codemakit | Website Research and Interviews: RSS

Showing posts with label RSS. Show all posts

Jan 5, 2015

Tips for Comment Moderation. What Should you keep and what should you delete? Part 2

4:00 AM Case Study, concepts, How to Web, RSS, Search Engine Optimization, Tips and Tricks

Comment moderation is one of those important aspects of managing a blog which tells the readers about the integrity and quality of the blog.

A previous article on Tips for comment moderation talked about protecting a blog's image against comment spammers. This is the part two of the series.

The Link Factory Type

A very ancient breed of comment spammers often use a technique known as comment link flooding. In short, they flood the comment section with one or more links of a particular webpage, hoping that the sheer numbers would lead to an increase in the back links, thereby leading to higher page rank.
As mentioned above, they are an ancient breed because, such methods have already been countered by search engine's algorithms and have little or no effect on both the websites.

Another reason why such comments often do not work on websites is because, the websites have already marked their comments section as no-follow (Which means that any links in the comment section would not affect your image at google or similar search engines). Hence any attempt at garnering back links by spamming comments is foiled.

The Hire Me Type

Some Comment spams are often disguised as marketing initiatives from unemployed designers/ developers and SEO professionals. Though it is not hard to decipher what they write, their text is often accompanied by options to hire the writer. Their comment reeks of "Hire Me!" all along. Needless to say, you should remove such comments.

The Following comment was found on a previous article at codemakit talking about the dangers of trading an article with a service.

The Naked URL Type

You will often find that comments like the one below have little or no un-hyperlinked text. One often wonders if it is a ruse, with spammers trying to garner pageranks by adding links as mentioned in the first case.

However, you must be careful. One look at the URL of the link would tell you if it is related to the article or not. If it is related and genuinely adds quality to the article, you can keep it. If not you should remove it as a crushed bug on a car's windshield.

True to Myself Type

Now you might see some comments which are genuinely concerned about the article and the blog.The first method of checking a comment against spam is to find is if the comment contains a hyperlink. The second method of finding if a comment isn't spam is to check the content for relevance to the article itself.

Like the previous article on comment moderation, Here's an example of a genuine comment in which the author is concerned about the content of the article and phrases his/her comment accordingly.

The following article is on the geomatic changes in blog.

The Shakespearean Spammer

Not often you encounter wordy Shakespearean comment spammers. Only one thing differentiates such comment spammers from normal ones, The use of herculean amount of words, often relating to the article as a bee relates to a space ship and nearly every character of the comment has been copied form somewhere.

The following comment was received at codemakit's article about including a favicon to your website.

Guess what? The spammer has commented about international concept of work from home! Who the F comments about work from home at a favicon based article? The comment was so large, that complete screenshot would have increased the length of the post by 30% and would have left you dazed.

Looking London Talking Tokyo Part 2

Some comment spammers do not use hyperlinks in their comments to avoid being filtered by automatic comment spam filters. The following comment is about Business phone lines at the Jetbro Interview article.

In such cases, it is often advisable to skim through the comment to ensure that the comment is in accordance with the article itself.

Though this type of comment spam has been discussed before, I could not stop myself from entering the following comment from entering the wall of fame.

The Brazen Comment Spam

Now there exist a rare breed of brazen super-strong, fearless comment spammers who defies every law of commenting on article.

First, Comments are often advised against adding links in their comments.
Secondly, Comments should be related.
Thirdly, the transition of ideas in the comments should be smooth and not abrupt.
Fourthly, You should not comment spam on an article on "Tips for comment moderation"!

Languages Based on Mother Tongue

According to Wikipedia, the percentage of world population speaking English is about 5.43%. Considering many WebPages and websites are now made in English, you would wonder, that you're losing about 94.57 % of your potential readers just by writing in English!

