Question from Mona:
“No matter what I do, my comments always seem to end up in spam and never get published. How do I change that?”
This story is familiar to most of us, so I thought it’s important to touch a few points on that.
First of all, most blogs these days run Akismet to protect themselves from spam.
How does Akismet know to send a comment to the Neverland of a spam folder?
It looks for these 2 things:
- Presence of so-called “spam words” (a bit more on that below).
- How your comments were previously moderated on other blogs.
In other words, if a blogger deems your comment to be spam, Akismet will “learn” from that and will send your future comments into spam as well.
I will talk about fixing this problem with Akismet at the end of the post, but for now let me give you some tips to KEEP your comments FROM being marked as such to begin with.
Side note: these are great tips to use commenting to network, contribute to blogging community, and drive traffic to your blog. If however, you are using blog commenting for one way link building, you’ll have to break most of these suggestions - that’s the name of the game.
1. Use your real name, not keywords
Many bloggers won’t approve your comments if you don’t use your real name and stuff it with keywords instead.
Solution: combine both your name and a keyword. For instance: I comment as “Ana from Traffic Generation Cafe”. Most of the times, it works just fine.
However, some filters will send your comment into spam if it has more than 3 words for your name.
2. Link it to your home page URL
…as opposed to a specific post or page URL.
The longer the URL, the better chance it might end up in spam.
3. No links in the body of the comment
An obvious one.
4. Make your comment longer
To be exact, the comment should be longer than 2 short sentences. That’s what most filters will define as spam.
5. Stay away from using “spam words”.
I don’t REALLY think anyone knows for sure what those words are, but here are some sample lists; one of them is from WP codex. Worth checking out:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Spam_Words
http://blog.mannixmarketing.com/2009/08/spam-trigger-words/
6. Make sure your comment is worth approving
Don’t write the generic “Great post!” comment, you won’t win any points with that. Things like attacking someone, getting personal, using profanities, etc. will definitely get you banned as well.
7. Read more about proper commenting in this post:
How to get rid of Akismet problem?
If you are deemed to be a spammer by Akismet, your best and easiest solution is to post a couple of comments for your friends’ blogs and ask them to mark your comments as not spam.
This will give Akismet a chance to learn from those actions and you’ll be off the naughty list in no time.
Alternatively, use Akismet contact page to request to be removed from their spam list.
Marketing Takeaway:
If you have Akismet Installed in your blog, do to others as you want to be done to you: make sure you check each comment before you mark it as spam. If you are unsure, just trash it instead.
Question: do you have any experience being marked as spammer? Any other bright ideas on how to avoid it?
Love it or hate it? Comment to show me that you’ve alive!
PS For more no-nonsense traffic generation and conversion tips from Ana, fill out this short spam-free form:
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{ 117 comments… read them below or add one }
Being a newer blogger, I have not yet had tons of spam, but certainly my fair share of those ever-so-ingenious bots posting things about making money from home, etc. Wordpress has caught all but one of those for me, using Akismet, I believe. That has been nice.
Reading this blog DID leave me wondering how many comments of my own have perhaps been flagged as spam over time. I always try to leave quality comments, as I wouldn’t want anyone to do anything less on my own blog. Thank you for the advice and the links below. You do, indeed, have a great site and I’m looking forward to reading a lot of great things over time!
Thanks,
Jen
Jen allen invites you to read: 4 BIG Problems with Sundance Spas
I am not a big fan of Akismet, Jen; it always flags my comments on other blogs as spam - go figure. Plus it lets through a lot of human spam as well.
I now use GASP plugin on my blog instead of Akismet; works much better.
Ana,
I have to say that comments people are leaving are really interesting. I recently had the blank page treament when submitting a comment with a link in body which related directly to the topic “expanded function dental assisting” which I specifically discussed for our state. Then I tried to resubmit w/o the body link-blank again! The irony is this dental assisting site recently linked to one of my blog posts.
Also, after looking at the two spam word lists, your readers may find certain words or phrases they use may get the spam treatment. Two such that I think have happened to me (not totally sure, but highly suspected) are “smile enhancement” which I now use smile alteration and “oral health” which I will now use as dental health.
Thanks for the excellent info as always.
Dr Pauley invites you to read: BROOKSIDE DENTAL BELLEVUE USING VELSCOPE VX FOR ORAL DISEASE DETECTION
You’re welcome, Dr Pauley.
