Have you ever hit the Publish button on your WordPress post only to realize there was a mistake? Did you fix it really quick and hit publish again?
Have you even done it more than just a few times?
I have. I’ve hit the publish button by mistake. I’ve found a typo or two after the fact more than once.
Doesn’t seem like a big deal. So what? You could be guilty of…
Innocent Ping Spamming or False Pinging
Whenever you publish a new post, your blog pings (notifies) the ping services you have listed in your WordPress Admin Settings (under Writing). This in turn notifies search engines and blog directories and services to index your new content.
WordPress pings by default, whether it’s new content, edited content, or even when you schedule future posts. Now, it may be that WordPress 3.1 has fixed this but I can’t find any evidence that it has. So unfortunately, when you edit and republish, pings are sent out again (and again each time).
If you do that too many times you can get temporarily (or permanently) banned from the services.
In light of this, I wanted to share with you an important tip to help you avoid being tagged as a ping spammer until the core WordPress install takes care of this problem.
Get the free WordPress plugin to avoid ping spamming
(Search for it in your “Add New” Plugin area, or get it through the link above.)
Once you install and activate the plugin, you can set it up however you want. (You’ll find it under the Admin “Settings” section.) I have mine set to ping only once within 30 minutes.
Your turn…
Did you know about this potential for being banned from ping services?
Have you even published and republished a post within a short period of time?
Don’t you think you should protect yourself from being guilty of false pinging?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments… and if you have any other tips for cool wordpress plugins!
Hey, Deb, I’ve done this lots! And while I try really hard not to do it because I didn’t think it was good for my subscribers, I have to say I really didn’t know about ping spamming. So you taught me something really useful today — thanks! So much to learn . . . !
Marcia Hoeck recently posted..You Are Different
Yikes! I’ve been guilty of this a time or two.
What I try to do, Deb, is “preview” my posts at least a couple of times before I hit the publish button. In other words, I’m proofreading more than once. But I’ve still had a few occasions where I needed to go back in and edit something after publishing.
I’m with Marcia here. I wasn’t aware of ping spamming.
But I am now!
Thanks,
Melanie
… Jeese, it’s never-ending isn’t it the WP minefield! No I didn’t realise this either – and I am queen of the ‘I’ll just change this’ syndrome. Will have to be more careful with saving to draft first. Thanks for giving us yet another ‘hot potato’ to handle
Mandy Swift recently posted..Strategies For Branding – Your Branding & The Brand Called “You”
Wow, looks like I have a lot to learn. I added a bunch of sites to that ping thing but thankfully I haven’t used it that much…
Jenny recently posted..Organic Market Garden Business Guide
Hey Deb ~ I appreciate this info about the plugin…I had no idea that each time you “republished” a post, it sent out a new ping for the same post!! Or, that too many occurrences of this could get your blog banned from ping services! Glad I came across this info
Christine
Christine Casey recently posted..How to Find Motivation When You Don’t Feel Like Doing Anything…
This is great Deb – I knew about the ping issue, but didn’t know what to do about it. I’ve gotten in the habit of delaying publishing a few hours after I’ve finished an article just so I can leave it and then go back and review it one last time with fresh eyes – all so I could minimize making changes after I post. I’ll definitely take a look at this plugin today – thanks!
Marquita Herald recently posted..Honoring Victims of Domestic Violence This Mother’s Day
Well, this innocent ping spamming thing ain’t that innocent really, from my point of view. Everyone is striving to keep quality content to their blogs and spam is obviously a big concern for everyone out here.
Angela recently posted..Treatment For Dog Fleas
Hi Deb,
I did know about the concept of ping spamming but the previous plugin I installed to combat that conflicted with some of my other plugins so I removed it. Thanks for saving me the work of having to research a reliable alternative. I have edit-itis and I often see things in my posts AFTER I have published them. Even when I save to draft. So I know I need to improve the number of ‘updates’ but this will help keep me from being considered a spammer. Thanks for continuing to provide valuable information to those of us who mean no harm. Have a powerful week! Allegra
Allegra Sinclair recently posted..Focus on Others to Make Yourself Happier—Why You Want To Do It
Hi Deb,
I had no idea that I was potentially a ping spammer. I’m certainly guilty of going in after a post was published to fix a typo or something that was out of place. Thank you so much for sharing this information – the consequences are apparently very damaging.
Dena
Dena-Lynn recently posted..5 Quick Tips to Help Get Over Your Discomfort of Making Videos
Hey Deb,
Very useful information Deb, thanks so much for sharing this with us.
I did know about ping spamming, but even in knowing I have been guilty of doing it on occasion by mistake. I always try to use the “preview” post function as I edit my article before final release.
I didn’t know however about your plugin suggestion, that’s awesome. I will have to pick that one up tonight!
Don’t want to be playing in the sandbox!
Again Deb, thanks for sharing.
Kevin
Kevin DeRoo recently posted..Sacrifice – Time to Give Up something you love
Hi Deb
Great post.
I didn’t know about this until a few months ago and I have to say I was mortified when I found out because I have been building websites with WordPress for a couple of years now and have obviously been guilty of this before!
What I do now is save up my changes for a little while and then before I start go into ‘settings’ and ‘privacy’ and then change the setting to ‘I would like to block search engines’ for all the time that I am making changes. This will make sure you don’t get the dreaded ‘Google slap’!
Just remember to switch back after though!
That said if there is a plug-in that means I don’t have to remember to do this then I think that’s great!
This error happens all the time. It’s not that we’re not careful, it just does sometimes – because we do make mistakes. This plugin is great. I’ve heard a lot of good things about it but haven’t tried it personally myself. I will go check it out. Thanks for sharing the link.