Table 1 : Languages (Mother Tongue) spoken by people around the world

Rank	Language	Native speakers (millions)	% of world population
1,	Mandarin	955*	14.40%
2,	Spanish	405*	6.15%
3,	English	360*	5.43%
4,	Hindi	310*	4.70%
5,	Arabic	,295*	4.43%

Source : Wikipedia Retrieved on 10th June 2014

Here comes the need for a language specific approach towards webpage creation. But there is a catch; the above data is basically for mother tongues. So 5.43% of the world's population has their mother tongue as English. (Now the figures do not disappoint).

Languages Acquired By Readers

But what if your mother tongue is not English and for answers you have to look towards English content on the web. So you use the language skills hammered in by your teachers at school and look for content published in English. Using this scenario in mind, you get almost 27% of the world as your potential readers. (Now that is pretty and believable)

Table 2 : Languages (Acquired) spoken by people around the world

Rank	Language	Internet users	Percentage
1	English	565004000	27.00%
2	Chinese	509965000	25.00%
3	Spanish	164969000	8.00%
4	Japanese	99182000	5.00%
5	Portuguese	82587000	4.00%

Source : Wikipedia Retrieved on 10th June 2014

Languages of Existing Webpages

In the previous Para we discussed a problem. A Problem often faced by readers all over the world. You do not find WebPages with content in your language. Would you like to hear what the language most websites are made of is? The answer not surprising is English or Anglais (I'm learning French). But what alarms is not the language, but the sheer number of WebPages using the language. What would be your estimate? Huh? 20% or 25% or 35%? Prepare to be floored; it is a whopping 56%, followed by 6% of Russian and 6% of German.

Table 3 : Webpages Existing on the web (Based on Languages)

Rank	Language	Percentage
1	English	55.70%
2	Russian	6.00%
3	German	6.00%
4	Japanese	5.00%
5	Spanish	4.60%

Source : Wikipedia Retrieved on 10th June 2014

This was the problem I was talking about. You need answers; you have a presentation/ test/ viva tomorrow and all you find are WebPages in English. Hence you force yourself to plough deep into the webpage and try to understand the obscure language (The sentence might be futile for codemakit readers reading the blog in English). This might lead to visitors leaving webpage in search of a non Shakespearean website where the language is much simpler. This would increase your bounce rate, maybe this is the reason why your blog is not growing.

A Comparison

Here's a comparison of the languages discussed above.

Table 4 : Comparison of Languages, Based on demographics, Analytics and Website Content.

Rank	Language (Mother tongue)	Language (Internet Users)	Language (Website Content)
1	Mandrin	English	English
2	Spanish	Chinese	Russian
3	English	Spanish	German
4	Hindi	Japanese	Japanese
5	Arabic	Portuguese	Spanish

Source : Wikipedia Retrieved on 10th June 2014

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is evident from the fact that we would always like to be presented with content in our language, and the apparent lack of content on the web based on reader demographics, we should strive towards WebPages/ Websites with localized content presented in local languages. Even General Elections of countries were affected because of such tactics. Online Giants are doing it (Example : the Case of Wikipedia) and so should you (Unless you’re a potato blogger)

This answered your Question

Why do you need a multilingual website MohitChar

Add RSS Feeds to Outlook Mailbox

4:30 AM Blog Enhancement, email, How to Web, RSS, Tips and Tricks

The professionals working at offices often get bored out of their wits at the end. What do they do? The computer issued to them often blocks a plethora of websites (Though some even help you in your work) that could provide a shred of decent, entertaining break they deserve. But, what if you could use your office issued technology to your advantage?

When you could not open a website at your workstation (Simply because it is blocked), You can use your office issued email to access the content that has been kept away from you. For that you need your office issued mailbox. There are two very simple ways of accessing content that has been denied to you.

The First Way

First, Subscribe. A lot of offices with a comparatively lenient IT department allow you to receive email subscriptions on your office mail.

However, If that is not the case, You should move to the second way which albeit interesting is a bit convoluted.