Thanks for the spam word lists tip.
Not so long ago I started blogging, and the new things that I had to learn about building a successful site were quite overwhelming. One thing that I didn’t even know is how useful can comments be. Then a friend briefly explained their purpose, besides the obvious feedback of the reader. Today by reading your post I also learned a few new things about spam filters and many more. I`m thankful for that.
Best regards,
Chris, a fellow blogger stopping by the 1st time.
Welcome to Traffic Generation Cafe, Chris.
Commenting on other blogs, as well as cultivating comments on your own are a great way to cultivate new and loyal readership, that’s for sure.
I comment on a lot of blogs, especially when I am trying to build up my traffic, but I think that just commenting just for it is own sake is a waste of time. By far the best way to avoid being detected as spam is well, not to be spammy spam but mostly people want to interact and be part of the blogging community.
krav maga invites you to read: There’s so much going on I don’t know where to start!
That’s exactly right, Krav. Quality comments will ensure you are not marked as a spammer.
Came across your blog while looking for some blogs to follow. Haven’t been blogging to long, I use Wordpress for it now. When I first started my blog, I was using Blogger. After several months of it, I switched to Wordpress. The problem that I’m having is that I get comments (alot) but they end up in my spam. Then I have to sort through all of them to find real peoples comments. Sometimes I can’t even tell. What I don’t want to do is approve peoples comments that is nothing but spam. Thank you Ana for your tips.
Hello Rick,
Hopefully these techniques will help you manage the comments better.
Thanks for stopping by.
Bearing in mind that Akismet or the blog moderator could potentially mark your comment as spam, a few possible ways to avoid being marked as spam are:
1) Include a personal photo of yourself as your Gravatar image. Obvious but if you look through your spam comments and someone has a photo of themselves, you’re likely to pass it as not being spam.
2) Write longer comments that add value to the original post.
3) Do not leave a totally irrelevant URL as your website address. There is a place for the odd untargeted comment but be careful if the URL displays a website that might cause offence to others. The blog owner might not want association with that website.
4) Build a relationship with the blog owner. If they know you comment well, they will understand your motive and intention behind the comment and will be more likely to accept your comments. As with any text conversations, the intent can often be misunderstood since, according to NLP research, 93% of communication is lost due to the inherent inability to communicate body language and tonality.
5) Add some personality to your comments.
Most blog owners want their blogs to be a happier place and smilies are the equivalent of hanging around with smily and happy people in the blogosphere.
Wayne Lambert invites you to read: Best Internet Marketing Tools
Those tips are all great, thanks for sharing, Wayne! You are right, we like happy commenters!
Ana | Traffic Generation invites you to read: SEOMoz’s Top Google Ranking Factors of 2011: The 60 Second Tour
I haven’t had much issue with being marked as spam, Ana. The only time I can think of my comments getting flagged was when I tried to link my comment URL to specific posts or categories. When I just linked to my homepage my comments never had an issue, but when I changed that URL then some sites just wouldn’t approve them.
I’ve had a few commenters that were consistently caught by Akismet, but they couldn’t get unspammed. Akismet wasn’t responsive the last time I dealt with this issue for a commenter so I finally gave them up and started using GASP. I’ve had very few real spam comments and all legitimate commenters get through fine after I’ve approved their first comment.
Brad Harmon invites you to read: Don’t Let Your Website Be Held Hostage
Well, there you have it. Perhaps you should make the above suggestion regarding Akismet to those commenters who get caught. While you’re using GASP, many other sites still use Akismet and they may benefit from this tip.
Getting marked as a spammer sure is annoying
, this will help most of us to know and giving a good quality comments. Thanks for the information.
Yes, it is annoying. However, it should not happen if you follow the 7 tips.
I’m wondering how could anyone identify you as a spammer like Akismet for example, even though you are not?! Anyway, thanks for the valuable tips Ana, those tips are really a big help for us. (It’s really sad and bothering to be marked as spammer.) With the information you had provided, everybody would be aware in posting comments. Thanks.
I stopped using akismet after I found out that my fellow blogger Edwin from guidegoods,commenting has been blocked and ID’d as spam.That really made me switched to GASP
Wan Firdaus invites you to read: Website Indexer Tool Download
I’ve had the same problem with Akismet, Wan. Thankfully, most of the blogs I like to comment on switched to GASP as well.
