Can Pinging Really Help Your Blog Get Top Search Engine Rankings? by Tinu Abayomi-Paul

Can Pinging Really Help Your Blog Get Top Search Engine Rankings? by Tinu Abayomi-Paul

Copyright2005 Tinu AbayomiPaul



Its been all over the SEO-student rumor mill for weeks now, and has finally made it into my Inboxin droves.



The new get-traffic-quick scheme for search engine results has arrivedflooding ping notification sites with update announcements, even though your blog hasnt been updated.



The question is does this- or some variation of it work? If not, where did this idea come from?



Okay, bad news first.



Pinging sites like Yahoo and Syndic8 every half-hour for several days or weeks, to notify of updates when they havent been made, does nothing but clog up the system. Its called spam-pinging and it has been around since 2002.



If you havent updated your blog, or youre pinging updates of a site that isnt even a blog (or RSS feed, where applicable), in the long run its just going to make it harder to get listed at these sites.



In the short run, you could get yourself banned from sites like Yahoo, though it isnt officially their policy to drop sites for spam-pinging.



Yet.



True, not all sites that have recently updated lists you can ping to be on are set up to block pings of sites that arent updated. But theyve found ways to block certain sites and users beforeits only a matter of time.



So even in the unlikely event that you could find some way to make this work temporarily, youd just be setting yourself up to be dropped, in as little as a day in some cases.



So if this method doesnt work, why are there tools available to help you flood these directories?



Well, lets look at the situation logically.



Until the middle of 2004, certain adult web properties were able to create several bogus blog sitesin particular, blogspot.com. Theyd found that the links leading back to them from those sites helped their page rank in Google, as well as their search results placement.



Although Google got wise to them and closed this loophole by fall of this past year, several legitimate blog sites have found that they continue to enjoy high rankings for some keywords that are easier to get. Some people erroneously assume that its because their updates appear on Weblogs.com and/or in Bloggers Most Recently Updated pages several times a day.



Having noticed that occasionally, they would get spidered around the same time they posted, they realized that there was a correlation between pinging and better search engine listings.



And theyre not completely wrongthere is a parallel. But a parallel is not a cause. Its just one facet of the relationship between blogs and getting better results in Yahoo, Google and MSN.



Their frequency of updates had something to do with their rankings, yes. But it is not what guarantees they get spideredand if the blog isnt set up to take advantage of the visit from the search engine spiders, they dont get listed.



To begin to have an understanding of how to get similar results for your site, you have to look at the bigger picture. Spam-pinging isnt going to do it, and as Ive said in other articles, there are other ethical, faster, simpler ways to do this.



So what is this bigger picture?



First of all, blogs have a natural tendency to rank higher in search engines because they



Have well-structured site architecture

Make use of anchor text linking

Are well linked,

Are frequently updated, and,

Are focused tightly around a narrow theme, among other things.

Couple this with the ease of being able to get one-way links from several sites favored by the search engines, and you have two-thirds of the formula for a well-ranked blog.



However, just because these sites appear on publicly displayed ping notification lists and other sites that keep abreast of blog updates, this doesnt mean that you can get away with pinging them without updating your site.



It also doesnt mean that sites that have authentically updated and sent pings will appear in Google, Yahoo or MSN simply from being frequently updated.



The good news is, you dont need to deluge the ping sites to get noticed. Doing so is often a waste of time, and may be a harmful one.



Your best bet for now is to continue to achieve your natural search engine position through blogging, basic search engine optimization, and a common sense approach to frequent updates.



And yes, by the way, there IS an ethical way to get into search engines and achieve high rankings with a blog, but its not a matter of volume. Its more a matter of timing, supply and demand. But explaining that process takes a level of detail and an amount of space not available here.

About the Author
Read about real, ethical back doors to higher rankings that the search engines actually encourage you to use, free at /www.freetraffictip.com/goblog

The Most Beneficial and Most Under-Used Web Site Promotion Tool by Rich Brunelle

The Most Beneficial and Most Under-Used Web Site Promotion Tool by Rich Brunelle

The Most Beneficial and Most Under-Used Web Site Promotion Tool
By: Rich Brunelle

Of all the methods of Web Site Promotion, the Press Release is by far the most beneficial tool available. It is also one of the least used tools. When thinking of Web Site Promotion, a web site owner or his delegate has to consider what method of promotion will bring the best results. But, a majority of these people fail to recognize the significance of the Press Release.

