<!-- keywords here? -->

[No.2]

Hello all, new to forum. Have been lurking and using the keyword tools for many months.

Question about comment tags. Is it spamming to put <!-- a complete repeat of my <meta tags> within the these comment marks -->

I don't do it, but a competitor does...anyways want to be clear on whether or not this is frowned upon by SE's.

I don't have plans to install it on all the pages..but feel kind of stupid telling my boss they're higher than we are because they are spamming. Are they spamming?

<!--Comments on every product page...over 5000 products. Comments invariably pull from meta tags and just repeat the keywords -->


Thanks all. Good forum

[Michael]

Nothing in the comments tag is ever indexed.

- Michael

[mopacfan]

That's the common belief (since no-one knows for sure other than the SE's). It is logical to assume that the SE's will ignore comments. I used to have a single comment line in my sites but have since removed them as I don't belive they offer any benefit.

[DomainLoot]

I personally DO NOT assume much these days... :)

I would be somewhat cautious with respect to duplication of META-anything.

NOTE: I AM NOT an expert, just a "student" of the game...

I suppose one could test the theory by writing a "test comment" and see if it
gets indexed??? Probably been done many times! And I wouldn't be surprised to
see the test comment INDEXED at some point ;)

Interesting.
Mike

[Michael]

I suppose one could test the theory by writing a "test comment" and see if it
gets indexed??? Probably been done many times! And I wouldn't be surprised to
see the test comment INDEXED at some point ;)Yes I have done this regularly on at least one of my many test sites over the last five years and so far not a single bite :D

[I, Brian]

Quite right not to take anything for granted.

However, I did run a public test on the matter here:

http://www.seo-lab.com/seo-lab-tests/in-code-attributes/

None of the terms came up when I checked SE's. Note also that link will not be functional for long - site will be moved soon.

[DomainLoot]

Interesting stuff... THANKS.

I also suppose that "just because" a SE does not index comment tags, doesn't
necessarily mean that they aren't "factored in" somehow???

Meaning...

"Appropriate Comments" = zero or small positive value (ranking etc.)
"Inappropriate Comments / Keyword Stuffing / Spamming" = negative value

Thoughts?

Thanks again :)

Mike

[schlottke]

I wouldn't play with massive stuffing keywords - it leads to banning 10 times out of 10.

[msaad]

Hmmm... Yes, it makes sense that those comments can't have a positive value. I think SE's just remove them from the page before indexing.

However, for some weird reason, Web Position Gold instructs to actually include keywords in the comments tag! I used to follow what it says, but then i thought it just doesn't make any sense, so i revmoed them. Couldn't see any noticable differences.

[I, Brian]

The comments tag used to be an issue because code elements used to be regarded as effective - alt tags on general non-linked graphics, for example.

I wouldn't put any real regard on using any code elements for SEO purposes.

[DomainLoot]

Thanks again... appreciate the comments/feedback even though I didn't even start
the thread ;)

Mike

[No.2]

Thanks everyone. I started the thread..thought I'd get emailed when replys started coming in...have to set that. I agree with everyone that it doesn't add value, probably doesn't take away from thing (although I'd not bet on this) and probably is just some hold out piece of SEO practice from the old days.

Thanks