Hi Ana I already commented here in your site before and I was happy then but it seems my recent comments are getting block by akismet. I hope you could help me get rid of this spam problem.
Your help will be appreciated. God Bless
Vhinz
I actually hate Akismet and don’t use it on my site, Vhinz. I do all my moderation by hand.
The only reason your comment would go into moderation is if you changed your email address (looks like it needs an avatar!) or your website.
Keep commenting; I am listening!
An
So many comments spammers are out there. And I agree with all your mentioned points Ana. Sometimes it might be hard to distinguish between real comment and spam, but I think you can always find it out according to what is written in the comment itself.
If it is just general message, than you might be almost sure that the commenter did not read your article and just want to place a link at your blog.
Thanks for sharing
Adam invites you to read: Learn To Enjoy Writing
Spam is always frustrating, no matter how unrelatingly intelligent the comment sounds.
I especially loathe repeat spammers. Do they think I was stupid enough to publish their comment the first time around?
Sorry, Adam - I am upset with spammers today!
Ana
Well, I will sure start using that GASP from your other post (that is how I ended up in this one).
I can see I have repeated comments in my spam folder. I usually don’t approve comments where there are no names but only KWs because most of them are just some generic messages.
The “best” thing is seeing a message saying “I love your post but I didn’t understand the third part”. What third part, it is a post that has no parts, only a few photos.
Thanks for the great tips about fighting spam.
Brankica invites you to read: Twiends review One more Twitter tool
I know some of the spam comments are laughable!
Some of them are getting to be pretty tricky. For instance, I get a lot of intelligent SEO-related comments on my blog; the problem is they are not related to the post in any way.
Have a good night, Brankica!
Ana!
Very nice tips about Spam! I receive so many spam comments in my wordpress blog everyday!
I have a question. When i posted an article about “spam” on my blog, the “spam comments” increased by 100%! Why is that happened?
Best regards,
John Mak
John Mak invites you to read: Intel’s Cloud 2015 Investment Plan
Good question, John, and the answer is… I have no idea!
I assume it has something to do with the spam bots, looking for specific keywords.
It happened to me once: I sent out an email to my list, talking to them about this post and of course mentioned the word “spam” in it - I had a much bigger percentage of my emails go to spam. Makes no sense.
Spammers always end up a step ahead of us, don’t they?
Thanks GASP sure helps better than using Akismet , we gon from 3 or 4 spammers to 40 or 50 , mostly porn sites , now to just a few good ones
Great ideas for sure ,
Glad to hear that. That’s really an improvement.
Ana
WoW Ana Your 7 tips are eye opening, I was wondering what is the purpose of Akismet and now I know. Thanks for GASP, I was having the same problem or deleting these traffic hungry sites. I really need Java to read all the great tips here. Thanks Ana and everyone sharing real content.
You are so welcome, Robert.
Glad you took my advice on GASP - I absolutely love it.
Best,
Ana
This is a wonderful tip Ana! Will surely do what you have just said on this article, it is not such a good feeling to be marked as a spammer when all you wanted to do is share your thoughts!Very helpful tips!Thanks a whole bunch!=)
Shaira invites you to read: Settlement of Business Interruption Lawsuit for Cordua Restaurants Announced
Hello Shaira,
Thanks for the comment. I’m glad to help you with that. To be mark as a spammer is not good in any way.
Take care,
Ana
The blog provides helpful information regarding the topic and it also gives a vast knowledge as well which helps us in our studies and in practical life.
Hello there,
Thanks for the great comment. I’m glad you take some time to read my post.
Hope to see you again,
Ana
Thank you for liking my post. You are always welcome to visit my site and learn more..
Have a nice day,
Ana
I’m wondering how could anyone identify you as a spammer like Akismet for example, even though you are not?! Anyway, thanks for the valuable tips Ana, those tips are really a big help for us. (It’s really sad and bothering to be marked as spammer.) With the information you had provided, everybody would be aware in posting comments. Thanks.
I agree with you Tiara, to be marked as spammer is really frustrating but it does happen once in a while. Thanks for taking time to read my post.
Take care,
Ana
One thing I have noticed for Akisment is if I do get flagged commenting somewhere nothing happens… I’ll write a long comment about the post and hit “submit” and suddenly just get redirected to the main page.
