How quickly do your blog posts get indexed on Google, and why the hell should you care?
Well — aren’t you looking for every advantage to gain new readers?
See, when WordPress ‘pings’ a directory like Technorati with your latest content, it’s the same as updating their listing for your material.
So when a reader is scrolling through blog directories, they have the opportunity to read your new post. Think about the intrinsic value to you as a WordPress blogger to gain visitors, who may become regulars and eventually fans! All because you set up a quality ping service.
Wait…How Do I Know When My Pings Are Working?
You have to be careful that you don’t spam the major directories with lots of irrelevant pings, like when you update a post with new content. However you also need to make sure you hit all the major directories to increase the likelihood Google will index — or ‘show’ — your posts in their results pages as quickly as possible each day.
The solution is to download a WordPress plug-in called the cbNet Ping Optimizer. Downloading and activating the plug-in ensures no ‘double-dipping’ with updates, and it provides a space for adding numerous directories.
Where are all these directories?
Check out this recent post from SEO Shop that contains a monster list you can add to your ping optimizer. The end goal is to make sure your posts get indexed within minutes.
Again, you may be asking, “Why the Hell should I care?”
Ummm…Why wouldn’t you?
Sending out blasts to directories is another syndication tool, like that popular social network lots of people are using. What’s it called? Oh yeah…
Twitter.
Twitter is really a directory, at least for the way most people are using the service. When you perform a Twitter search or splice your followers into lists and categories, this is essentially a homemade directory (and one reason major businesses like Monster.com are seeing start-ups like TweetMyJobs making inroads with their customers — because they provide real time job availability on demand).
Alright troops, you’re probably ready to get your ping on, so here’s a video to help show you the benefits (and ways to use) a ping plug-in for WordPress: