Splogs and the clutter of pop-ups

It’s interesting to note that almost all splogs use Javascript. The reason for this is that Javascript allows sploggers to embed their site with instructions that will increase their “revenue” from all visitors.

For example, they input Javascript instructions for generating pop-up windows when you enter the site or when you click on a link. These windows open up even when you leave the site. Regardless on what triggers the pop-ups, these are one of the most annoying things you will see on the internet and it goes to show how poorly sploggers treat internet visitors when they don’t care if you have a horrendous experience on their site just as long as they earn money doing so.

mouse overs and splogs

Your mouse is a great tool in immediately finding out if a blog or web site is actually a splog. You have to remember that most splogs are nothing more than link lists. A good way to immediately determine if a blog is actually a splog is by gliding your mouse over any link in the page. If you see a very long code and not the usual links that is quite familiar to anyone who surfs the net then you’ve found a splog. That long code is actually the affiliate clickthrough information.

Of course, sploggers are quite devious in that they also have other ways of going around this easy tell. Some sploggers actually have hidden link information. This means that when you hover over a link in a splog you won’t see the link appearing in the status bar. Of course, when you think about it, a legitimate web site won’t go through the trouble of hiding a link so, ironically enough, it becomes another clue that you are visiting a splog.

Most splogs don’t even hide their true nature

You may be surprised to know that the most common form for splogs is one that doesn’t even hide what it really is. It actually makes sense because sploggers are a lazy bunch who can’t even make their own content so it stands to reason they’ll be too lazy to even hide the true intentions of their splog.

These splogs are just a list of links leading to their advertisers. Usually the advertisers are often called sponsors, which in a way is also true because these are companies that pay to be included in the list.

Advertisers get benefits from being in splogs. The link points to their site and their keywords can now be found by search engines in another location. Of course, the advertising benefit is there as their coverage increases on the internet.

The Link Splog

I’ve written before about how feeds are being used by people who make splogs. They are using RSS feeds as well as the power of search engines to look for specific content that can be used to popular the blog. The usual form this content takes are link lists or excerpts of the article or content along with links that usually point to other content that often have just enough correct keywords to lead search engines to it.

In a link splog links that number from a single one to a dozen that are related to the articles are posted everyday. The attempt is to make it look like it’s a “links of the day list” but a deeper investigation into the lists will show that the links don’t add up. Some of the links will usually point to non-related content, this indicates that the link list was chosen without rhyme or reason — usually automated by a piece of software.

Splogs take advantage of feeds

If you see a blog that relies heavily on feeds then you’ve stumbled upon a another splog.

Sploggers (these guys are growing like weeds on the netosphere) will use the most inventive ways in employing feeds to get juicy content from other sites and then pass it off as their own content. they typically use variations of certain tactics to mask their splog and pass it off as benign site.

One tactic sploggers use is to grab feeds from different sites that have content that is similar or related to the splog’s “content”. They then use the excerpts in a manner that is similar to a blockquote — and this will even include links to the original source through the feed. There are those who are more brazen with getting content. These sploggers will lift the whole articles and content from the various related feeds and pass it off as their own. It’s really unfair especially for those whose content has been basically stolen.

Red flag on non-original content

The kind of content that you read on a blog can give you a clue whether a blog is actually a splog.

To be fair, not a lot of blogs really give you all original content. Most blogs will feature posts that quote from the posts of other people or other websites, while other just post links directly to the content the blog owner finds interesting. There is actually nothing wrong with this and this is not what a splog does. A splog will be devoid of absolutely any kind of original content and will have a wanton disregard for Fair Use by completely ignoring the use of block quotes by just pasting the derived content on their blog without any kind of attribution or sign that it was lifted from another source.

A good way to find out about splogs through its content is by going to the suspicious blog’s categories and its archives looking at signs of whether the content was written as an original piece. This can be quite difficult but you’ll see subtle signs that an article was lifted entirely from another site.