There will be no “awaiting moderation” or anything. The comment simply disappears into space. Uh…What happened? So, I’ll do it again… Same thing LOL…
It’s great that Akisment catches spammers…But I’m not a spammer. I have had one blogger email me and tell me what happened. So now I know. But a clueless person (like myself) is left in confusion.
Dave invites you to read: Calling Customer Support – Automated Machine
I had the same problems… Correction: still do.
That’s why I wrote this post to at least minimize the possibility of being thrown into spam.
Have a great day, Dave!
Ana
Ana,
This is a truly helpful list.
Akismet is great for avoiding spam, that is why I do not use a confirmation code. 4 out of 5 times I won’t leave a comment if a code doesn’t work properly, you can’t go wrong with Akismet.
I find that if you are commenting and direct your comments at the blog owner/author, this helps to decide if the comment is spam, ex. Hey Ana. I also like to use my name at the end.
Always enjoy the value Ana!
Tommy D.
That’s true Tommy, it’s always good to direct your comment to the author, better use the first name not only to avoid being in the spam folder but it is also more personal.
Thanks for the comment,
Ana
I don’t have any useful commentary this time, except MAN! that Spam photo is making me hungry for some good ol’ Minnesota home cooking!
Amy Spreeman invites you to read: Brett Favre- When doubt taints the brand
Yes, that is definitely enticing Amy.
Thanks for dropping by,
Ana
I have learned today that I need to study a blog carefully before I decide what type of comment I can use. Usually, bloggers that use Keyword Luv have no problem allowing posts that have long Keywords in the “Name” and the url directing in a page other than the home page. They also “allow” links within the content. You are right to say that we have to break the above rules in link building. I will bear in mind the 7 rules you stated above when I study people’s blogs.
Yes Alex that is indeed very important before posting a comment. I’m glad that you appreciate my personal insights.
Thanks for taking time to read this post.
Hope to see you again,
Ana
First of all, let me say that I love Akismet! You provide great tips on “how to” comment properly. This should be required reading for new and experienced online marketers alike. When I think about the hours of filtering through comments that this plugin has saved me I am very grateful!
Karen Newman invites you to read: Susan Boyle Sings Success
Thanks for the compliment Karen. That’s the very reason why I decided to share this, not only for newbies but as a reminder for every bloggers.
Thanks for dropping by,
Ana
If the comments I’m getting over at my blog do add value, then I won’t care much if the person uses a real name or a keyphrase instead. I still agree that using your real name is the better choice. Username like “make money online” for instance won’t make you stand out of the crowd, when every second commentator goes with something along those lines. The real name is far better if you want to gain recognition. There’s no problem of adding keywords if the KeywordLuv plug-in is present though.
Great article Ana!
Daniel Sharkov invites you to read: Utilize These Blogging Tips to Lift your Blog Off the Ground
Well said Daniel. I couldn’t agree more.
By the way, I also love your blog, keep it up.
Take care
Ana
The best way not to get flagged is to read this post , just kidding (not!).
I do comment a lot but on some posts i don’t have nothing to say so I just read the post, tweet it and that’s it, I am not like other to just leave a “wow, that is a great post”.
If I do leave a comment I try to make it to the subject, add to the conversation, help the post get more content etc.
Although akismet is kind of unscrupulous (actually some of those who use it) and sometimes not even all the guides in the world can keep your from getting banned/blacklisted but a rule of thumb would be to THINK before you post: would you approve/like a comment like yours if the post would be on your blog?!
Alex invites you to read: Competitia Camioanelor Monstru
Very good point, Alex.
When I was a newbie and didn’t know any better, I used to leave those stupid comments, but now I know better.
Contribute if you have something to say, if not, just move on.
I do agree that sometimes Akismet doesn’t seem to know its hands from its feet.
Love your comment; you should come by more often!
Ana
Thanks for this post, Ana! Last month I was marked as a spammer by Akismet and after reading your post I’m still not sure why. I went through the their contact page and they removed me from the list immediately and apologized.
I’m surprised at some of the words that are on the spam trigger words list, like wife!
Stacy
Stacy invites you to read: Favorite Links of the Week
Hello Stacy,
Nice to see you again. Yes sometimes I also find the spam trigger words list really weird and we are sometimes marked as spammer without any reason at all which is very frustrating but I’m glad that they removed you from their list and even apologize, that’s impressive on their part.
