A few weeks back, Google’s fearless Webspam team leader, Matt Cutts announced via Twitter :
Cool! I thought…that potentially changes that folks of the SEO world can be less bossy with designers and it also means less drudgery for developers who have to place the “nonscript” tag all over the place. Also comments on blogs that are rendered in AJAX/JavaScript within an <IFRAME> are now indexable and can provide SEO boost. Yay! And then I moved on.
Perhaps I was too into the new Marcel the Shell video or wrapped up in my clients’ production hours, but I didn’t put two and two together that Facebook comments are contained in Javascript until a few days later. As the resident social media geek here at Ecreativeworks, I’ve got to admit, I was pretty excited but I had to dig into it a little more to understand what it means for Facebook users and brands. Some things I discovered:
- Comments you’ve made on Facebook Pages, blogs or AJAX/Javascript comment forums may appear in the Google search results if your name is Googled and if you commented as yourself.
- Websites that have the Facebook Comments plugin may also reveal comments you make. If you don’t like this, be sure to logout of your Facebook profile before you comment on a website using this plugin.
- Also worth noting for folks paranoid about Internet privacy — any comments you leave on your friends’ profiles won’t be indexed, only the comments you leave on public Facebook Pages or public blog forums. Well, that is, unless your friends aren’t up to date with their Facebook privacy settings.
Still confused about the difference between a Facebook Page and a Facebook Profile? Check out my previous blog post where I explain the difference.
Will we see an increase in spammy linkbuilding and Facebook Commenting? Perhaps. Will users be less likely to leave comments? Also likely.
Will this change the way that you comment on Facebook Pages, public forums or blogs?