being on your actual website without having to be a genius like Barry Schwartz and without having to code any API scripts.
Tyler Hayes
01/03/2012 01:00 am
This is actually untrue; there are no duplicates. To elaborate, forum admin sites and pages (e.g., the yourshortname.disqus.com site you mentioned) are not viewable by search engines as they require login authentication -- those are private pages and thus their content is not crawled by any search engines. Profile pages are also set to not be crawled by search engines. In other words, comments are only visible to the world, and to search engines, on your site itself. And if you're using our WordPress plugin, or rendering comments in your own custom fashion so that search engines can see them, your comments are crawlable by search engines on your site and your site only.
Jonathon Hewitt
01/03/2012 01:11 am
Well then I guess it's a good thing it's easy to switch 'em back then! Thanks for clarifying that for us!!
aejaygoehring
01/03/2012 07:38 pm
If you're expecting your visitors to give your site great content by posting comments, you should be returning the favor by keeping their identity links (the links on their name in comments) in your "search-engine friendly" version. As it stands, search engines will not see comments' links, just their name. If you're worried about leeching PageRank, you could at least place nofollow links, which would make links known to search engines, even if it doesn't help the destinations' ranks directly.
aejaygoehring
01/03/2012 07:42 pm
Keep in mind, Brian, that search engines don't see the version of the comment that has the link, so it wouldn't matter. Also, notice that Disqus marks all identity links as "nofollow" to protect the PR of the site's posts against commenters. It's a little upsetting, since there is no option to change that and commenters deserve some credit.
snickering
01/06/2012 05:07 am
Why does DISQUS censor comments? If DISQUS wants to reflect their views I want to stop using them. I don't care about DISQUS views and opinions.
Tyler Hayes
01/06/2012 07:58 am
To clarify, we don't moderate any content. While Disqus provides many moderation tools, moderation is at the discretion of each site's owners. If your comments are being moderated we'd recommend reaching out directly to the moderator of the website in question. Usually they'll list a contact form or email. That said, if you are having any technical issues with our system we're more than happy to lend a hand. Feel free to contact our support team any time at http://disqus.com/support
Chad
01/13/2012 11:15 pm
Great support Tyler. I really like how you are a part of this conversation and clearing up any issues. I may go with Disqus because of it. Great job...
Google Rank
01/17/2012 08:40 pm
Makes it interesting and more challenging to get links I think. Some will show through though.
Baggage Fees
01/19/2012 08:12 pm
Tyler, the data synchronization appears to be part of the api. Is the api available in the free version or only available in your paid options?
Tyler Hayes
01/19/2012 08:36 pm
API access is free. We set rate limiting at 1000 requests/hour currently for Core users (i.e., those using the free version of Disqus). Check out http://disqus.com/api and feel free to toss any questions our way at http://disqus.com/support
Metaburn NZ
01/19/2012 08:44 pm
Yes its depend on what publisher uses for a comment section, sometime you saw your comments in source code and some times there is nothing so it is dependent feature by Disqus.
Julie James
01/24/2012 07:57 am
Yes I have the same feeling regarding disqus because it has made my work so comfortable and easy that it hardly cost me anything. It is the quickest way to get approvals.
website value
01/27/2012 06:11 pm
A few days ago I wrote about a new Graffiti theme that I created for my blog, named Rounded. Since then a few people have emailed me asking for the Rounded.xml file so that they could use it on their own Graffiti blog
Valentine Day Sms
01/28/2012 05:03 pm
I adore your wordpress design, where did you obtain it through?
Console Prices
01/30/2012 12:23 pm
It would be nice if the standard disqus implementation was less reliant on javascript and more accessible to the search engines too.
Blogussion
01/31/2012 06:13 am
now I know how to track my blog comments using disqus ... :D
Jetset Plumbing
02/01/2012 03:28 am
Interesting post, I really did read it but judging by the comments I was one of few ha ha.
DeConf
02/06/2012 01:28 pm
Wrong, now Google Bot is able to index Disqus comments, also, do you think that Google never heard of Disqus :), they probably handle this type of comments in a special way!
Ian Harte
02/08/2012 09:42 am
Nice one, I did not know about this!
SEO Services
02/11/2012 09:37 am
Good one! I thought disqus comment is not search engine friendly but you made it clear that it is search friendly :)
Krushang Shah
02/12/2012 05:59 am
Now, Google already declared that they are gonna crawl the disqus and facebook comments. So, you don't need to do this tricks.
Disqus Comments
02/13/2012 03:19 am
How can you be so sure that Google indexes the comments? I mean If I check the backlinks made from other site I can see the comments posted on Disqus.
Dan
02/15/2012 09:55 am
Thanks Krushang.
Lotto Results
02/20/2012 02:24 pm
That's how it should disqus be by default. Not everyone has the ability to implement the API themselves but everyone wants to make their websites/blogs as SEO friendly as possible and disqus is not very user friendly where SEO friendliness is concerned.
alvinder
02/20/2012 04:15 pm
for a second i thought u were Ian Harte, former Leeds United full back. Cheers!