The Second Way

First find your personal folder in the mailbox, as depicted in the image below.
The folder will be named "RSS Feeds"

Now right click on the folder and select "Add a new RSS Feed"

You'll be presented with a simple window asking you to provide the feed details. (It is here when the RSS feed becomes really important. For more information on RSS feeds for any website or How to find the RSS Feed of a website, you could read some of codemakit previous articles.

Now after authenticating the RSS feed, just click enter and you're good to go.

After this, any new content on the website will be available instantly, as RSS feeds to your inbox. Let us assume, the Safety conscious IT guys do not know about our little arrangement.

This Showed about,

Add RSS Feeds to Outlook Mailbox MohitChar

Tips for Comment moderation, what should you keep and what should you delete?

5:00 AM Case Study, concepts, How to Web, RSS, Search Engine Optimization, Tips and Tricks

Any proven website would always feel the wrath of comment spams.

The secret would always be a powerful comment moderator which blogger does provide, thankfully. How would you protect your Blog's image from comment spammers.

Tips for Comment moderation, what should you keep and what should you delete?

Meaningless comments

One of the most easily found and the most easily structured comments, such comments have their own way of saying ‘I know your blog is all about burgers but, I will talk about home loans, bed sheets and laptops (that too, within the same line without grammar). You ask why? Because I’m drunk..’

Nevertheless, they do not have any meaning whatsoever and does not add to the content on the page. It is always better to remove them as they would distract your readers and speak lowly about your comment moderation practices.

The following comment was in Things before cc license

Replying to a ghost type

The spammer writes up a comment which is in reply to a previous comment. But there is just one problem; there was no previous comment in conjunction. The spammer just replies to a so called ghost with its usual trickery. People indulge in this type of comments because they’re of the opinion that replies to comments are overlooked during moderation or they’re treated with leniency because they are replies. Such comments must be removed and even the original one if they do not make sense.

The following comment was found in the article answering "What happens when I do not post for a week"

Good Job! Type

It is not difficult to differentiate the ‘Good Job’ comments from a spammer and an actual loyal visitor. A legitimate Good Job comment will be sans any link in the name and in the text. Such comments though are hard to find but prove to be a real support and motivation to the author. Finally, that is what counts.

The Harry Potter Cloak type comment

The spam or link is hidden under what looks like helpful text. Let us take an example, You’ve just written an article on a burger recipe and you receive a comment which reads like this.

‘Oh! Loved this post, couldn’t have made is any better. I personally like the inclusion of cumin powder but I still find ‘Fisher’s cumin’ which tastes even better than that of ‘Fisher’s rye’’

The comment looks harmless at first but when you delve deep enough you find it is a spam to promote the ‘Fisher’s’ brand. Such comments can be removed if you like but it does not come under high priority as it still give meaning to your page and presents new ideas and materials. Until and unless the link provided in the comment is not of a defaulter, you’re good to go.

The ultra-serious comment

To promote a brand the spammer must remember to attract the readers towards his comment. So what do they do to lure the readers? They use some really serious words in it. The ultra-serious words may include, ‘death’, ‘gore’, ‘funeral’, ‘blood’ etc. Which means anything which will make the readers read the comment? (Note. It was because of these four words which forced you to read this particular paragraph).

The ultra-serious isn’t limited to such scary words, negative words would give the same impact (like the word ‘disgrace’ in this particular example). Neuro-Science Marketing website previously mentioned the dark side of Reader Comments, you should try and have a look at it.

I found you comment

These are the newbies in spams, their comments start with ‘I've been looking all over for this type of article’ and end with ‘I will share this everywhere’. Some even go to the extent of saying they missed reading such informative articles. They only thing they attach with the last line is a train of hyperlink words corresponding to their business.

Since you can very well determine this is a spam, you wouldn't even receive them anymore because of your blogging platform’s comment policies which will filter them before the’re published.

My name is my brand type

Some spammers often find that their comments will not be moderated if they do not include a link in the body of the comment. So they include the link in their own name. So you would often find comments like,

BuyBestpendrive.com says: I like your article, it’s so informative!!

