Spam

I am so confused! I got sent this link = http://searchengineland.com/matt-cutts-stick-a-fork-in-it-guest-blogging-is-done-182147 = and now I’m just like “Huh?” Because obviously I have no idea what I’m doing.

I turned off Trackbacks and Pingbacks because of all the spam I was getting, but I guess I should be using the “nofollow” code on links? I thought my site did that automagically! I thought that’s what the no trackbacks/pingbacks was 🙁

I like the idea of giving people props where it’s due, but it was getting a bit ridiculous when I was finding my comment inbox filled with “Interesting site. Many great things to talk about. You haf affected my life in many great and wonderful ways. I have a good article …” and blah blah, bunch of spam. One look at the comment title and the site link “Buy awesome bags (dot) totally spam (dot) com” (but as a real, horrifying URL) and I can tell that people are trying to spam me. I never click the links I’m sent, and definitely not from some stranger off the Internet.

The worst thing? I don’t even use the WordPress comment system on my blog! I have Disqus installed, yet still those spammer people manage to cram their garbage into the built-in comment box and I have no idea how it happens. So I go through once and a while and delete everything, because any real comment would be in my Disqus, and not through some wily backdoor knocking system.

I thought I was the Master of My Own Life!

http://www.beatricebiologist.com.

But I guess when it comes down to it, we’re all just tools in the great machine. And there’s always someone trying to use us for their own purposes. Sad, but true.

So if you get an email from some random person on the Internet offering to write posts for your blog or site at no cost to you “… as long as I can include several links …” it might be a good idea to give them a side-eye and a “No candy” if they’re not someone you know. At the very least, you should be able to type their site into your browser yourself (don’t click their links!) and take a look around. If you’re running PeerBlock, WOT, and you’ve got an up-to-date antivirus you should be okay (there’s always a risk on the Internet).

And if you do offer guest blogging, they should be added as a “Contributor” and you can totally “Editor” their asses. What does that mean? Well, you have the power of veto over what they post before it goes live, and you can edit their links to remove any breadcrumbs or garbage they’ve added on the end.

Just because someone is guesting on your blog, that doesn’t give them the power in the relationship. It’s your blog. They have to play by your rules, including not linking to a bunch of awfulness and ruining what you’ve built up.

Be the master of your own life. Tell the wo phage to “Suck it. It’s my way or no way!”

Links of relevance:

Matt Cutts: “The decay and fall of guest blogging for SEO” – http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/guest-blogging/. The post in question. He had to clarify some points after hundreds of comments, but basically boils down to: “Watch out who you let guest blog on your site, because the links they want to add in their post can make you look like a spammer.”

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Wikipedia: “Nofollow” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nofollow. “nofollow is a value that can be assigned to the rel attribute of an HTML a element to instruct some search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the link target’s ranking in the search engine’s index.”

Basically, you add a “nofollow” to a link to keep whatever you’re linking to from gaining influence because of you. So if you link to some horrible site on the Internet featuring puppy torture, you can vent your outrage and call public attention to the atrocities committed, without giving them your tacit approval. You know, so puppy torture people don’t end up as the top result on Google for some kid looking for “cute puppies.”

You don’t need to add it to all your links, just the ones you don’t want to give a page rank boost. The sites still receive their hits, you still remain awesome, and spammy sites don’t end up at the top of search results. Otherwise, it’s not a big deal to leave links normal, but be aware that if you’ve got a lot of guest bloggers, you’re responsible for the actions they take on your blog.

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Wikipedia: “Trackback” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trackback. “A trackback is one of four types of linkback methods for website authors to request notification when somebody links to one of their documents. This enables authors to keep track of who is linking to their articles.”

Basically, you write something about someone else’s blog, and when you post it, their blog receives a message saying “Hey, this dude wrote about you.” Then they can approve the trackback and have it show up in their comments “[… so and so talked about blah blah …]” and you get that warm glowy feeling of knowing that your site is mentioned on the site you talked about.

You have to have your trackbacks enabled and so does the site you write about to have this system work. Unfortuantely, spammers have figured out that if they mention your blog on their spam site — usually surrounded with a bunch of info and other links scraped off the Internet — then when they post their garbage, your site receives a trackback saying you were mentioned. And if you don’t know what you’re doing or you accidentally click Approve, all of a sudden there’s a link to their awful site on your blog, giving them a nice hit, and making you look bad as you send your guests to visit the dangerous depths of the Internet or some random porn ring. Unless you hit “Approve,” they shouldn’t appear, though they will clog up your comments page like nobody’s business.

I’ve shut off trackbacks because scrapers and spammers were hitting me so hard I just couldn’t take it anymore. They’re why we can’t have nice things …

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Wikipedia: “Pingback” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingback. “A pingback is one of four types of linkback methods for Web authors to request notification when somebody links to one of their documents. This enables authors to keep track of who is linking to, or referring to their articles.”

You want to know who’s mentioning your blog online? Well, a pingback is when one site writes about your site and sends out a signal saying “Hey, I wrote about you.” Your site sends back a ping to check if there’s a link in place, then gives you the message “Site name says: Hey, I wrote about you.” And now you know. You’re famous!