Dec 17, 2015 : How to Better Spot Comment Spammers
📅 - Comment spammers are a real challenge for website owners. While you want reviews and comments from your users to indicate you are a quality blog or website, false or spammy comments are a major problem. You want your users to engage with you and offer their opinions, thoughts, and feedback because it makes your site more valuable and inviting to newbies, but it's difficult to determine if someone is actually a comment spammer.
Competitors and link builders will use this as a tool to build up their reputation, which is not something you want to see happening on your blog. You want your blog to be full of genuine people with genuine ideas rather than scripted, false comments. You can't just delete every negative review because you'll be viewed as mistrusted but you need to recognize a fake review. Here is a look at how to spot these comment spammers.
Who is this user?
If you've spotted what you think is a comment spammer, take a look at the user. When you manage reviews and comments on WordPress, it's really easy to see who is commenting and if there are different reviews coming from the same IP or email address. An obviously fake username with 3+ numbers or fake email address is likely a computer generated bot. You can also tell if their comments or reviews are generic and don't add any value, like an “interesting read” or “great, thanks!” Sometimes bots can even pull excerpts from your text but the sentences often drop off in the middle.
If you suspect it's a bot, do a search for other comments they've written since a link builder will use the same username on various sites. Spot carbon copy reviews and look for inconsistencies such as “my wife told me about this” while another site says “my husband told me about this.”
What is the text like?
If you're still unsure, really examine their text. Read their comment or review and if you have a feeling something is off, then it might be. Sometimes in link commenting, the work was outsourced overseas where English is not the first language.
A misspelled word is no big deal but if the grammar is confusing or there are multiple misspellings, there is your red flag. Look for broken English where you can't make out what they are really trying to say because this is a clue of a link builder. Definitely get these deleted because you will lower the quality of your page if others suspect a false or odd comment or review due to the broken English.
When you're searching among multiple sites, look for the comments and reviews to see if text or comment is found elsewhere. It may show up on other links or unrelated sites with the same exact text.
Even if it's not a broken English problem, it may be a merchant or competitor that is commenting with spam to help tarnish your reputation for their own benefit. Spot this by looking out for clues that they are speaking the language of marketing.
They will do it to benefit themselves by posting them on t heir own site with generic reviews like “I was blow away when my friend made me try (name of product) and I was loyal customer ever since.” An oversell like this with a 5 star rankings or listed in all CAPS is a bad sign of a false review. Look for vague reviews like this on your site to make sure someone a competitor isn't trying to hurt your reputation.
Use these tips to spot comment spammers on your blog or website.
Competitors and link builders will use this as a tool to build up their reputation, which is not something you want to see happening on your blog. You want your blog to be full of genuine people with genuine ideas rather than scripted, false comments. You can't just delete every negative review because you'll be viewed as mistrusted but you need to recognize a fake review. Here is a look at how to spot these comment spammers.
Who is this user?
If you've spotted what you think is a comment spammer, take a look at the user. When you manage reviews and comments on WordPress, it's really easy to see who is commenting and if there are different reviews coming from the same IP or email address. An obviously fake username with 3+ numbers or fake email address is likely a computer generated bot. You can also tell if their comments or reviews are generic and don't add any value, like an “interesting read” or “great, thanks!” Sometimes bots can even pull excerpts from your text but the sentences often drop off in the middle.
If you suspect it's a bot, do a search for other comments they've written since a link builder will use the same username on various sites. Spot carbon copy reviews and look for inconsistencies such as “my wife told me about this” while another site says “my husband told me about this.”
What is the text like?
If you're still unsure, really examine their text. Read their comment or review and if you have a feeling something is off, then it might be. Sometimes in link commenting, the work was outsourced overseas where English is not the first language.
A misspelled word is no big deal but if the grammar is confusing or there are multiple misspellings, there is your red flag. Look for broken English where you can't make out what they are really trying to say because this is a clue of a link builder. Definitely get these deleted because you will lower the quality of your page if others suspect a false or odd comment or review due to the broken English.
When you're searching among multiple sites, look for the comments and reviews to see if text or comment is found elsewhere. It may show up on other links or unrelated sites with the same exact text.
Even if it's not a broken English problem, it may be a merchant or competitor that is commenting with spam to help tarnish your reputation for their own benefit. Spot this by looking out for clues that they are speaking the language of marketing.
They will do it to benefit themselves by posting them on t heir own site with generic reviews like “I was blow away when my friend made me try (name of product) and I was loyal customer ever since.” An oversell like this with a 5 star rankings or listed in all CAPS is a bad sign of a false review. Look for vague reviews like this on your site to make sure someone a competitor isn't trying to hurt your reputation.
Use these tips to spot comment spammers on your blog or website.
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