Have a wonderful day!
Ana
I like reading blogs that give Me the goods but Your stuff just… Well to Me too much some time , which is a good thing. Makes Me wonder, what do You sell? Lol
As usual, awesome value Ana,
Jonathan
Jonathan Sweeting invites you to read: Give Me Free MLM Leads Online or Give Me Death
I’d love to have more people ask me that questions, Jonathan.
Thanks for coming by.
Ana
Hey Ana,
I sometimes have the problem of my comments ending up in the spam filter. But most of the time they don’t. The thing is that even long comments will end up in the spam folder. When I look at the comments in my spam folder then a lot of them are rather long spam comments.
I think the best way is to simply use your name instead of a keyword or name + keyword. You should do that especially on blogs you haven’t been to before.
Julius invites you to read: How to Build More Successful Mini Sites
I fished this one out of my spam folder, Julius - long URL?
Using your name is definitely a safe bet when commenting, unless you are doing link building of course.
Thanks for stopping by!
Ana
Hi Anna
These are all very useful and valuable tips. Proving quality comments that add to the post or challenges the author’s POV definitely reduces your chances of being filed in spam, and should be common practice with every commentator - sadly, it isn’t.
Thanks for the super-duper post.
Michael
You’re welcome Michael. I ‘m glad you like my post and learned something from it.
Have a nice day!
Ana
That was a very precise answer Ana. However I am still in doubt with the linking to homepage point. We linkback to other pages because we want backlinks to those pages for better SEO. Shouldn’t this be done. I do understand that an author might mark you as spam but I guess Akismet has no issues with you giving longer URLS?
Himanshu Chanda invites you to read: Why you should never use Google Instant
You are absolutely right, Himanshu; that’s why I said in the article that these tips do not apply for link building, rather traffic generation.
Ana
Hey Ana thanks for the post, I got worried a bit about the part where if you get onto the Akismet spammer list, it will be difficult not only to get out, but to be able to do any commenting on any other blogs that do use it, since you will automatically be marked as spam.
I’m a new blogger with little experience about blogging and so far my posts titles have been quite large, so their link is kind of big. I better watch it or I might automatically end up on that list. Good to learn this now than later.
Thanks a lot for sharing.
Sayed invites you to read: What Is “NoDoFollow” And How To Identify It
You are very welcome, Sayed; and you are absolutely right, it’s much better to learn from other people’s mistakes.
You have a great blog; keep going with it!
Ana
It is always good to read an d learn and do this ona regular basis - I personally don’t use Akismet but Defensio - yet I guess the questions are pretty much the same. I have never seen “proper” comments show up as spams, but there are dozens which are generated on autopilot which are flooding blogs with some traffic. Mostly “odd” email addresses from Russia or other language remote areas. Mass removal always works LOL.
Keep up the good work, Ana!
Cheers
Frieke Karlovits
Frieke Karlovits invites you to read: Blue Personalities – Traditionally Called Sanguine
You are right, Frieke - no matter what comment filter you use, they work very similarly to each other.
By the way, I would not call Russia a “remote area”.
Ana
On womencorp.org, we get loads of spam comments and Askimet cannot track them. They are automated and the way you can recognize them is that it only has one or two lines, plucked somewhere from the internet and vaguely related to the subject, and ends in an odd way, like “blablabla,~”, “blablabla,-” or “blablabla,:”
We get about 5 of those a day. I do not understand how they get around Askimet, actually. I presume they use email addresses from real people stolen from websites because those look genuine. As such, many people run the risk of being blacklisted by Askimet while they haven’t commented at all. In the beginning I marked all of those as spam, I’m afraid.
Sorry about that folks, didn’t know any better.
Rudolf B invites you to read: S3Media Stream FAQ
I am surprised that Akismet lets so many of them through on your site, Rudolf.
It’s an interesting point you are making about spammers using real people’s email addresses. Certainly with an abundance of free email hosts these days, it’s not very difficult to set up hundreds and thousands genuine-looking emails.
If a comment looks like spam, it’s OK to mark it as such, Rudolf; don’t feel bad about that.
It’s when you are not too sure if it’s just a newbie who doesn’t know how to leave proper comments left you a “great post!” comment, that’s when I recommend to trash it instead of spamming it.
Always great to see you around!
