Top 5 Best WordPress Comments Plugins You Want To Look At

One of the most important tools your website offers is the chance to exchange with your visitors. Feedback shows you not only where the interests of your visitors lie, but also provides you with useful suggestions for improvement, interesting tips, and sometimes also links to other sources. 

Comments are part of the user-generated content that has been part of the Internet since Web 2.0. Positive effects have often been attributed to user-generated content, but there have also been critical voices, which is not absurd given the trash that can be found on the Internet.

Many SEOs are naturally interested in the impact of comments on SEO, too. According to many, good comments are also a sign of E-A-T — expertise, authority, and trust. If you get a lot of high-quality comments, you’re obviously publishing high-quality content.

Google confirmed that comments do help with your SEO efforts..

Hey @JohnMu, does Google use the comments of an article to find more kws to rank a content? If someone asks a question about a theme I didn’t mention (but related), and I give him a super long explanation in that comment (native wp), would that be useful for rankings?

— Eduardo Borges (@duborges) July 5, 2018

Managing Comments in WordPress, Starting With Spam

WordPress already offers a default integrated comment function, and there are also some very helpful WordPress comment plugins available to you. They not only enhance the display of comments but also the moderation.

Hey! I get a lot of comment spam — How do I stop them?

In your WordPress settings

We recommend you to make the settings in the dashboard under Settings => Discussion as follows:

• Check if you want to allow comments in general. In principle, comments are something positive, because they show engagement with your content and that is rewarded by Google.

• You cannot delete comment fields afterward in WordPress. This means that before you publish a blog article, you need to decide if you want to adjust the default settings for that article.

• You should always enable comments manually.

WordPress Comment Plugin Tip: Install Anti Spam Plugin

We can highly recommend installing the free Antispam Bee plugin. To install it, click on Plugins in the Dashboard and then Add Plugins. Search for Antispam Bee in the plugin directory and install and activate the plugin. You will then not need to make any further settings.

Antispam Bee

Price: free of charge

Active installations: 700.000+

Rating: 4.8 stars

Choosing the Best WordPress Comment Strategy

To help you choose the WordPress comment plugin that’s right for you, we’ve compiled the 5 best WordPress commenting plugins below. Depending on which WordPress comments plugin you choose, your readers can use standard features such as asking questions or creating their own discussion groups, sharing images, social sharing tools, or even integrated communities. In addition to paid ones, we’ll also introduce you to some free WordPress comment plugins.

So which WordPress Comments Plugins don’t suck? Before we start with our top 7, let’s look at some pros and cons of an open comment section for WordPress.

What are the Advantages of WordPress Comments?

Feedback, SEO Benefits, and Community Growth

Comments benefit you mainly as already described: from the interaction with your readers and their direct feedback. The best thing is to use the productive comments you receive to collect ideas for new products, events, and articles. This way you’re always up to date on the topics your visitors are interested in.

The positive influence that user comments have on the search engine optimization (SEO) of your website or blog should also not be underestimated. After all, the numerous reader comments generate free content that is fully recognized by search engines that crawl your blog or website. However, you can only achieve this positive effect with high-quality content, which is why it is urgent to moderate the comments manually.

Last but not least, with an open comment section, you have the chance to build up and constantly grow a regular community.

“Networking is a great SEO strategy for new websites. Instead of thinking of others in your niche as competitors, think of them as potential partners. Don’t be afraid to reach out, leave comments on their blog posts and social media platforms, and share their content.”

Rocket.net

What are the Disadvantages of WordPress Comments?

Spam, Comment Moderation, and Pesky Trolls

Despite all the above advantages, WordPress comments also harbor some disadvantages that should not be underestimated. Top of the list is certainly the very annoying spam comments that flood your comment section. No matter if you run a small blog with few readers or a big blog or website with many visitors, the superfluous track or pingbacks and the comments generated by bots will specifically find their way.

Another point to consider when enabling a comment feature is the time involved in moderating comments, which should not be underestimated. Because even the processing of initially few comments can become a real-time trap. Therefore, think carefully about whether you can spend the necessary time reading your comments.

Finally, you should be aware that a comment function, in addition to the above-mentioned spam comments also attracts unwelcome Internet trolls. Through the anonymity of the Internet, the trolls, unfortunately, see themselves confirmed in malicious comments or complete negative discussions to initiate. That’s why it’s even more important to keep your comment section up to date.

“When you think of the word bloat, what comes to mind? One too many beers? Too much pizza? Yeah. We’ve all been there. And how fast do you feel when you’re bloated? We bet you’re not up to running a 5k let alone a sprint. It’s the same with web performance. So yes, plugin bloat is still a thing.”

Rocket.net

Why Would You Disable Comments?

Why not just use social media to get people’s feedback, right? Not just on social media, but even on your website, it can happen that the comment function is abused. This can cost you time and possibly even visitors. Moreover, there are types of websites or blogs where comments simply do not make sense and should be turned off.

Disabling blog comments is good for sustainability, and content hygiene that can help save you time.

By disabling blog comments you may decrease the time it takes for your pages to load. This can make for a leaner, faster website. You could also argue that it saves energy and improves the carbon footprint of your website because people spend less time looking over the comments.

Depending on how good your community management is, you may also keep your website cleaner by avoiding any unpleasant discussions between subscribers. In addition, comments are one less thing for you to manage, saving you time.

“By turning off comments and compiling all of our CSS and JS, we reduced the number of HTTP requests our site makes by a third (from 42 down to 28), MySQL queries by almost half (from 82 down to 48), and our page weight from 1.5 megabytes to 1.1 megabytes. All of this translated to a full half-second decrease in the amount of time it takes our site to load.”

