From time to time, I hear people say that dealing with spam is one of the worst things about being a blogger. While that may be true for some people, spam can actually be a very good thing as well. Would you believe me if I told you that I actually love seeing thousands of spam comments each day for all of my websites? It’s true. Spam can actually be a good thing, and here’s why.
First, we have to understand how spam works, and how it’s getting into your comment moderation queue. Most spam is done automatically – that is, there isn’t actually a human visitor on your website that is writing it out by hand. Rather, these spammers tend to use automated software which sends out the same comments to thousands of blogs almost instantly.
This software works by querying Google with certain keywords, then compiling a list of all the websites that come up for that keyword where comments can be left. So what does this mean?
It means your website is ranking on Google. And that is a GREAT thing. If your website is ranking well enough to be found on Google for keywords so competitive that spammers are targeting them with their software, you’re doing something right, and that’s something to be proud of. The more spam comments you’re getting on your blog, chances are, the more competitive keywords your ranking for.
…And it REALLY says something about the quality of your website if manual human spammers are coming to your website to spam. That takes time and effort!
So next time you look at your WordPress dashboard and see 2000 spam comments, rejoice! After all, think back to the days when you were getting no comments at all, spam or not. I bet the spam doesn’t seem so bad now, does it?