Search Engine Optimization Purpose of Pinging-in plain English
January 29, 2008
I get asked occasionally from Search Engine Optimization clients about my recommendation that they “ping” Google after each addition of content to their site. “Why do I need to do that after each post or page?” “How do I do it?’
With WordPress as your blogging platform or website CMS, pinging could not be simpler, but first the WHYs… Let’s start with the obvious ones. It get’s your site indexed in Google and other search engines quickly. Simple as that. Many’s the time that I have optimised a post for search engines and published it, followed by a “ping” and the page was indexed almost immediately and post ranked in Google almost that fast.
It is eery the first time you do it. Magical the second time. Downright addictive after that.
But there is a better reason. You may have heard of “scraper sites” – -sites that “scrape” your post and then put it on your blog. Here’s a test: Put a post up on your blog and wait for a couple of weeks. Go to copyscape and SEE where it has gone on the web. You will see at least a couple of copies of it floating around.
Search engines’ only way to determine WHOM to credit with the original ownership of the page is the first one that they have found (or indexed). Being first helps assure your ownership. You would be surprised how quickly other sites grab your content.
There are the WHYs…a couple of pretty doggone good Search Engine Optimization reasons to “ping” after each post. Fortunately in WordPress, the how is a piece of cake. I use a plugin called Sitemap Generator that generates a new sitemap (taking into account my latest post) AND it pings all in one step. This gives me everything I need in one click of the button. Download the plugin and install it in the usual way, with the files under Content – Plugins. Activate it and you are SET.
First, I finish the post and publish it. Then I go to the OPTIONS menu in WordPress. After activation, there will be a menu item under options called “Sitemap”. Click on that and click the “Manual Rebuild” button.
Pretty simple huh?
Posting to your blog or adding pages to your website should be a process of lather-rinse-repeat. Post great content – Publish – Ping.
For other practical insights on how to Simply and Effectively get to where you want to be on the search engines with a WordPress blog or WordPress based Website, feel free to contact us. The form on the upper right hand corner of this page will work just fine.
Thoughts from others on pinging?
Eric – I followed your recommendation on pinging Google to clear up an error. Thanks for the great insight.
I understand that regular pinging will also have the effect of big G visiting on a more regular basis and being aware that you are constantly adding more and updating your content. This should also have a favorable effect on your Search engine results. Am I understanding this correctly? Thanks as always for your help.
Great post! I have started up a blog about our little town of San Angelo. One thing I noticed is that after submitting my site to a few directories like blogcatalog.com and blogflux.com, I was getting my blog in the first two serps for a few crucial keywords. The problem was that it was the directory site that came up and my site is nowhere to be found. From what I understand here is that the sitemap generator or pinging regularly should counter this? I use a free wordpress.com account and have upgraded to use my own domain. Should I move my blog to another host and use a wordpress.org platform? Any help would be appreciated. –Andrew
Nice post Eric, I will have to download this plug-in and get it installed. I have noticed lots of scrape activity as of late.
Eric, I still need to do this, and likely will get it done this weekend. On a separate note, I am looking at launching a new blog shortly on a new domain, and was wondering if you would give some advice as to where to host it. It likely will get a little more traffic than my current blogs so that would be a consideration.
Jim