About the Author

author photo

This blog is run and written by Lewis Smile. You can hire him at BuildMyLens.com and YourNicheBlog.com. He does some mighty fine things on these internets ;)

See All Posts by This Author

Pinging Your Lenses

September 27th, 2009 • Related • Filed Under

WHAT IS A PING?

Any time you update certain webpages or publish a new blog post or lens, you can send a Ping for it.

A Ping is a little signal your new updated page sends to various search engines and directories. A ping is the online equivalent of your new lens running up to Google’s doorstep and ringing the doorbell. It’s a way for your lens to go out and get attention, shouting “I’m here! I’m updated!” instead of sitting around just waiting to be found.

PINGING YOUR LENSES

Sending out a ping for your new lenses is a very good idea. It can help you get indexed quicker, and is one of the reasons blog posts get indexed so fast.

You have a couple of options for pinging, and below are the fastest ways I’ve found:

1. SquidUtils.com – SquidUtils has a very useful ping tool that embeds itself right into your lens immediately after you click Publish. It’s super smart and also free.

You can find out all you need to know about SquidUtils addons and features here.

2. Pingoat.com – Pingoat is a very popular pinging service, and is also free. Unlike SquidUtils this one doesn’t embed itself right into your lens. I don’t really use Pingoat that often as I find SquidUtils to be sufficient and more convenient. Pingoat does ping more places though.

GENERAL ADVICE

Don’t ping every time for update your lens. Only when you first publish it and if you do any major updates where you add more content. Don’t go ping crazy on the same 1 lens!

Lewis :)

There Are 16 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by Chuck Bbartok on 27 September 2009:

    Thanks for another Timely Post.
    Your ability to share Information is a talent and very appreciated

  2. Comment by JaguarJulie on 27 September 2009:

    Lewis, you know I always wondered where the terminology of “ping” and “pinging” originated. It’s been a while since I’ve employed the pinging services for my blog posts — I used to do that quite regularly but because of my work at Squidoo, I’ve probably neglected my blogs. I really like how SquidUtils integrated the pinging capability to our lenses. Yes, good general advice to not ping every time you ‘publish’ as is good advice not to click on that link that sends to twitter, “I just updated my Squidoo lens.” Good judicious use of these capabilities is a good thing!

  3. Comment by Brett Jarvi on 27 September 2009:

    Lewis, I usually use Pingoat. Here is a method I just tried with a lens. I was at #7 out of 9 million,now at #11- I barely have any back links:

    1. Set up any WEB2.0 site
    2. Put your content on the site WITHOUT OUR AFFILIATE
    LINK as a matter of a fact – don’t use any links.
    3. Wait until the site gets indexed.
    4. AFTER it is indexed go back to the site and update it with a
    couple hundred words of content. 200 words is fine.
    5. Wait for a few days until the site is spidered again.
    6. Promote the site a bit. You can do this by submitting the RSS
    feeds, Bookmarking, blog commenting, etc…you know the
    drill :)
    7. Wait 24 hours
    8. Now you can start putting your links on the site

  4. Comment by CreativeArtist on 27 September 2009:

    Thank you both, Lewis and Brett. Some things I will definitely do on my next new lens. : )

  5. Comment by Jimmie on 28 September 2009:

    Why not ping every time? If you’re updating a lens every two to three months wouldn’t that be good timing for pinging? I do notice an increase in visits after pinging (especially for those bottom dwellers).

  6. Comment by Notebook Netbook Discount Deals on 2 October 2009:

    I have not used SquidUtils but have tried Pingoat in the past and it was very fast and remembers the site info so its easier to ping the next time!

  7. Comment by Paul the Accountant on 10 October 2009:

    I’ve been building links to my lens just to try to get it into the google index initially but so far no luck. Will this help?

  8. Comment by MrLewisSmile on 14 October 2009:

    @Jimmie – For lenses updated every two or three months I would ping too. I’m thinking more about lenses updated a few times a week when they’re first being built. Good point. I didn’t really make that clear!

    @Paul – Pinging will definitely help!

  9. Comment by MrLewisSmile on 14 October 2009:

    @Brett – your words are wise, my friend :)

  10. Comment by Jimmie on 15 October 2009:

    Thanks for the clarification, Lewis!

  11. Comment by Gina on 27 November 2009:

    Pinging sites, remember, are simply sites that notify other sites on the internet of updates to your blogs/lens, etc. It’s like a bunch of people running into a neighborhood and knocking on everybody’s door. When you open the door, there’s a note saying, “I just updated my lens about a certain topic.”

    Pingler is one of the better pinging sites out there with 91 sites. Worst case, only 9 sites would not be pinged vs. other pinging sites where half might not be pinged.

    Don’t forget to Social book mark your lens with Social Poster (20 per day max) and Zimbio.

  12. Comment by drew on 13 December 2009:

    I think pingoat died and went to ping heaven. Its been down for quite some time.

  13. Comment by Katherine on 14 December 2009:

    You know, I actually bother to read a post or a lens. If I like it, I feel compelled to give my opinion or leave a comment. When someone leaves a comment like “5 *” or “Nice Lens” it makes me feel like they didn’t even take the time to read it.

  14. Comment by Miriam on 22 December 2009:

    Thanks for the ping info. I read somewhere that if you over ping your sites they could get banned by google. Not sure if I would take this to the bank, but every time you add meaningful content, not just fix a typo, seems reasonable. Don’t ya think? Thank you for putting this very nice lens together.

  15. Pingback by Should You Ping Your Squidoo Lenses? » BuildMyLens.com - Two Squidoo Experts Unite… to build YOUR lens FOR YOU! on 9 January 2010:

    [...] You can read it here. Read the comments on the post too. They are helpful! [...]

  16. Comment by Clara on 29 January 2010:

    Pingoat is having issues again. It’s now pingoat.net

Leave a Comment