The Lensmaster Lounge

thefluffanutta · 09/01/2007 11:43 am

There is a concept within the blogging world called 'pinging', where you notify various blog search engines and aggregators when you make a new post. This is generally seen as a good way to get your blog indexed quickly.

You can do the same thing with your Squidoo lenses. With services such as www.pingomatic.com and www.pingoat.com, you simply enter your lens title and URL, and they notify a whole bunch of other services on your behalf. Nice.

The question is, does this technique really work? I've been doing some research, and looked for Squidoo lenses on the most popular pingable blog directories, and only found half-a-dozen that actually acknowledge them. The most common problem is that you have to register a 'blog' with them before they will accept your pings. Some others simply don't work any more.

The best places to send your pings seem to be: Google, Feedster, Weblogalot, Weblogs and Icerocket. Maybe. My Yahoo is also good, but you must register it first.

Susan52 · 09/01/2007 3:35 pm

I am definitely technically challenged, so forgive me, but how does one ping Google? (I don't see it on the lists for pingomatic or pingoat.)

thefluffanutta · 09/02/2007 3:04 am

You need to go to Google Blogsearch: http://blogsearch.google.com/ping

I am working on a Squidoo friendly tool for pinging all the compatible sites...

Susan52 · 09/02/2007 4:35 am

Thank you!

Elee · 09/02/2007 9:44 pm

wow, thanks fluffanutta!

spuds · 09/03/2007 1:56 am

Thanks for the pinging advice.

thefluffanutta · 09/03/2007 3:36 am

I was actually asking a question which I hoped could be answered by others. But, if you guys find this information useful, then that is good. Let me know if you see any benefits from pinging your lenses. So far I haven't seen any evidence of traffic or backlinks from them, but it just might get your new lenses index faster.

thefluffanutta · 09/06/2007 3:25 am

I've quietly released a new ping tool on SquidUtils.com. Login to your Advanced Dashboard and the orange icon on the far right will ping the 6 services I mentioned in my original post. I may consider adding others if they are shown to be beneficial. The ping tool can also be accessed via the new editing toolbar too.

Remember, it's best to ping the blogosphere only when you have actually updated your lens. Too many pings without updates might have consequences.

Last edited by thefluffanutta (12/10/2007 4:40 am)

The_Book_Garden · 09/06/2007 4:47 am

Nice work Fluff!

Lady_Gotrocks · 09/06/2007 5:03 am

Thanks!

AllThingsMichigan · 09/06/2007 8:36 am

Fluffanutta,

I love it! Another excellent Squid help.

Sergeantrom · 09/07/2007 1:23 pm

thefluffanutta wrote:
I've quietly released a new ping tool on SquidUtils.com. Login to your Advanced Dashboard and the orange icon on the far right will ping the 6 services I mentioned in my original email. I may consider adding others if they are shown to be beneficial. The ping tool can also be accessed via the new editing toolbar too.

Remember, it's best to ping the blogosphere only when you have actually updated your lens. Too many pings without updates might have consequences.

HEY! that advanced dashboard is really Cool. Just one problem, it says I have 5 lenses when I have 20. Says I have no groups when I have 5. Whats wrong?

thefluffanutta · 09/07/2007 2:34 pm

Sergeantrom wrote:
Just one problem, it says I have 5 lenses when I have 20. Says I have no groups when I have 5. Whats wrong?

It won't show any lenses or groups that are rated R or X. If you log out of Squidoo and look at your own lensmaster profile, you will only see 5 lenses. I guess this is how search engines will see them too, so make sure you build links to all your lenses.

Timewarp · 09/10/2007 11:02 am

Great tool Fluffanutta thanks!
Any info on the original question yet, does pinging help?

_________________________________
http://www.squidoo.com/eighties-party/
http://www.squidoo.com/stateshirts/
http://www.squidoo.com/t-shirt-hell/
http://www.squidoo.com/dogstickers/

Last edited by Timewarp (09/10/2007 11:02 am)

thefluffanutta · 09/10/2007 12:30 pm

Well, most of the pingable services I looked at did not list many Squidoo lenses, so I would't count them as being effective. And I've yet to find any evidence that the remaining services are sending traffic or links my way.

Edit: but I will continue to ping my lenses in the vain hope that there's some benefit.

Last edited by thefluffanutta (09/10/2007 12:37 pm)

Petee · 09/21/2007 9:56 pm

I have been doing this pinging stuff for blogs for about 3 years now. It use to make a difference a few years ago and it was noticeable. I would say that in the last 6 months it has not made much of a difference I can tell. Regardless just like you in vain hope that it may actually make a difference I will still ping my lenses about once a week.

Ray_Harris · 09/25/2007 12:51 pm

Pinging was a very effective quick indexing tool for me prior to the Slap. I agree with Petee, it doesn't seem to make any big splashes now. Nevertheless, I still do it. If you do it, make sure you ping after every lens update and pay attention to the ping services you use - make sure you don't "double ping" when using different pinging sites (some of them may overlap).