The comment author’s link is not that harmful as a link in the body. If you’re a strict blogger you can moderate such comments as they do no good and would gradually use your own link juice. Otherwise you can use NoFollow in your comments and leave them be.

Misuse of Meta Description

Under the purview of the word Misuse, I would also include, not using the Meta Description at all. Basically Meta-Description is a short summary of your website which is shown below the link shown on the search engine list. Another good use of subconscious reasoning of users, when the users look for something, they would look for keywords within the Meta-Description, to ensure that they have what they’re looking for.

Keywordless URL or Title

The first thing a cautious or a paranoid visitor will look for, before left clicking on the blue link is, if the title shown, contains some words which the user searched for, meaning when You search for bouquets and you get a list of websites with title named as “best flowers” or “beautiful flowers”,

Faults in your SEO and How to rectify them

You’ll subconsciously search for something with the word “bouquets”, even if it is something like, “bouquets for you”.

Regarding URL, search bots usually have unhealthy attraction towards URLs containing the keywords. So, a website would enjoy higher preference if its URL is of something like, “www.buybouquets.com”.

So never leave out such small things just because you don’t care. But remember, do not fill up pages with keywords (You must know the perils) hoping to have brewed something really nice. Pizzas are the only ones that taste better with more toppings.

Not going for a single keyword for a page

It is a time tested principle of looking and targeting for a single keyword for a single page, If you’re a blogger, Target for a single keyword and write your article accordingly. When you target a single keyword for an article, the search engine bot, which crawls through your website, would place your article above others who use generic name.

For Example, you’re writing an article on Search Engine Optimization Techniques, then use “Search Engine Optimization Techniques” or SEOT. Do not use the keyword as SEO, It creates confusion for the Search Engine as well as the End user.

Eccentric Use of Links

People often make this mistake, one of the most common mistakes for beginners. If you’re a pro Blogger, then you must have a large number of posts and articles written before the present post. So what is the harm in linking them back to your article based on relevance?

But where is the eccentric use? It is the abnormal number of links in articles. One article contains as much as 20 links and another does not have any? I don’t know about you but, the situation seems to be as an illegal use of hyperlinks to the web crawlers.

The search engine will cut points from your website, deeming your website as one which uses Black Hat SEO Techniques. So, use links effectively, and spread them uniformly in all your articles.

No Diverse Backlinks

Getting backlinks is not that difficult, there are many ways to get a link of your website, displayed on the webpage of another, but when a single webpage is worshiping your endeavors, the situation becomes suspicious in the eyes of search engines.

The obvious question comes up, “Why is the A page so obsessed with the website B? Is the page A independent or just created by the website B’s owner to gather links?” Now such questions are meaningless for social networks, but you understand my point. So try to gather as many links you can but without looking like a cyber criminal.

Misuse of Keywords

Keywords as you know them are the building blocks of SEO, The only thing keeping you from potential swarm of visitors. Choose you keywords right and you’ll be handsomely rewarded, choose it wrong and well you’ll be tagged, “forever alone”.

Just as explained above, wrong choice of keywords will confuse the end users as well as the search engines. If you’re a bouquet specialist, then use the keyword bouquet and don’t use flowers. If you use both, then even the search engines will scratch their heads, ‘Where should we put him, under flowers or bouquets?’

For More information on SEO tactics and keyword improvement, try out codemakit's 'The SEO and content Guide' free e-book in pdf.

The article and the memes were all about

Higher Blog Visitors Series Finale

12:08 PM Blog Enhancement, Digital Marketing, RSS, Search Engine Optimization

In the previous article on the what to do series,

The things discussed were, the techniques and practices you need to ensure for higher blog visitors.

This article hereby compiles and provides you a list of activities, all in a single module, so that you get the bigger picture.

Other Articles in the series

What to do for higher blog Visitors? (Red Alert : First Priority)