Blog comments don't pass PageRank or act as backlinks the way external links do, so they're not a ranking factor in the traditional sense. Google has stated multiple times that user-generated content in comments isn't weighted like editorial content. That said, active, legitimate comment sections can send indirect positive signals: fresh content updates on a page, longer dwell time if users read discussions, and occasionally natural keyword variations that reinforce topical relevance. The real risk is comment spam. If your blog accumulates dozens of generic "Great post!" comments with spammy links, Google sees that as low-quality user-generated content, which can drag down your perceived site quality. Moderation overhead becomes significant past a certain traffic threshold. We've seen client blogs with 200+ spam attempts daily, and without proper filtering (Akismet, reCAPTCHA, manual approval), that noise tanks user experience and wastes crawl budget. Engagement quality matters more than volume. Ten thoughtful comments from real readers discussing the topic can improve the page's perceived value, especially if those discussions answer follow-up questions your main content didn't cover. That's a user satisfaction signal. But ten bot comments do nothing except create work. For most Ottawa SEO client sites, we disable comments unless they have an engaged community or niche where discussion adds genuine value—think SaaS blogs, local community sites, or technical how-to content where users share solutions. For standard service pages or commercial blog posts, the ROI on moderation rarely justifies keeping comments open. If you do enable them, require approval, use nofollow on comment links by default (WordPress does this automatically), and delete obvious spam aggressively. A clean, no-comment blog outperforms one with 50 junk comments every time.