Autoblog FAIL

Coronado · Mar 29, 2010

This is my first post. It is a cautionary tale.

Some people decided to get >1000 .info's and make cloned autoblogs. They had devised an SEO methodology that looked pretty good to them. Setting everything up took a while and cost a lot.

The blogs did not perform very well, with only a little traffic, and that was via the auto bookmarking, not search engines.

A few months in, someone realized that not a single site was indexed by Google!

Someone who was working for them looked into it, and, with the help of this forum, discovered the problem.

For every single blog, in Settings/Privacy "I would like to block search engines, but allow normal visitors" was selected.

tukim · Mar 29, 2010

Coronado said:
Some people decided to get .info's...

I stopped there, who cares at people who are too cheap to buy real domains.

neol · Mar 29, 2010

I have a funny feeling about this post !!

redmoon · Mar 29, 2010

tukim said:
I stopped there, who cares at people who are too cheap to buy real domains.

Agreed.

Grizzy · Mar 29, 2010

LOL invested the money in 1000+ .info domains but neglected to change the privacy policy settings on all the blogs???

Obviously blogging is far too complicated for these people (I mean it is basically rocket science), they should stick to something easier like article marketing.

blackhit · Mar 29, 2010

Enough people complaint about this and with the newest version it's back to "doors wide open".

I kinda liked this "feature" though.

First thing I always did (and have to do again now) is shutting the door for the spiders until I have everything setup and did a couple of test runs with my BH plugs.

nufaman · Mar 29, 2010

1,000 info domains and cloned autoblogs...

Geez, and people later wonder why they fail at making money on the net

webguy · Mar 29, 2010

This is why some of us make more money.

Coronado · Mar 30, 2010

joeflizo said:
hmmm...what a bad (maybe stupid) error...did they (or you) setup it on auto? if u setup it on manual...the default is let search engine index that...i assume they (or you) setup it automatically and the setup script or thing is a poor one...

They used Fantastico for the original install that was the basis for the clones, and the default setting was to block search engines.

Not that it wasn't grossly negligent to miss the fact that nothing was indexed until months in, but the original mistake was a somewhat innocent one. I'm going to give a little extra scrutiny to automatic script installs from now on.

Also, it wasn't me. If I were the one responsible for this I would cut off my index fingers in shame and never speak of it again.

AndersonSpider · Mar 30, 2010

Maybe I'm the only one not getting it. But what is the problem with using .info's ? I understand that .com's are better, but I still don't see how .info's aren't a money maker? Someone please enlighten me.

-Anderson:spider:

iq465 · Mar 30, 2010

Maybe if buying domains seems expensive consider buying domains people are selling on ebay? Theyre usually the same price and might have incoming traffic already

Coronado · Mar 30, 2010

I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with .info's- Godaddy's $.89 promotion is a loss leader-type strategy to get customers into their hosting upsell.

Also, they're full price when it comes time to renew them.

JPXeon · Mar 30, 2010

Just a question, but having cloned info on all the autoblogs, wont that mean that it is seen as duplicate content, thus having a "penalty" anyways in google's eyes

and secondly, if for some reason you do get indexed properly, wont it mean that you would start to compete with yourself for keywords, thus raising red flags?

promzzz · Mar 30, 2010

what a funny story

and I think the autoblog is not the only way to make some money online

Coronado · Mar 30, 2010

The sites are clones in the sense that they were all created from the same set of files and database export, but all target different keywords with their Robot settings and a little bit of text.

1000 identical sites autoblogging the same keywords would be very strange indeed.

TheLoser · Apr 5, 2010

I think the op is full of guano.

russaus · Apr 5, 2010

tukim said:
I stopped there, who cares at people who are too cheap to buy real domains.

I produce about 130-150 websites per month. A lot of .net, .org and a lot of .info's. Yes, some .coms too and some .cc's, .biz etc etc etc.

They all make money, a lot of .infos from 6 months ago are making between 0.63c-$37 a day. Not bad for a 89c domain name. Last I checked I had about 493 .info domains.

Cheap domains don't make money? One of my .info's makes over $1000 a month.

Get over it people. If you cater to good (micro)niches you will make money no matter what the TLD is.

zebrahat · Apr 5, 2010

Agree with Russaus. Using .infos and free subdomains is one of the main ways to max the profit to be made from autoblogs (by reducing your expenses). The .coms are the preferred domains to use if you are structuring a WHITE HAT site, but if you don't care about being Google dependent to get your higher rank, it's optional.

russaus · Apr 5, 2010

zebrahat said:
Agree with Russaus. Using .infos and free subdomains is one of the main ways to max the profit to be made from autoblogs (by reducing your expenses). The .coms are the preferred domains to use if you are structuring a WHITE HAT site, but if you don't care about being Google dependent to get your higher rank, it's optional.

No, you've mistaken my point. Read more here on BHW to clarify my point.

The point is/was/will be that

better constructed sites
with better content
with more inbound links
and a better SEO strategy (BH or WH)
and natural good info architecture and design
and natural mechanisms to link to

Will ALWAYS outrank ANY majoror minor TLD, regardless of it being a .com, .net, .info, etc (not necessarilyincluding regional/country search).

russaus · Apr 5, 2010

zebrahat said:
Agree with Russaus. Using .infos and free subdomains is one of the main ways to max the profit to be made from autoblogs (by reducing your expenses). The .coms are the preferred domains to use if you are structuring a WHITE HAT site, but if you don't care about being Google dependent to get your higher rank, it's optional.

No, you've mistaken my point. Read more here on BHW to clarify my point.

The point is/was/will be that

better constructed sites
with better content
with more inbound links
and a better SEO strategy (BH or WH)
and natural good info architecture and design
and natural mechanisms to link to

Will ALWAYS outrank ANY majoror minor TLD, regardless of it being a .com, .net, .info, etc (not necessarilyincluding regional/country search).

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