Danger Will Robinson! CommentLuv and Feedburner DANGER and how you can fix it

Danger Will Robinson NOTE! I wrote this post almost a year ago and it’s still relevant to this day. If you use Feedburner, you’ll probably be asked to move your account over to Google. And if you do so, you HAVE TO MAKE SURE!!!!! that it doesn’t steal your commentluv lnks! My latest two sites, http://www.dietbrainery.com and http://www.fitnessbrainery.com , had this problem until I fixed them this morning.

The instructions are almost the same as below – the only thing thing that has changed is that instead of looking for Feedburner Stats Pro, look instead for "Configure Stats" on the Analyze tab.

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Morning! One of my favorite Wordpress plugins has to be CommentLuv – that wondrous beastie that retrieves one’s last post and tacks it on after comments. I utterly adore it, as does thousands of other successful bloggers online as well.

But! Did you know if you use CommentLuv AND Feedburner TOGETHER…all of your CommentLuv links do NOT go back to your site?

Instead, they point back to

your Feedburner link (thus stealing any backlinks you might be able to develop)? I first learned about this when I began my blogging journey from ShanKri-la’s post of Turn off FeedBurner Redirect in RSS feeds. I implemented the solution myself and went about my merry way. This morning one of my lead sites ran into a huuuuuuugely agonizing problem that I’ll blog about later on (when it’s resolved)). During my debugging, I checked out my redirects (fine!) and then examined some of the redirects from other super popular blogs I follow. Much to my surprise, without an except, ALL of them were losing their backlinking ability when they incorporated both CommentLuv and Feedburner. Here’s what I mean: Check out my feed page when all the links go back to BarbaraLing.com (the way I want them too):

See how the link at the bottom of the browser points BACK to BarbaraLing.com? I had to specify that in my Feedburner account. The default looks like:

Thus, if I comment at a site that uses CommentLuv, the last post it will pull from me will be directed to feeds.feedburner.com … and not my own site. Bye bye backlink! Lukcily, this is easily fixable. Hence this post – I always love sharing what I learn! So here goes.

Step 1.) Realize the following.

When you sign up for Feedburner (an excellent service, btw), the free, PRO default is to track all clickthrus. To do so, obviously Feedburner has to redirect your permalinks thru its site. Now, if you live for this data, you can certain keep this option on. I myself use Google Analytics and other things for site tracking, so it’s not a necessity for me.

Step 2.) Log onto your Feedburner Account and select your feed.

You’ll be on the Analyze Tab. Scroll down and look for Feedburner Stats Pro You’ll find that under "Services." Click on that.

Step 3.) Turn OFF Item link clicks.

Here’s what that looks like:

Turn off item links

Once you turn that off, all of your RSS and feed links will be automatically re-directed back to your site…and not Feedburner. This is of great importance if you value generating backlinks to your site via well thought-out commenting. Hope the above has been useful! Enjoy, Barbara

#BEGIN highlights of this blog writing post:

Beginners blogging tips: Commentluv is a great plugin – use it! But make sure to redirect your feeds. Intermediate and/or Advanced blogging tips: Make sure you can still analyze your blog via other methods as well.

#END highlights of this blog writing post

Like this post? Please feel free to Digg It – I very much appreciate your time!

Tags: backlinks, commentluv, feedburner, Make Things Simple, redirects

25 Comments

Wendy Piersall (1 comments.) on 06.05.2008 at 13:07 (Reply)

Thanks for your note Barbara! If you turn off that FB feature, you can get the backlink, but then you also lose the click-through tracking in your FB stats.

Too bad it has to be a tradeoff.
Velveteen Mind - Megan (3 comments.) on 10.05.2008 at 07:44 (Reply)

I never use FeedBurner to check my stats, so this was very valuable to me.

Actually, I’m not entirely sure what “backlinks” are and why I want them, but I’m sure I do want them and I’m now going to hunt around your site to find out why.

I use TypePad so I can’t install CommentLuv, but I always enjoy seeing it on others’ sites so that I can tempt their readers with my snazzy titles.

Thank you again! Before I forget, must now TwitThis!

Velveteen Mind – Megan’s last blog post..I Am Your Very Own Dichotomy.
Louise (3 comments.) on 02.07.2008 at 12:52 (Reply)

I am still on the fence as to whether to use Feedburner to serve my feeds. I like the control I have right now without it but I know I am losing the ability to really know what is happening with my feed subscriptions. Have you seen any SEO or SERPs benefit to using Feedburner?

Louise’s last blog post..Charleston Grill Shrimp and Grits
1. Barbara on 02.07.2008 at 13:09 (Reply)
  
  I make certain to maintain my original backlinks (ie, all feedburner links evaluate from BarbaraLing.com instead of feedburner.com). So I really can’t say if I’ve noticed any SEO benefits…..
  