Ana
I rarely get tagged as spam though there are a few blogs that just don’t agree with my comments @ all. It’s always good to contact the blog owner whenever your comment hits the spam bucket. At least that’s what I do in some cases
Udegbunam Chukwudi invites you to read: Adsense Smart Pricing & Blog Posts Of The Week 30
Hi, Udegbunam - your comment DID end up in spam.
Go figure…
Glad I found it though and see you back soon.
Ana
Ana, actually one of my e-mails is in Akismet’s hatebox, even though my comments were (in my opinion) honest and useful. I tried actually contacting them at their form, but there was no action taken, so I think it’s pointless to recommend people to use that form.
My hope is for people to stop using Akismet and use things like “Anti-Captcha” plugin, that differentiates between users and robots, instead of relying on such a bad technology that is Akismet. (I bet it would get 0 rating evetually if it wasn’t pre-installed in every Wordpress).
Another way that I get my comments to appear is to actually contact owners of the blogs to manually find my comment in spam. Once they approve me - rest of my comments on THAT particular blog will not go to spam. Tedious, but probably the only way if your e-mail/ip got blocked by Akismet.
Slava invites you to read: Write your blog posts as if you were trying to impress a girl or a man
Hi, Slava - I actually heard from many bloggers that Akismet was responsive to their contact form requests, but I don’t have any personal experience with it.
I personally don’t like the websites that use CAPTCHA from a user’s perspective. So I don’t want to do it to my readers.
Contacting blog owners should usually work, although you are absolutely right about it being so tedious.
I guess there is no perfect answer here.
Pleasure to meet you!
Ana
I use akismet and there sure are a lot of legitimate comments that go to the spam folder. So what I do, I always check the spam folder. However, I think I’ll do what you said regarding trashing a comment you’re not sure about instead of marking it as spam, that would be a safer course of action.
Andrew invites you to read: Has Social Networking Gone Too Far
Yes, Andrew - I think it’s better to trash rather than mark as spam.
When I check my spam folder, I always look for gravatars and my name mentioned; most of the times everything else it trash.
By the way, your comment was stuck in spam as well; go figure.
Ana
Hey Ana,
I was wondering how akismet knows what to throw into the spam vault… The ‘spam words’ make a lot of sense…
I’ve never been labeled a spammer (yet) and aim not to be (of course). I’m hoping not to experience too much on either side of the ‘Spammer’ fence.
Thanks for sharing this, it’s really useful info I’ve not come across anywhere else.
Jym
Jym invites you to read: The MLM Industry- Echoes Of A Bright Future
I’ve had that happened to me a few times, even within our EIF group, Jym.
Many times I could trace it back to a lengthy URL. Sometimes, I simply have no idea why.
Ana
I think the first point you made is so true. Even if your comments are good and if your comments don’t come with a name, I don’t approve mpst of them. That’s because I really don’t know who I’m talking to although I would love to approve them.
I think Akismet does a good job of blocking spams but there are a few that just slips through their spam filter but fortunately that doesn’t always happen.
Hmm i didn’t know the length of your URL link plays a role in being marked as spam. Good to know that
bryan invites you to read: Developing a Content Plan That Ensures Online Success
Thanks for stopping by, Bryan.
I know, some people go after link building without thinking too much what it sounds like to blog owners.
Ana
Ana,
Wow-I am like so many others and did not know this valuable info. I have come across this a few times with comments of my own on other sites. Made me wonder, why someone would say I had spammed them. It didn’t make sense. Because I knew I had not sent anything to anyone without permission. But now it does. I will pay close attention in the future so that I can try to rectify the issue with them personally if possible. Also thanks for doing the research on this issue.
Keep up the Great job!
Carol Perdue
You are very welcome, Carol - I am glad I was able to provide an insight into spam issues.
Ana
Hi Carol,
Virtually ALL the comment spam I get at my site come from people without a Gravatar, just like you. It’s an instant warning flag to me. It shows they are very new, or, they change their email address a lot.
Go to gravatar.com and get yourself an “Identity.” This shows you are more “serious” about your online presence.
Rick
Rick LaPoint invites you to read: Are You Confusing Your Markets
I am with you, Rick - always suspicious about blank comments.
Good advice, Carol; I think you should look into it.
Ana
I’m glad you did Ryan. I guess you learned something out from that experience. I appreciate you for sharing that.
