T.L. Pakii Pierce has a great rant about Blog and Ping and the growing trend of using Blogger.com blogs for the purposes of Spam. Especially the emerging automated mechanisms that allow spammers to ‘blog and ping’ hundreds (if not thousands) of times in a very short period. I won’t link to such services out there because I don’t want to give them page rank – however they’re out there and becoming increasingly popular.
I’m getting increasingly frustrated with these attempts to climb the search engines by exploiting blogs in this way and worry that in the long run it will harm the rest of us who blog. I’d be particularly worried if I was blogging on Blogger because they are increasingly getting a bad reputation and I suspect there could be some flow on effect of such a reputation unless Blogger/Google come up with some solution.
Also a concern to me is the way that ‘Blog and Ping’ is increasingly being talked about blogs as a legitimate method of growing your site’s rankings in Search Engines. One or two blogs that I had previously respected as quality sites have recently been promoting it and linking to the automating services – this to me is unethical, dangerous and plain stupid.
If you’re tempted to get into ‘Blog and Ping‘ can I suggest that you pause for a second before you swallow all the rubbish that is being said about it to sell these automatic services. The consequences of blog and ping may bring you some short term benefits – but I suspect in the long term you run the risk of being black listed by the search engines for spamming. You’ll also ruin your own reputation and possibly the reputation of the rest of the blogging community whilst also creating yet another collection of rubbish which is already cluttering the internet.
If you want to climb the search engines and stay at the top can i suggest that the quick fix strategies that people use are not worth it. Rather work hard, do it honestly and build a quality website or blog that naturally grows over time – these are the site that will be most profitable over the long term – and you won’t be selling your soul to do it.
According to Google’s patent it seems like they may value slow-growing sites over quick-growing ones. Also, you shouldn’t just be interested in just getting lots of backlinks, there’s good evidence that great content is the main thing driving Google’s rankings.
Sorry if this is a daft question, but is this term ‘blog and ping’ in its negative sense meaning auto-submitting to search engines, or pinging a large number of untargeted ‘ping’ services? When I blog, my software automatically pings a central service which informs several Blog directories that my content has updated. I am hoping and presuming that this is not the same thing, particularly as it’s set up by default in my software. I never spam search engines – they are quite happy spidering my site without my intervention.
Good question Andy – no I’m not talking about what most bloggers do in their pinging when they manually post. What I’m talking about is automated systems that ping hundreds and thousands of times over a day.
Oh *that* – phew! Thanks Darren. Great site by the way, you’re definitely a regular read and I like the design enough that I visit the site – though it will probably land in my RSS aggregtor soon enough.
Hi Darren,
Thanks for picking this up and sharing it. Most of who have been blogging for while know quite about a bit about this trend. Most of us are quite busy doing things the right way but I’m sure we’ll see more “rants” as this stuff starts showing up and interfering with blog search and performance.
Thanks for expanding on this with your thoughts as well. For the new bloggers out there, as Darren has said, the tools are not the way to go if you want to build a reputable and credible blog and one that will support your revenue goals.
Thanks,
TL
Ah, the endless dance of the search engines and those who want to rank high…immediately.
Like any fad diet the effects can be immediate, but short-lived.
A couple of years ago, when search engine marketers realized that the more incoming links a site had, the better it would rank (all other things being equal) a cottage industry of link-farms sprouted up to take advantage of this knowledge, and to abuse it.
Once Google (and other search engines) realized this, they began punishing these link-farms and the sites they linked to.
Although this “blog and ping” is indeed frustrating–it lowers the quality of the searches T.L. Pakii Pierce was referring to and it makes all bloggers look worse–it is only a matter of time until search engines realign their algorithms to take this into account.
Of course, by then, spammers will have moved onto something else.
I spoke with a friend who’d purchased ‘Blog and Ping’ a while back, and from what I can tell, it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with actually getting sites to rank higher in search engines.
Rather, it utilizes the fact that Google quickly indexes Blogger pages, while Yahoo quickly indexes pages from blogs which are subscribed to using its MyYahoo aggregator.
Thus, by creating a Blogger blog and subscribing to it in MyYahoo, you create a way to get any page you link to from your blog indexed by both Google and Yahoo very rapidly.
I could be way off here (since I haven’t actually purchased ‘Blog and Ping’ myself), but I think it’s actually a method for getting pages indexed quickly, and doesn’t have much effect on the ranking of those pages.
If I’m wrong, I’d love for someone to set me straight.
Although we would like to think that a search engine is going to come up wit h a solution, a problem would occur if the search engines decided to penalize websites that had a blog that was automatically blogging and pinging. Here is the problem.
The search engines decide to penalize the site. Therefore all the people with automatic programs to blog and ping then go and blog and ping their competitors websites causing them a penalty. See why the search engines probably can’t do much about it at all?
I have read a lot of these type of Blogs recently and I just have to shake my head.
