Blog comments offer modest SEO benefit when legitimate, but they're not worth chasing as a primary strategy. Google's John Mueller has stated comments aren't a direct ranking signal, though they can contribute to freshness signals and time-on-page metrics if users genuinely engage with them. The potential SEO upside comes from three areas. First, active comment sections add user-generated content that gets indexed, expanding your keyword footprint slightly. Second, authentic discussion can increase dwell time and reduce bounce rate, both indirect ranking factors. Third, comments with thoughtful questions sometimes inspire follow-up content that targets long-tail queries you hadn't considered. The downside is significant. Unmoderated comments become spam magnets within weeks, filling your pages with keyword-stuffed garbage links that erode trust and potentially trigger manual penalties. Even with moderation, low-quality comments like "Great post!" or "Thanks for sharing" add zero value and dilute your content quality. We've seen clients with comment sections that required 15-20 hours monthly just to keep clean. At Ottawa SEO, we typically recommend disabling comments on commercial service pages and product pages entirely. For blog content, enable them only if you can commit to daily moderation and have an audience likely to add substantive input. Industries like legal analysis, technical tutorials, or local business news see better comment quality than generic marketing blogs. If you do enable comments, use these safeguards: - Require approval before publishing (never auto-approve) - Implement Google reCAPTCHA v3 minimum - Use nofollow on all comment links automatically - Set comments to close after 60-90 days on older posts - Delete obvious AI-generated comments immediately The better alternative for most businesses is fostering discussion on your social channels or email list, where engagement directly builds your audience. Comments made sense in 2008 when blogs were hubs. In 2025, they're a maintenance liability unless your content genuinely sparks expert-level conversation that other readers will find valuable.