Cheers,
Ana
Ana, I somehow wound up in the Akismet doghouse on Monday morning for reasons totally unclear to me. I think I’ve been cool on all 7 of your rules.
I immediately contacted all 6 blog owners where my comments hadn’t appeared and asked them to approve. All did.
I then took your advice and contacted Akismet. I got a reply about 12-16 hours later with an apology and the news that the problem had been fixed.
Still don’t know why it happened…
John Soares invites you to read: When You Should Do a Half-Assed Job
Hello John,
Sometimes it really happens, that is also my struggle but I’m glad that the problem has been fixed and they apologized for the trouble they have caused you.
Take care
Ana
Hi Ana,
As always I learned a lot. I had always wondered why nice comments that were so obviously not spam ended up in my spam folder and I never realized that it could depend on what happens on other blogs. It makes total sense now.
Thanks for the information!
Heather
Heather C Stephens invites you to read: Napoleon Hill- The Master-Key to Riches 9 Motivatiors of Life
Yes Heather, now we all know how to prevent that. I also asked the same question before.
Thanks for the comment
Ana
Thanks for pointing out a very important aspect about blog commenting. When I write a comment I think of them as a mini blog post. I try to add value to the post by continuing the discussion.
Thanks again for posting. I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future. Subscribing to your RSS feed!
Cheers!
David invites you to read: Valuable Blogging Tips for Beginners
You’re welcome David. I’m glad that you also find it important.
Thanks for dropping by and hope to see you again
Ana
Hi Ana,
Whenever one of my comments happens to be tagged as spam, the first thing I do is not get upset about it.
I know I’m not a spammer in the true sense of the word so I don’t waste time fretting about something that is not worthy of my energy.
I find a quick note via email to the blog owner concerned works most of the time. Once they have “un-spammed” my comment once this rectifies the situation going forward.
Thanks for always sharing valuable tips.
~Marcus
Marcus Baker invites you to read: Skittle Your way to Success With Your Network Marketing Internet Business
Great Attitude Marcus. I admire how you handle the situation. That was a very good approach. Thanks for sharing
Have a great day!
Hi Ana,
it’s not only an issue for the commentator but also for the blog owner. I have to release at least three comments a day from dear blogging friends of mine a from the spam folder - how do I know how many of them are really sent to neverland ?
Well, sometimes my comments on other people’s blogs don’t get through automatically even if they did before - is that a sure sign that it was caught by spam protection ?
Thanks for a great post with sound advice - what’s true needs to be said, right, regardless of spam filters
Take care
Oliver
Oliver Tausend invites you to read: Lessons From “Think And Grow Rich” – Chapter 2 “Desire”
You are right, Oliver - sometimes those spam filters seem to have no rhyme or reason in the way they function.
Yes, if you don’t see your comment show up in any way or see the message that it’s in moderation, it most likely went into spam.
Have a great weekend, Oliver.
Ana
A friend of mine started getting smacked by Akisment, just this week. A quick email to them cleared it up - which I thought was pretty impressive response, on their part.
That was great Roy. It’s indeed very impressive how fast they responded to that problem. Thanks for sharing that.
Hope to see you again
Ana
Hi Ana,
I don’t use Akismet so thanks to tell me that info. For my part I use “wp captcha free” a free wordpress plugin. That plugin surely not prevent spam to appear but it is a minimum to protect from random comments. I have some irrelevant comments but not a lot, so I think maybe I am more lucky than Mona!!
Thanks
Dave B
Income Automation System invites you to read: Income Automation System
I think you are Dave. If it works for you then that’s great.
Keep it up
Ana
Having a Gravatar image helps a lot too. I am not sure if it matters to Askimet or not, but I Know I check out my spam folder once a day and stop to read every post with a gravatar image to make sure it is not sent to the wrong place.
I am sure over time having a gravatar image will help a lot to get spam binned less because it will get you more “approvals”
Great tips though, I know I have occasionally been bounced to peoples spam bin for no apparent reason. I do not know if any of these reasons were the particular culprit but they are a good place to start to know what to avoid.
Steve invites you to read: How to Make Money with Affiliate Marketing
Good point Steve. Double checking our spam folder is also necessary to be certain. Thanks for telling us about gravatar image.
Thanks for stopping by
Ana
I don’t really like the homepage URL rule whereas internal sites are seen as spam. Sometimes when commenting an internal site would fit better to the comment than the homepage url.
