Note: This feature is back in SEO Smart Links Pro 1.8.1; so if you want comment processing, just upgrade and enable the option. For historical interest…

Back when I did my [intlink id=”559″ type=”post”]review of Automatic Keyword Affiliate Link Plugins[/intlink], my preferred choice SEO Smart Links Pro supported keyword matching in comments. So if one of my blog commenters mentioned HostGator say, that keyword would automatically turn into an affiliate link.

I liked this feature.

Unfortunately it led to so many support requests that the plugin author removed it. Apparently on blogs with large numbers of comments, the extra processing time is too much for many servers. So if you have a blog with thousands of comments, just live and let live. But if you only have a few, and really want this feature, and promise not to hassle the plugin author about it… Here’s how to re-enable comment processing in SEO Smart Links Pro version 1.6.3:

Edit the file seo-smart-links-pro.php in a text editor like TextPad.

Uncomment this code in function SEOLinksPro:

/*if ($options['comment'])
add_filter('comment_text', array(
&$this,
'SEOLinks_the_content_filter'
), 200);*/

Changing it to:

if ($options['comment'])
add_filter('comment_text', array(
&$this,
'SEOLinks_the_content_filter'
), 200);

In function handle_options, you need to insert code to set the comment option. Look for this code:

<p>Check to enable UTF-8 support if your site uses non-english characters. Also helps with matching non-letter characters.</p>
<input type="checkbox" name="utfsupport" $utfsupport /><label for="utfsupprt"> Enable UTF-8 support</label> <br>
<br>

And immediately after it, add:

<p>Process Comments.</p>
<input type="checkbox" name="comment" $comment /><label for="comment"> Process comments</label> <br>
<br>

Now go to the SEO Smart Links Pro Options screen, and select the option to Process Comments. Save options… and you’re done!

Categories: Plugins

Graham

I'm the creator of BuildYourBlog.net.

9 Comments

akhilendra · August 24, 2012 at 9:13 pm

Is there any other plugin which can do this in the current world without making any of these changes in the php?

    Graham · November 3, 2012 at 11:39 am

    Just upgrade to the latest version and enable the option in the plugin settings; you no longer need to modify the php code.

Erfolgreich Werden  · April 2, 2012 at 8:03 am

I really love SEO smart links pro, and the only issue I had with it was when it would hyperlink keywords in guest posts. I would like to extend my appreciation regarding this article said. when I read this response keywords is way you could generate affiliate links that reward your guests automatically. I really increase my knowledge. Thank you for sharing it. It is very informative and helpful.

linda · March 12, 2012 at 9:39 pm

Skimlinks also automatically changes links to affiliate links. Do you know if their script works on comments as well?

    Graham · March 24, 2012 at 5:56 pm

    I don’t know Linda; I haven’t played with it.

Jarrod Frenzel · December 15, 2011 at 7:45 pm

I also do not think this would work very well in a blog that has so many comments. If it is left this way then it can lead to the pages loading very slowly. If a blog only gets a few comments then SEO Smart Links Pro will be fine.

    Graham · December 16, 2011 at 11:52 am

    Yes; it seems to be working here just fine.

Warren · December 9, 2011 at 6:56 am

Hey Graham, do you track affiliate stats to the point where you know what percentage of sales (or even hits) are coming in from your comment section?

I love SEO smart links pro, and the only issue I had with it was when it would hyperlink keywords in guest posts (I’m sure they wouldn’t appreciate my links in their posts) which I JUST figured out how to exclude recently solving my own problem. (Amazing what you can learn when you go searching! LOL)

    Graham · December 9, 2011 at 1:23 pm

    Hi Warren. No, and I’m not even sure how I would do that. To be honest, I use a bit of a shotgun approach to affiliates at the moment, and my traffic isn’t high enough to get many sales; so there’s not a lot to track yet.

    It would be cool if SEO Smart links pro had per-user custom keywords; that way you could generate affiliate links that reward your guests automatically. Mind you, if guest posters want to put their own affiliate links in explicitly, they will override anything the plugin generates since it won’t replace existing links. Or you could just make it part of your conditions for guest posting that keywords in their articles may turn your affiliate links. Guests are probably posting more for backlinks in their bio anyway.

    Cheers,
    Graham

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