I am constantly making changes to a post before I put it up and often am making adjustments shortly after I’ve posted it. If you’re doing the same to your blog, you may want to consider adding a ping optimizer. Read on and I’ll tell you why.
A ping is a brief burst of data sent from one computer.
Whenever a computer wishes to test the connection between other computers on a network, a ping is sent.
If another computer is present, a reply known as a pong (yes pong – who thinks up these things?) is sent.
This may sound either overly technical or like something from Scooby Doo, but it’s the driving principle behind how systems on a network communicate with each other.
Blog Pinging
In the case of websites, pings are sent whenever we make any change to our websites – especially if it’s a blog powered by WordPress.
For instance, if I decide to edit my post or upload a picture, WordPress will automatically send a ping to all the websites that are monitoring my site. Yours will send out pings, too, whenever you change a post.
The downside to this is that your blog may be end up being tagged as a spammer if it sends out too many disruptive pings. Fortunately, this can be prevented with the use of a ping optimizer and these are easy to install because you can install one as a plugin.
The Downsides of Ping Spam
Ping spam (also known as a sping – gotta love that name) is a ping that is sent from a blog to make people think that something new has been created.
Many marketers use this to increase their incoming traffic. By constantly sending out false notifications, advertisers can trick surfers into returning to their site even though there is no new update.
It is estimated that close to 50% of the pings sent by blogs are ping spams. The growing popularity of sping has led to sterner rules being adopted on the web to curtail this practice.
Ping Spamming Fallout
Ping spamming isn’t harmless. There are many downsides to being accidentally tagged as a spammer.
First of all, you’re likely to lose some of your audience. Most people now have programs designed to screen them from sping. If your blog is labeled as a spammer, you’ll be unable to send them regular updates when you post.
Ping spamming will also affect your SEO standing. For instance, your blog may be blocked by directories on the web which will affect your SEO rankings. To top it off, if the excessive pinging persists, your blog may be removed from the index of search engines. That works for me if you are a bad guy spammer. You just don’t want to be caught for something you didn’t even know you were doing.
There’s no point getting punished for spamming when it’s something that you’re not intentionally guilty of. Ignorance of the rules doesn’t cut it in the internet world.
You need to make sure that you have your pinging under control. With a ping optimizer, you’ll be able to do something about it.
Why You Need One
A ping optimizer plugin increases the efficiency of your website by only sending pings as required.
Once you’ve installed a plugin, instead of sending a ping whenever you edit an existing post, your blog will only send one out whenever a new post has been created. This will encourage other blog directories and search engines to index your website.
If you plan on scheduling a future post, you can also use a ping optimizer to ensure that a ping is only sent when the post appears in the future and not when you create the schedule.
Free Plugins
There are many plugins that you can use that are free, so there is no excuse not to have a ping optimizer uploaded to your blog.
The one we are using at the moment is WordPress Ping Optimizer 2.31. It has been downloaded 38,582 times and as of today it was updated only 14 days ago, so it stays current.
You can get this one by going to ‘Add New’ plugin and search for ‘ping optimizer’.
Read more about plugins and how to add them in our article What Is a WordPress Plugin and What Do You Need To Know.
Once you have activated your plugin, you’ll need to go to the settings and fill in and check off the necessary items.
We have checked “Enable pinging’ and have added Pingomatic.com to the list of URIs to ping. Save. And that’s it.
If you read the fine print on WordPress Ping Optimizer, you will see that it says it pings automatically when you publish new posts or drafts, not when you edit previously published posts. No sping for us!
There you have it. Uploading and setting up a ping optimizer is way too easy not to do it and to risk the wrath of the search engines. Do it now.
Sources:
WordPress.org – CBNET Ping Optimizer
Whatis.TechTarget.com – Sping – Spam – Ping
OnlineWebApplication.com – WordPress Ping Optimizer
LynnTHarrison.com – What Is A Ping Optimizer
ThinkingChristian.net – Ping Span Gotta Love It
About Beth Kelley