Erratic post counts can signal a splog

Oftentimes you will encounter a blog that generates an insane amount of posts. A regular blog that has a number of writers will usually post an impressive number of posts but when you see a blog that lists posts in an archive or category and the numbers are just too dubious then you are most likely visiting a splog. Some splog operators would even shoot themselves in the foot because of their wanton disregard for common sense. For example, you will see blog posts in splogs that date back to years when the internet wasn’t even widely available, much less when blogs were already in existence.

When you go to a dubious looking blog check out the categories and the archives based on the date. If you see that posts number in the hundreds or thousands at some point in the past but absolutely nothing (or very few) since then, or if you notice that the posts are quite erratic (hundreds of posts in one month, a two month lull and then another burst of blogs after three months) then your splog radar should start pinging loudly.

Splog Identification 101: It just doesn’t add up

With splogs and all kinds of spammy tactics being employed by unscrupulous people on the internet, the world wide web is getting polluted by these dubious strategies. Because these kinds of tactics are frowned upon, splog makers are making it harder and harder for people to identify splogs. Fortunately, there are still some tell-tale signs that will alert you if the blog that you are reading is actually a splog.

One of the ways of determining if a blog is actually a splog is by paying attention to the content. A real blog actually makes sense in how it is published. The content matches the links and the title. Splogs do not care about matching or having an actual internal design. The content will not match the links or even the blog’s title or the post title. There are even some posts where the signature or the name in the article doesn’t match the name of the post author.

Another example of how splogs do not “add up” is that the sentences or the thoughts being expressed in the post don’t make sense. You could be reading a post on a popular TV show that will suddenly turn into a description of a porn movie. This will also extend to how paragraphs are composed — usually with each paragraph talking about really unrelated subjects — for example, a post that begins with a tour of India turns into a description of a new drug then becomes a paragraph hawking a new diet. Even how the sentences are constructed is made haphazardly, you’d swear some random guy just began typing all of the English words he knows.

When you see these things happening in a blog you’re reading, stop. You’re just going to waste your time reading a splog.

Is Lijit turning into a splog?

If you’re a serious blogger you probably have heard about Lijit.

Lijit is a popular search app that’s used quite extensively by bloggers. Quite a number of bloggers use the service because it helps improve how the WordPress search operates. One additional benefit of Lijit is that it also lets people get content from sites that are included in the blogger’s network, and this includes social network sites and other blogs.

Unfortunately, the benefits of Lijit may be overshadowed by a recent new service that many think is eerily similar to splogs.

The whole idea behind the Lijit service is to pool together bloggers who tackle the same subjects and then amalgamate their content into a single site that is called a “publication”. In exchange for this service, content providers will have their sites linked in the hub site’s blogroll — with the articles getting linked back to the source.

What basically happens is that content networks act more like aggregators with the site even republishing the full content of the site’s rss feeds.

The theory is that, if member sites link to this hub, visitors will explore the network site, find new content to follow and this will increase readership for all of the blogs involved. It is very similar, in that regard, to other networks and traffic-generating schemes that have been tried over the years, usually without success.

However, the question remains, is this service a spam blog and should bloggers consider signing up?

The problem really lies with how spam blogs (or splogs) and scraper blogs are defined. The whole idea of slogs can be quite vague that it is hard to determine if you are being lured into propagating splogs or not.

The key will be in how these sites go about their business. For example, it is encouraging that Lijit still uses best practices in reusing content. When clicking on the headline of a story will bring you to the original story and the comments section also brings you to the original page. All of the permalinks in the site lead back to the original link, which is laudable.

On the other hand, the images used are merely hotlinked to the original source.

What lijit is doing may not be outrightly “spammy” but it borders on it. Having said that, if you think the search tool it offers is indispensable, then do use it. But be aware that the site’s behavior can also have negative consequences so try to temper its use by periodically looking at what Lijit does and if you start feeling uncomfortable with new policies then opt out of the service.

Nifty Tools Dificult Tools

The clamor to come up with an answer to the rising splog threat has many authors developing ways of securing and monitoring blogs that would be a good indicator of any attempts to hack or modify your posts. One such easy way to monitor your blog is with the DigoWatchWP which closely monitors your blogs on Wordpress and sends you an email if any changes are found, even if the email says there is no change. (more…)