I absolutely agree with you, Andreas.
I would much rather link to internal pages as well. And I do that on blogs where I am a regular commenter and I know they will fish my comments out of spam.
Unfortunately, we don’t set the rules.
Ana
Ana, as usual your emails get my interest and you allow me to learn a tidbit more of information that could help me in my challenging endeavor to be as successful as you.
Keeping you in my my bookmarks!!
Take care
Tonyknuckles invites you to read: Where to Post All Those Articles You’ve Been Writing
So good to hear that, Tony, and always a pleasure to see you on my blog!
Ana
Thanks Ana for some great insights on how spam works. Always wondered how Akismet knows it’s spam. I get heaps of valid comments ending up in the spam folder, but I moderate all comments, so i will retrieve them. Amazing how many say “my cousin recommended your site”, or “I used this for a class assignment”. The dead give-away is they never refer to anything that was said on the post. They go straight to where they belong-the trash bin. Too bad it is so easy for spammers to have their friends help get their names out of the “doghouse”. It should be harder so they would stop wasting our time with their ridiculous comments.
SenseiMattKlein invites you to read: Martial Arts Training- The iPhone as a Teaching Tool
I think you’re right because sometimes those spammers make our blogging life harder.
Thanks for dropping by
Ana
Hi Ana,
Your emails are always welcomed with me and even though I don’t have the time now, I enjoy reading through your info and the comments left by your friends/readers as well. Thanks to all.
Pearl
Thanks for coming by, Pearl - always appreciated.
Ana
Hi Ana
I use akismet and check my spam folder every day. Occasionally genuine comments end up in the spam folder but usually it does its job well. If I get a new commenter I always check their site and if it is obviously spam I delete. Sometimes it is okay and can be a rather short comment because the person commenting does not have English as their first language.
The longer I have a blog and move around the blogosphere the better I get at spotting spam but mostly people want to interact and be part of the blogging community.
Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia invites you to read: Growing Lavenders-Are You a Purist
Hello Patricia,
Yes sometimes we can’t avoid seeing genuine comments in the spam folder that’s why we also need to double check that which is additional work on our part although it doesn’t happen all the time. Good point also on giving considerations to commenter who’s English is not their first language.
Thanks for sharing that.
Ana
Hello Ana, great tips I check my spam filter once a week just to make sure some of the good comments are not in it. My only tip would be to sign up for Gravatar, Don’t quote me on this one but I read that Akismet give a lot of authority to Gravatar users since you have to validate your email,
Marios
Marios invites you to read: How To Find a Hungry Crowd of People
Hi Marios,
I appreciate your tip. Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Cheers,
Ana
I comment on a lot of blogs, especially when I am trying to build up my traffic, but I think that just commenting just for it’s own sake is a waste of time. By far the best way to avoid being detected as spam is - well, not to be spammy.
Read blogs for the love of it - if you are trying to build an income, or even just a following or a community online, you want it to be genuine. Blog because what you just read was so interesting it compelled you to say something. I can hardly read something without thinking about it in my own way, so I think if you actually read the blog you are visiting, commenting in a credible way becomes easy.
I don’t see the need for spamming at all. I don’t recall ever having had this problem - and I have left hundreds, maybe thousands, of blog comments in my time.
Vernon invites you to read: Craft A Blog Youll Be Proud Of
It’s great to hear that your comments have never been marked as spam, Vernon; I must admit you are the first one I know.
Even when you don’t mean to spam, your comments could end up there anyway - and this is what this post is all about.
Happens to me all the time, believe it or not.
Ana
Ana,
I don’t see how anyone could consider you a spammer. It takes a bun ch of digging to find out what you actually do sell! Or maybe I don’t understand what spam is. Thanks for showing us these tips. Considering how important get links is to page ranking and traffic to yor site, this is a must read.
Lou Barba
Lou Barba invites you to read: CATERPILLERS- GIANT SEQUOIAS- AND JUMPING OUT OF AIRPLANES
Thanks Lou, I appreciate that. I hope you’ll find these tips useful as well.
Have a nice day!
Ana
Getting marked as a spammer sure is annoying
, this will help most of us to know and giving a good quality comments. Thanks for the information.
Wish you the best,
Wen.
Wen invites you to read: Disqus Comment System
You’re welcome Wen. I hope I was able to help you.
Thanks for dropping by
Ana