  Thanks for your comment, Barbara
Sunil Pathak (2 comments.) on 21.03.2009 at 05:59 (Reply)

Thanx for this valuable tip Barbara i never realise, i wish you have posted this long ago it might have saved me all the back links i lost till date. but batter let then never
Paul (1 comments.) on 23.03.2009 at 16:35 (Reply)

I think I just about understand , but my feed does go through feedburner so I’ll update the settings anyhow.

Paul’s last blog post..Kent coast
1. Barbara on 26.03.2009 at 11:50 (Reply)
  
  Smart move! Barbara
GoingLikeSixty (1 comments.) on 23.03.2009 at 20:15 (Reply)

Hi,
I have a plug in that picks up old posts and you had commented, so I stopped by and found this post.
Like OP, I thought the migration to Google went smoothly, and didn’t realize I had a problem until I read about yours!
Thanks for this!
(I’m confused when this post appeared, but no big deal!)
1. Barbara on 26.03.2009 at 11:49 (Reply)
  
  Hi! I remember your site, thanks for stopping by! Glad you found the post useful. Barbara
JAB_au (1 comments.) on 23.04.2009 at 02:18 (Reply)

I’ve just realised I was having this problem myself after readying your post. This is a very valuable tip.

JAB_au’s last blog post..Open Redirect at Ask.com
1. Barbara on 24.04.2009 at 17:12 (Reply)
  
  Glad you found it valuable!
  
  Barbara
Mike@best workout reviews (1 comments.) on 03.08.2009 at 09:09 (Reply)

Hi Barbara,
just found this post and now glad i did as i’m just starting to use commentluv on another of my sites. Thanks for highlighting this and giving us a quick and easy solution,
regards,
Mike
Print pretend money (1 comments.) on 04.08.2009 at 04:16 (Reply)

Thanks a lot for the tips! I’ve searched for a while for a solution until i found out your blog. Awesome advise!
watch hollywood movies free (2 comments.) on 30.08.2009 at 17:22 (Reply)

may be this is the best site for the other and thanked for the commentluv
watch hollywood movies free´s last blog ..Watch The Last Man Movie online for fre
watch hollywood movies free (2 comments.) on 30.08.2009 at 17:25 (Reply)

i love commentluv
watch hollywood movies free´s last blog ..Watch The Last Man Movie online for fre
Pedro @ MJCostume (1 comments.) on 04.09.2009 at 16:02 (Reply)

I am just learning how to make my blog go to the fast road! Thank you for the advice.
Pedro @ MJCostume´s last blog ..Thriller Michael Jackson Costume
1. Barbara on 07.09.2009 at 04:08 (Reply)
  
  My pleasure.
Sarah (1 comments.) on 07.09.2009 at 02:10 (Reply)

Hi,
Thanks for this helpful information. I was not aware that Feedburner stats have that impact on CommentLuv. I have to check some Blogs ..
Sarah´s last blog ..Tilgungsplan Rechner
1. Barbara on 07.09.2009 at 03:58 (Reply)
  
  glad to be helpful!
Aaron @ Fitness Training Programs (2 comments.) on 09.09.2009 at 16:51 (Reply)

Hey there! Great information…learning more and more about blogging and was not aware about FeedBurner and am registering immediately! Thanks again…this was very helpful.
Aaron @ Fitness Training Programs´s last blog ..Avoiding Common Fitness Training Mistakes
1. Barbara on 10.09.2009 at 14:48 (Reply)
  
  My pleasure!
Barbara Swafford (14 comments.) on 22.10.2009 at 02:27 (Reply)

Hi Barbara,

Thank you so much for this. I had this same problem before the Google “takeover”, and fixed it, but then I noticed I was having the same problem again. I couldn’t remember where I found the solution, did a search and found this post, Yipee! Problem solved,
Barbara Swafford´s last blog ..Words For Sale
Aaron @ Fitness Training Programs (2 comments.) on 25.10.2009 at 13:48 (Reply)

Great post! You’ve provided some valuable information. Posts like yours continue to help me with blogging and I thank you for implementing this plugin. Much appreciated!
Aaron @ Fitness Training Programs´s last blog ..Protein Powder for the Skinny Guy
Rhys (1 comments.) on 08.12.2009 at 21:37 (Reply)

Hi Barbara!

This is a really important thing that you have posted about and it needs underlining that we could so easily lose the backlink benefit – after all that is what CommentLuv is all about, building backlinks

Thank you – Rhys
Rhys´s last blog ..Build More WordPress Traffic
1. Barbara on 09.12.2009 at 18:58 (Reply)
  
  Indeed!