People seem to be very confused about certain concepts.
I agree with most of what you wrote… There should be no space for Splogs on the Internet, they are a waste of everything; peoples time, server time, search engine time etc. And get in the way of real and good content.
But saying that to Blog & Ping is BAD is like saying that airplanes are BAD because terrorists use them to further their needs.
Yes, black hat marketers use Blog & Ping to further their needs, often through Splogs. Yes, there are programs that automate the process. And Yes, it would be a good thing if certain Search Engines would take action (if possible) to this type of action.
But Blog & Ping is also an important tool for everybody else too.
I run 4 very different types of Blogs, none of which are Splogs (see http://www.unsoundnews.com/blog/unsoundnews.htm if you want proof of a light-hearted Blog). And I Blog & Ping after EVERY SINGLE POST!!!
Why? Because it is an effective tool.
If I Blog & Ping, I am guaranteed to get a minumum of 30 unique visitors within a few hours, for a BRAND NEW SITE!
You can take a brand new site and Blog & Ping GOOD, keyword specific content several days in a row, and you will start seeing traffic from all of the major search engines! You can climb out of the Google Sandbox in Days, instead of Months.
To say this is a bad thing is not just silly, it is misleading. Because (as one of your comments even shows) people do not know the concept well enough and assume you are talking about ALL forms of Blog & Ping.
Again, I agree with much of what you say, but possibly you should try to be a little less misleading and a little more objective in your posts. As a non-Splog Blogger, you should take your position seriously and not offer such flawed information! Give people a full explanation instead of scaring them!!!
Michael Valiant
[email protected]
http://www.PingTheEmpire.com
This is why I 1.) moderate all comments (including pings, trackbacks), and 2.) require people to create an account to post a comment. I know it reduces the number of comments, but I was getting tired of the spam comments. Plus I like responding to comments, so comment moderation is an easy way for me to see what new comments are out there.
What was interesting is the most of the spam I am getting on one blog (that doesn’t require an account to comment… yet) is automated comment spam, and not ping spam. It appears, based on the nearly identical spam comments in a short period of time all with different IPs, that they are using zombie (infected) computers to post their spam.
I think that over time its going to push blogs into what forums eventually had to do… require an account with e-mail validation to post a comment. If you remember, many of the original forums and discussion boards didn’t require an account to post, and usenet, which preceeded them definately didn’t. And mass spamming was a result. I think blogs will be okay, just as forums have survived. Just being able to post comments without an account might go away.
Michael,
I think Darren was talking about programs and scripts that ping other blogs in mass (thousands at a time) with garbage content, with the sole purpose of getting a link. I don’t think (and hope) he is not talking about bloggers pinging other blogs with relevant pings. There is a big difference.
Its people who blog and ping thousands of unrelated sites that is the problem.
I get dozens, sometimes hundeds of spam comments linking to gambling sites and viagra and other undesirable things in one day! Based on the IP addresses and the fact that the comments are identical formatted and appear very rapidly means they are automated and not manually entered.
Scott,
I realize what he is talking about, and you obviously realize it, but the vast majority of internet users will not.
What I am trying to express is that it is important to explain what you are talking about. This article is seriously misleading if you do not understand the nuances of the Blog world.
I felt compelled to leave the original comment because this article came up high in a search I ran on Google. That means alot of beginners who hear about “Blog & Ping” will also stumble across the article, and then leave with a very incorrect picture of how everything works.
If you are talking about “talking about programs and scripts that ping other blogs in mass”, then SAY you are talking about “talking about programs and scripts that ping other blogs in mass” and try to be objective and mention that there is a good side to the whole Ping thing, which you can then even spin it into a second post if you want.
Okay, I understand your point now. It’s a good thing we are allowed to comment on the article and clear any misconceptions up. ;)
I’ve been doing search engine optimization for myself and friends for several years now. I’ve tried “black hat” tricks, like blogging and pinging, hidden text- a lot of stuff that search engines eventually banned altogether.
Bottom line: Whether your site is a blog or just a bunch of html pages, content is king. My neighbor has a website that he earns about $1000 per month from click-through ads. He is ranked number six in Google for a very popular search phrase right now. He asked me to take a look at his site. The first thing I did was read all 20 pages of it- great writing and great reading! Then I looked and he had no H1 tags (a big SEO no-no), lousy page titles (did not contain the search phrase he wanted at all), a bad meta description, and way too many keywords.
Yet, he was and still is number six in Google for this popular search term!
Bottom line: This guy did everything anti-SEO, but still got to the top through good writing and good content. It just goes to show that if you pour your heart and mind into a site and make it content rich- you’ll go to the top no matter what. Content is king! Forget the tricks.
I didn’t quite think that frequent ping submissions will be regarded as spamming, after all that’s what the service is there for isn’t it. And if users of WordPress publishes a post, and edits it over and over again, wouldn’t it be spamming it’s side through Pingomatic?
