Periodically Check Your Backlinks
Hello everyone. I apologize, in the end, this is going to be another one of my famous rants.
I haven't talked about this much yet, but one of the ways I like to get the word out about a site is to comment on other blogs. I mainly comment only blogs that I follow and always like to leave helpful, useful comments that contribute to the discussion on the blog.
I NEVER spam the comments of someone else's blog. If you have followed me for any length of time, you know my position on comment spam. I hate it and I would never do it to someone else.
That being said, I recently found out that comments I make using this blog for my website in the form hit the Akismet Spam filter. I could not understand why so I decided to do some investigating. The first thing I checked were my backlinks.
Needless to say, I got quite a shock. It's no wonder I've hit the infamous Akismet Spam filter. Someone has been dropping comments on other blogs - even .edu blogs using my website and sometimes even my name!
And these are NOT useful comments. They are the SPAM comments that I absolutely hate! You know the ones I'm talking about. The type that use anchor text for the name and only have a link back to the website in a comment. All I could think was - "OH....MY....GOD!"
Now before you ask, let it be known, I have not paid for any link building services or any other SEO work for this site. I do all of my own work.
Needless to say, I am livid! I am 98-99% sure I know who is behind it and I am not asking, I'm telling you to CEASE THESE ACTIONS NOW!
The person(s) in question know who they are. If it does not stop, well, I have several actions of recourse that I can and will take. None of which you will like. I am saying this publicly because I do not believe you will respond to an email.
That being said, there are ways to get back on the Akismet spam whitelist and I have been working on that. Something else that can help is if people check their Akismet Spam folders and De-Spam the useful comments.
That goes for not only just myself. If you have a blog, you should check the Aksimet spam folder periodically for comments that are not spam. I check mine daily and were it not for me doing that, I would have missed quite a few helpful comments.
In closing, if you'd like to help out and you have a blog, let me know. I'll be glad to pop over and leave a useful comment. And you never know, you might just gain another reader.
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Sean (5 comments.) | Nov 22, 2008 | Reply
Wow, scary. Though unfortunately, not exactly surprising. It seems that many who seek a living online are far too willing to do things they’d never do in the ‘real’ world, just because they can.
Which reminds me, I should call up my local paper, see if they’ll let me run a $100 off coupon. For my competitor.
Best of luck clearing this up Melissa!
Seans last blog post..Here Be Dragons
Melissa | Nov 22, 2008 | Reply
No, it’s really not surprising at all. So many people throw their ethics out the window when it comes to money. Especially online.
I was just mortified. No telling how many hundreds or thousands of blog owners have had to mark those comments for spam. What surprised me was the amount that got through and approved.
LMAO! That was a good one.
Sad part of it is, my local newspaper would probably do it.
Sometimes they’re not the brightest star in the galaxy.
Thanks Sean. Appreciate the comment and I’ll be popping over soon to see what you’ve been up to.
Larry (1 comments.) | Nov 25, 2008 | Reply
sounds like someone is sabotaging you and your blogs good name!!
Larrys last blog post..Medium Base HPS
Jeff from Real Estate Blog (1 comments.) | Dec 12, 2008 | Reply
Yeah! that’s what I thought too. Good luck to you Melissa.!!
Dan from Brandon Real Estate Blog (1 comments.) | Dec 21, 2008 | Reply
That stinks, it amazes me the antics that some people will do for own personal gains or whatever their reasons for doing them.
Dans last blog post..Fishhawk Trails Home For Rent
No name | Jan 8, 2009 | Reply
I had the same thing happen to me. Pretty much niche, but great rewards. I outranked a russian spammer (researched him… and even found him on some forums) and then he follow all of my blog dofollow backlinks, and then posted as me and got me blacklisted from akismet. I emailed them, and was taken off, 2 weeks later and I am back on it. I only find blogs without akismet for that site now.
You have a nice blog. Kept me here for about 10 minutes… which is pretty rare, but actually found you while researching another sites backlinks.
Do you really recommend that Fast Blog Finder?
No name | Jan 8, 2009 | Reply
Pretty *small* niche I meant. Oops.
Melissa | Jan 8, 2009 | Reply
Thank you so much for the nice comment! And thanks for letting me know how you found me.
I am very sorry to hear that happened to you. It can be a dog eat dog world in some niches. There are ways to work around it though and I see you have found one of them.
Regarding Fast Blog Finder – yes, I really do recommend it. I have tried several others, paid way more for them and they do not have anywhere near the same amount of features that Fast Blog Finder does.
Of course, as with any tool, it does not do anything that you can’t go out and do for yourself. It just speeds up the process tremendously. You are welcome to download the free trial and put it through its paces. However, I do not recommend anyone buying it until it is in your marketing budget and you are ready to take action using it. I feel that way about any tool.
Thanks so much for stopping by and I wish you all the best in 2009!
ugg (1 comments.) | Feb 11, 2009 | Reply
Thanks for the suggestions. I need to spend more time looking at relevant subjects as you suggest. it’s really not surprising at all. So many people throw their ethics out the window when it comes to money.
corporate housing new york (1 comments.) | Feb 17, 2009 | Reply
It seems great. I am subscribing now. Thanks for sharing a lovely information with us
RC Toys (1 comments.) | Mar 26, 2009 | Reply
I am thankful to find your blog and it’s nice of you to help others.
vikas from telephone engineer london (1 comments.) | Jun 2, 2009 | Reply
Hi,
I am also agree with your point.
We should check back links regularly.
Thanks.
Vance from south texas traumatic brain injury lawyer, memory loss injury lawyer, (3 comments.) | Aug 4, 2009 | Reply
Hi Melissa,
I had someone spamming my site not with comments but with worthless posts some of which appeared in html. It was getting me slapped by Google. These posts appeard as published by admin and almost every other day. One of them was saying in my name that my site pays anyone who will submit an article. I had to change all my passwords and disconnect from BNET.
Recently I noticed spam comments on a blog that I came accross. 3 or 4 from the same person that were no longer than 3 to 6 words.
There are some, hopefully not many, sick people out there.
Your blog is extremely helpful and I will visit more often.
Ruri from Free article directory (8 comments.) | Aug 12, 2009 | Reply
This is the hard part of online business. People will get easier to pretend to be someone to hit other business. My online business also hit by unknown person.
Lindsay from Drug Addiction Rehab Blog (2 comments.) | Jan 23, 2010 | Reply
Here is a great new tool from SEO moz http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/ It provides a great view of backlinks and provides an alternative to the google page rank for ranking pages and sites that seems excellent to me.
Melissa | Jan 23, 2010 | Reply
Thank you for supplying this. I had not heard about it. I try to keep up with so many things that I’ve somehow missed it.
Looks like a great tool. Thanks again!