Disabling Comments to Improve Page Speed Mightybytes, Chicago

Disabling blog comments is bad for user experience and your content strategy.

Disabling blog comments may make your website more sustainable, but comments have always served as a barometer of the health of our content, not to mention a way for readers to submit their immediate feedback.

Most of our conversations take place on social media, and we want to encourage that rather than keeping discussions limited to our own website. Or do we? Anything happening on social media is much harder to manage than what’s happening on your website.

Many websites disable comments to no ill effect. And maybe you’re not getting a lot of blog comments anyway. What’s your take?

A 2020 report by the University of Texas at Austin came to some interesting conclusions:

“Average time spent on the site was lower when the comments were removed compared to when Facebook comments were retained. Among those who had commented on a news site before, around three-fourths did not notice that comments had been removed. Many of those who did notice said that it made the experience worse.”

News Comments: What Happens When They’re Gone or When Newsrooms Switch Platforms Center for Media Engagement, Moody College of Communication, The University of Texas at Austin

So What Are the Best WordPress Comments Plugins Then?

1 – WordPress Comment Plugin: Super Socializer

The free WordPress comments plugin Super Socializer provides you with a simple but powerful plugin. It combines social login, social comments, and social share functions. For example, Socializer’s social-share feature supports over 100 different social networks. Since the WordPress comments plugin is mainly focused on social logins, there is no need for an additional login via your website or blog.

The design of Super Socializer is kept modern and meets all Responsive requirements. To help you set it up successfully, the WordPress comments plugin Super Socializer offers a Twitter page, a dedicated Facebook fan page, and a Google account. The basic version of Super Socializer is completely free but can be extended with paid add-ons.

2 – WordPress Comment Plugin: Thrive Comments

The paid WordPress comments plugin Thrive Comments is a powerful alternative to the traditional WordPress comments feature. The way Thrive Themes works is very similar to the principle of social networks.

With certain badges, awards, rewards, and ratings on comments, the WordPress comments plugin aims to increase the conversation rate on your blog or website. For example, your readers can like certain comments and additionally share them directly on Facebook, or you can set up a URL forwarding, whereby every reader receives a small thank you for the first comments. With Thrive Comments you definitely have the possibility to get the most out of your comments section.

3 – WordPress Comment Plugin: Comments – wpDiscuz

The positive reviews and over 90,000 plus active installations of wpDiscuz speak for themselves. The WordPress comments plugin Comments-WPDiscuz is definitely a must-have. It comes with quite a few advantages and without additional costs when used in the basic version. 

In addition to the modern design, the WordPress comments plugin scores especially high with its speed, stability, and simple and intuitive operation. Your users can comment in real-time and existing comments can be rated directly by the discussion participants. This gives your comment section more dynamism and topicality in general. Of course, sharing individual comments on popular social networks is also possible.

With Comments-WPDiscuz you have an AJAX real-time WordPress comments plugin of a very special kind. A test is worthwhile in any case because after all, the plugin is completely free except for the extensions.

4 – WordPress Comment Plugin: GraphComment

If we divide WordPress comment systems into 2 main categories, self-hosted comments (like wpDiscuz) and comment integration with a social comment community (like this one), GraphComment would be an excellent choice.

GraphComment lets you automatically sync and backup your comments with your WordPress database, so you don’t lose your comments and if you decide to delete this plugin, search engine crawlers can index your comments afterward. You can also import your previous WordPress comments into the GraphComment.com database.

As a complete social commenting community, GraphComment offers almost all kinds of features you may need to increase your website engagement, like a rich content editor, social media signup integration, and powerful multilingual options.

5 – WordPress Comment Plugin: De:comments

De:comments is definitely one of the more powerful WordPress comment plugins. Due to its multiple features, the WordPress comments plugin is best suited for developers or web designers who value full customization of the comments section through CSS files. Besides being compatible with WordPress Multisite, De:comments support a variety of languages and allow social network signups.

Other notable benefits of De:comments include an integrated voting system that allows comment ratings by your readers, the ability to upload images, and a responsive user interface. In addition, the backend offers easy customization of the main colors. The plugin requires minimal database resources, as the comments are mainly stored as default comments by WordPress.

There is no free basic version to test the WordPress comments plugin in advance. Prices start at $50 per year for use on one website, for three websites the price is $100 per year and for 10 websites the cost is $300 per year. Despite the cost, De:comments is an excellent comments plugin.

Unplugged: Native WordPress Comments

We keep on coming back to the ease of use and lightweight nature of our favorite CMS, so it’s time to talk about the “unplugged” way of commenting: WordPress’ native commenting system.

This comes out of the box, so you don’t have to worry about downloading it, setting it up, or paying for it. You can turn it on or off easily too. Native comments are great for several reasons. It’s designed for WordPress, so you can sleep better at night. The design is simple. You can post comments without requiring anyone to log in. It’s honestly the simplest and best way to start a conversation on your website. You can style it. It offers support for those things you expect, like links and formatting.

WordPress offers a simple system that won’t weigh your site down with yet another plugin. It might not offer everything your business needs, but if you’re looking for a non-intrusive, easy-to-use commenting function we highly recommend it.

WordPress Comment Add-on: Lazy Load for Comments

We talked already about load time and plugin bloat. Whatever side of the fence you sit on, here is a plugin that may help you optimize your comments:

Comments are an often underestimated drain on your load time. Especially if you have blog articles with 100, 200, or more comments and you want to display the Gravatar images of the commenters. The plugin loads comment only when a visitor is interested in them.

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