By the way, interesting point by @Danger Stevens (first comment) that Google values slow growing sites to quick growing ones. I’m interested to know how true that is!
Thanks, hope you get 6 figured soon.
Raymond,
It is very true.
Googles algorithim is leap years ahead of any other Search Engine.
Google knows what the growth pattern for a real site is and will compare your site against that Blueprint. If you grow too fast… if you have an overnight explosion of incoming links… if you deviate too far in anyway from that Blueprint, Google flags your site.
Mike (#14) is absolutely correct though. At the end of the day, assuming you don’t make any serious breaches of Google’s policies, everything good you do is a plus, and everything bad you do is a minus. So just try to do MORE good than bad :)
If you look at the top 3-5 sites in almost any Google search, you will see that those sites are ALMOST ALWAYS well written. As the saying goes… content is king… but GOOD content will rule the (Google) world.
Michael Valiant
TheMarketersReport.com
Hi,
This is Vladimir from Pingoat.com.
Here are the real facts about pinging your blog:
– a ping helps you for updating your information on different websites
– a ping won’t deliver traffic to your blog, a ping will generate indirect traffic to your blog by sending requests to webpages that are using RSS feeds for content.
– a blog is just a blog, it’s not spamming, you won’t get banned unless, you are really spamming (check http://www.spologspot.com – it’s an extension of pingoat)
Hope this solves the problem a little bit.
I am sorry I’ve said spologspot.com instead of http://www.splogspot.com, please edit, if it’s possible.
Thank you
Vladimir
[…] First there was Blog and Ping. What was initially a legitimate method for informing blog indexes (such as Technorati) of new content, was rapidly morphed into an automated and dubious technique used by some internet marketers to drive their websites up the Search Engine page rankings. And this worked (for a while) until Google et al. caught up and altered their ranking algorithms. […]
it may work short term, but will not work in the long run. It’s not worth being on page one of MSN today, then banned for life a year from now. Do it right. Build something of value and give people a reason to link to you. Articles and press releases can build links.
Google is tough. They love .edu’s and .gov’s. Very hard to get.
I’ve had my site up for over five years – and it’s getting excellent coverage by continuing to stay on topic.
Better than 75% of my traffic comes from Google, and this is with 5+ years of stats to back it up. Getting the links to my site DEFINITELY help, and having links from quality blogs always does the trick.
Flirting with a 5 Google pagerank right now, and ALWAYS at the top of my searches. There is one great thing about the blogs – if you have quality content AND you have a quality RSS feed, you’ll move up in ALL the search engines, every time, guaranteed.
And a 5 PR for my niche site is excellent.
http://www.pressedpenny.com
Hi guys,
I am relative newbie of SEO and I am just starting to use Blog and Ping. Being a MyYahoo account holder, naturally I added my feed to the Yahoo aggregator.
I just see the blog and ping as a great way to get the indexing quicker and updated more often. Of course, Im adding content to my blog and web pages too as I believe as well content is valuable. If the internet is a information tool essentially, can it not be more relevant that the best information gets noticed and appraised better.
I do feel that “gentle” seo practices over the long haul is probably better anyway. Those that are making a quick buck with black hat technologies get caught out, then probably move on to other sources of quick income and start all over again.
Although content IS king, there a number of sites that are just small pages, flash sites or have no keywords in the few content pages that rank well in Google. Okay, not the most competitve keywords.
i.e Robot. A flash site with no content ranks #3 just because it has hundreds of quality backlinks. Obviously keywords like digital camera are so competitive there are numerous factors on the ranking position.
Blog and Ping is a good idea in itself. It does seem though that not many businesses are to be able to produce an idea or technology online that is not exploitable by fraudsters. I think its time that these things are thought over more by the creators. Blogs will be become the new target where the Forums were before.
I am also very fed up with all the competing technologies online. The web is a birds nest of software and practices designed by companies all wanting their share of the online revenue, with no collaboration toward the end user in mind.
Yes i totally agree.
When I first started to blog I pinged a alot.
But i Stopped not only because of the reputation I’ll get, also because of the low traffic that it delivered to my blog site.
Will Memphis win it all? I doubt it. My money is going on Georgetown, Texas, or Kansas. But ya never know..
Somebody could come up and win it all from nowhere. But please enough of Florida already!
Thanks for the information Darren. Been thinking of doing a blog myself but I just can’t find a topic that I can write about. Is there a way to blog by analyzing information on other blogs?
A very informative post!
Thanks!
Carmelo Lisciotto
I have an automated list of about 30 odd sites that WordPress pings every time I publish a post.
Are you saying that this is NOT a good idea?
People need to understand both the benefits and shortcomings of Blog and Ping. It is a tool for indexing webpages quicker but does not improve search engine rankings significantly. It can but only when used in conjunction with other strategies.
Also I think that everyone needs to understand that everything in moderation is good, pinging included.