Spam, spam, spam (sorry, I really can’t write about this without channelling Monty Python)Today’s blog is a little bit of a rant. I came back to my blog after a few days away and found I had been bombarded with spam comments.
The messages are quite frankly bizarre, some don’t even make sense. But still they keep coming. Why? Why do people do it?
Well, I know why. They hope to get their website link or email address published on my blog. I’ve been targeted by everyone from dodgy business sites to porn to right wing propaganda (one of those sites with an innocuous title which I couldn’t close the browser window on fast enough!) They won’t succeed because I moderate my blog comments so they can’t get through.
I put a line from one of the weird comments I received today into Google and got 167 results. That’s 167 websites which haven’t taken the basic step of protecting themselves from becoming free advertising vehicles by installing a spam filter.
Why does it matter? Well apart from the fact you don’t want links to unsavoury websites on your site, spam comments are basically old-fashioned link building. They’re a way of getting links to someone’s site on a range of other sites so they look like they have more authority. Google wised up to this a long time ago. Your website could well be penalised by Google as a result. This means your search engine rankings suffer.
It also shows that you don’t care about the reputation of your website. If anyone can spam you and you’re not paying attention to that, I wonder whether you are paying attention to other aspects of your business.
Your blog is an important tool for your business. You work hard on it. Don’t let it down by not protecting yourself against spam.
- Rachel Extance is a communications consultant. She uses stories to help businesses get their message across.
If you’re not familiar with the Monty Python sketch, here it is.