Press Releases are one of the few documents that can be submitted one time to one location, but be considered for publication in millions of other locations. Press Releases submitted to a quality News Distribution Service are routinely reviewed by a bunch of Journalists. Journalists from all forms of media consider use of Press Releases in their publication. It is probable that a Press Release of significance will get selected by numerous Journalists for inclusion in their publication or media as a Press Release, as well as used for a subsequent news feature. How many times has Google generated a Press Release that creates news features on television, radio, print publications, and all over the Internet? In case you arent sure the answer, every time.

Now, most of us will never write a Press Release of such significance as to reach all forms of media like a Google press release, but a simple Press Release from an unknown stands a pretty good chance of getting significant distribution. A Press Release published on the Internet, immediately upon publication generates attention to your business or web site. How? Most of the News Media select Press Releases for inclusion to their Internet news publications. Most of these News Media sites also are Free Content Providers to millions of other web sites by offering free news feed linkage from the News Media site. Not all of the sites using such feeds are going to select the specific feed that carries your Press Release. But, what if only one in ten do? You cannot pay for banner ads or search engine placement that will give you as much promotion in a single day.

Press Releases are one of the few documents that get published in other media that immediately attract attention to your business or web site. Newspapers, Newsletters, Magazines, and a large amount of company bulletin boards frequently pick up and publish Press Releases from News Distribution Services. If your Press Release is picked up for publication, the first day of its release will probably be the strongest in the print media. However, newsletters and magazines usually are not a daily or weekly publication. So its possible that two weeks or a month after its release, your Press Release will get another strong viewing.

Press Releases are one of the few documents that get published to numerous locations without much effort. One single Press Release, submitted to a quality News Distribution Service is considered for publication in millions of media publications, read by tens of million readers. So, even if only one of these publications picks up and publishes your Press Release . . . Do the math!

A Press Release is the best method of increasing Search Engine Ranking by linkage. Once a Press Release is published by any of the News Media, it is archived in a searchable database. This placement of your link into a high ranking, high traffic media site is priceless. Test this for yourself if you wish. Simply prepare and distribute a press release. Within two to five days, do a search for your web site. If your Press Release was accepted and published, you will find a number of links from the media that published your Press Release back to your web site. And, what if one of those media sites just happen to be Google or Time Magazine? We can wish and dream, cant we?

What do you have to do to get your Press Release published? There are only two rules to successful Press Release distribution and publication. 1. WRITE WELL. And 2. SUBMIT IT WELL. There are no Editors that like poorly written anything. Poorly worded or full of grammatical errors gets one thing, the trash. And, regardless of many peoples opinion, the News Distribution Service utilized is very important. You can submit a press release about Jimmy Johnson getting caught eating boogers and subsequently getting promoted from the Mailroom to Building Maintenance, as long as you follow the proceeding rules.

To write a Press Release well, you have to understand the use of a Press Release. A press Release is not a Sales Brochure. A Press Release is not for telling stories about your weird Uncle Alfred. A press Release is to tell the world some newsworthy event has or will occur. And believe it or not, your web site or business probably has such newsworthy events happening all the time. Once you have ascertained that you have such an event to tell the world about, you have to write your article properly. Not only do most places you can submit your Press Release to require it be in a certain format, but they also expect it to read a certain way.

A Press Release should start strong with an informative title, followed by an equally strong first paragraph. The first paragraph should contain answers to Who, What, Where, When, and Why. Subsequent paragraphs should be used for interview quotes and or supportive content. Having done that, there is one more important element to a proper Press Release. There is no such thing as an anonymous Press Release. Press Releases contain all the specifics relative to the person making the Press Release. There are some Editors and Journalists that actually want to discuss the Press Release content, and your Press Release will not see the first glimpse of publication if they are unable to contact you.

This article has not prepared you for writing and distributing your Press Release properly. Doing so is not my intent. The sole intent of this article has been to raise your awareness regarding the value of Press Releases. I recommend that you consult a professional, read a book on the topic, or find a friend that works in Public Relations to help you for best promotion of your company or web site using Press Releases. But, if you are willing to put forth the effort, you will find the Press Release one of the strongest promotional tools available to you in any media.

About the Author
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard Brunelle is CC&BW for datajams Internet at http://datajamsinternet.com. He has been providing technical support services, building web sites, and writing informative articles since 1996.