Add http://feedshark.brainbliss.com/ to your list of pinging sites (note: you will need to add the feed shark code to your lens - the best place to do this is in the html of the intro module or in a text/write module).

Ray

Gordon_H · 09/26/2007 3:15 am

Thanks fluffanutta for info and tool.

I agree with most of the comments above in that there is little evidence of "pinging" actually working with Squidoo lenses. I have, however, noticed considerable benefit to postings on other sites by using this tool so continue in the vain hope that something is happening.

I have in the last couple of days added a couple of little tools to the bottom of each of my lenses. The pinging service "Autopinger" provides them. It is too early to tell how well they will work but one allows you to "Quick Ping" your lens every time you update. You simply click on the button and a new window opens showing you the progress. The other "allegedly" gives you the pinging site's considered "value of your blog" - may be interesting to see how it develops, if it indeed works.

Go to Autopinger and join it (simple and free.) In the "My Account" section, first of all click on "Add new blog" and a simple copy and paste sets your lens up. Then click on "Quick Ping Button" and subsequently on the "Get Code" option next to your relevant lens title. You simple then paste this code in to a new "Write/Text module" on your lens.

I hope I haven't made this sound more complicated than it actually is.

Good luck all!

sixquid · 09/27/2007 12:27 pm

I always try and ping my lenes when I have updated them and it did seem to work, however most of my old lenses traffic since the google slap is now coming from yahoo, I did some blogs to promote them and social bookmarking and added to my prefs on yahoo and seemed to get good results from yahoo but old lenses still dont seem to be attracting traffic from google however my partner made some new lenses recently and google seems to like new squidoo lenses and she achieved good page ranking and lots of traffic mainly from google.

LuckySeven · 10/08/2007 12:12 am

wow yeah pinging is working very well for me. I just got my new lens 35 hits. Thanks.

thefluffanutta · 12/10/2007 5:42 am

I did come across this interesting article on the subject: Blog Ping List

Blog Ping List wrote:
Why not just ping? Why do I have to submit my blog?

Many of the [ping services] will not really do anything with your pings until the day that you register yourself. Many of these places want to put you through extra hoops as part of verifying that you are a real blogger before your ping counts for anything.

This confirms my suspicions. Still, there are a few services that I think do work. and I've decided to add Moreover to the list just in case it'll help.

And, as a bonus, you can now ping your primary Lensmaster feed from SquidUtils, using Ping-o-Matic. I've also added a link to Feed Shark at the bottom of each lensmaster's page, so that you can use that if you wish.

kemengr · 12/11/2007 1:17 am

Thanks for the info, thefluffanutta. I would say pinging at the sites you mentioned earlier doesn't bring traffic. I tried ekstreme.com too but their its a tedious process. Ultimately, it is search engine traffic we have to aim much Google will try becoming tougher and tougher on its algorithm.

My experience with Blooger - FeedBurner - Ping (auto) - BlogRush way has been better.

Rajays · 12/11/2007 2:57 am

I have no proof of the success of pinging my squidoo lens but I do feel that the lens that I ping do get more search engine traffic than the lens I have not pinged. Fluffanutta thanks for providing pinging services in squidutils.

blujeanmomma · 12/11/2007 5:32 am

Pinging may not have the power it once did, but it's still a good tool to use to bring visitors your lens.

Even if it just brought one extra visitor, that visitor could be one who will spend a lot of money or catapult your lens into the stratosphere because they do an expose on your lens. You never know what that 1 can bring you. The power of 1 can be great!

I currently use pingoat but I am always impressed with fluffanutta's tools and insight into SEO and will definitely keep an eye out to see what your next tool is like.

Pixelrage · 12/11/2007 7:55 am

Pinging never gave me any results for Squidoo, but it helped a smidgeon for my websites.

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#1 09/01/2007 11:43 am

Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#2 09/01/2007 3:35 pm

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#3 09/02/2007 3:04 am

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#4 09/02/2007 4:35 am

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#5 09/02/2007 9:44 pm

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#6 09/03/2007 1:56 am

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#7 09/03/2007 3:36 am

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#8 09/06/2007 3:25 am

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#9 09/06/2007 4:47 am

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#10 09/06/2007 5:03 am

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#11 09/06/2007 8:36 am

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#12 09/07/2007 1:23 pm

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

thefluffanutta wrote:

#13 09/07/2007 2:34 pm

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

Sergeantrom wrote:

#14 09/10/2007 11:02 am

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#15 09/10/2007 12:30 pm

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#16 09/21/2007 9:56 pm

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#17 09/25/2007 12:51 pm

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#18 09/26/2007 3:15 am

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#19 09/27/2007 12:27 pm

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#20 10/08/2007 12:12 am

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#21 12/10/2007 5:42 am

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

Blog Ping List wrote:

#22 12/11/2007 1:17 am

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#23 12/11/2007 2:57 am

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#24 12/11/2007 5:32 am

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

#25 12/11/2007 7:55 am

Re: Does pinging real work with Squidoo lenses?

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