Let me tell you why I consider BlogPress SEO to be spam and why I think no one should ever use it. Every other week, I’ll get an email from people asking me to review their plugin. I like doing that, and sometimes I’ll even mention a plugin that gets emailed to me in a post or on the WordPress Podcast. Sometimes, the plugin isn’t any good, and sometimes it’s outright spam.
BlogPress SEO falls in the latter category. My spam senses started tingling when I read the second sentence of the email they sent me:
We have developed a superb wordpress plugin which can actually get 100′s of backlinks like crazy, all on autopilot.
Right. Backlinks, on autopilot. Such a thing does not exist. Let’s see how this one works, taken from their own explanation:
As soon as you install the plugin, the plugin will find all relevant blogs in the network which are similar to your niche. So if you write about dogs then the plugin will find all blogs which talk about dogs. Once the plugin find the relevant blogs, it will mutually exchange links between the blogs. So if you have 300 posts in your blog then it will find 300 similar posts in the network, and in turn mutually links with those posts. So you will get around 300 backlinks right away. The more you write the more backlinks will be found by the plugin for your posts. This is a ongoing process and I can assure you that you will see gradual increase in traffic over time.
So… It’ll automatically add links from your posts to other people’s blogs, and links form other people’s posts on the same topic to your posts. There’s a word for that, it’s called a link scheme. And let me tell you: Google doesn’t like those. I took the liberty of emailing Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s Webspam Team. He said that he “considers it a link scheme of the sort that Google doesn’t want to count“.
You know what the funny thing is? The bad stuff doesn’t end here. In the email they sent me, they also alluded to a paid version of their plugin, to be released soon:
The paid version of the plugin will not exchange links, but just allow other blogs to place links and will not place any outgoing links on users blog.
You know what we call that? We call that buying links. Now whether or not you’re morally opposed to that doesn’t matter, Google is. Some of you might remember that, back in the day, Text Link Ads launched a service called InLinks, which did something similar to this. Matt responded to that then, on TechCrunch. He’s very clear on the topic. And that was before there were FTC guidelines saying that you should disclose stuff like that. These guidelines are there now.
So let’s say you don’t care about rules and burning a website or two and you do stuff like this, you than have two rules to go by: you don’t talk about it and you make sure you don’t get caught. Which means you also don’t go around asking for people like me to review it, like the author of BlogPress SEO did with me.
Luckily, it’s quite easy to detect whether a blog runs this plugin, so Google will probably eliminate those quite easily. The risk you run? Well, I’ve seen sites get banned for participating in programs like these in the past. Like, banned from Google entirely, getting no traffic from Google anymore, nothing, zero, nada, zilch. Is it worth that? Thought not.
And wait, there’s more. If you download the plugin and dig around in the code a bit, you’ll notice this code:
function email_send_fun()
{
$headers="From:".get_option('admin_email')."n";
$headers.="Reply-to:".get_option('admin_email')."n";
$sub="BlogPressSeo new installation.";
$mes=get_option('siteurl');
$to="info@blogpressseo.com";
mail($to,$sub,$mes,$headers);
if($hwe_blogidd)
{
wplink_activate();
}
}
register_activation_hook(__FILE__,"email_send_fun");
What that does? Oh it only sends your blog’s URL and your email address to the author of BlogPress SEO. Wait, without your consent? Yes, without your consent. That’s illegal in many countries, but hey, why would they care. Next to that, the plugin is kind of enough to add a link back to itself on your blog’s homepage, in a hidden div of course, because that’s how smart people roll, right? Luckily, that makes it even easier for Google to find all the sites running the plugin and ban them all in one big sweep.
So, besides the fact that they get you involved in a link scheme, for which penalties can be quite severe; even getting your site banned in some cases, they also add hidden links to your site and send off your personal info without your authorization. Nice, isn’t it? So my advice to you is simple, and you’ll have understood it by now:
Do NOT use BlogPress SEO. Ever.
Update: It get’s worse. As pointed out by this post, BlogPress SEO is pure malware, as it contains a function that allows someone who knows your admin email address (you know, the one they just sent to themselves when you installed the plugin) to log in without a password… That’s purely criminal.
Update 2: I’ve tried to fix this situation by making use of the WordPress plugin update system in a rather ingenious (though slightly devilish) way.
Dam thats a really nasty, ugly, awful plugin! Thanks for warning us.
Thanks Joost, more excellent advice. Bjorn, Love the expression in your gravatar – adds some flavour too.
oh wow. I agree with Bjorn… haha they screwed themselves when they sent you this to review! royally!!
Ouch, that’s very nasty. That was pretty stupid of them asking you to review their plugin! :)
It’s not only very stupid, thanks to these cowboys it also makes the word “SEO” have a negative annotation.
They should be banished to a very dark dimension.
When I read that post title, I was like: “Wow, Joost really hates on all competition..”
Turns out, you’re not doing that. This doesn’t even deserve the title competition. It’s just straight up bad.
Thanks for keeping this community honest and healthy, Joost!
Thomas, I kind of thought, “Uh oh, Joost is at it again!”
But I agree, Joost has definitely done us a service here. I should probably point him at my semantic recipe plugin and get my spanking out of the way. It’s for the code, right?
If i had a pound for the amount of times I have written “form” instead of “from” and not have it picked up in spell check I would be a millionaire.
“and links form other people’s posts”
Would be even better if this was a paid review ;)
Wow! Great to know and thanks for the explanation of what this plugin contains and does…maliciously. Another word of warning: always be cautious of plugins not accepted in the official repository as I assume this one is not.
Wow – As if the link scheme weren’t bad enough, they stick their dirty little codes in there. I guess some people just can’t help themselves when it comes to making money.
I actually like the idea of emailing the sites that install the plugin back to myself. Going to do that in the future. Other than that the link exchange is not so bad. But the hidden footer link I could do with out. So should we expect more SEO hall monitor posts on the future?
I see no problem with this so long as the user is made aware of it. I wouldn’t like to see a plugin developer has been sniffing around on a private WIP version of a site I’m building at work or something after using their plugin has broadcasted its URL to them. There might even be privacy laws or something that have implications on this.
O RLY? You like to have customers who unsuspectingly send personal and private information to you without being informed or consenting to this? You like Google-disapproved link exchange schemes? Remind me not to download any code from you. Please don’t release any code to the public, thank you.
hahaha Just this morning I got a spam email from these guys. The email said :
“My name is Saurabh, and I am here to offer you a unique wordpress plugin which
will get you 100′s of backlinks like crazy.”
Yeah well that set off the alarm bells right away. I was tempted to write a quick article about this nonsense but hesitated because my latest SEJ article came out this morning and I didn’t want to dilute attention for that.
And I’m glad I did hesitate because moments later, Twitter led me to this article.
It’s just amazing that people will rip off site owners like this. Even without their paid version, they’re getting that hidden link in how many blogs? While some people say we should never “out” the bad guys, I say thanks for doing so. (anyone who says we shouldn’t bring attention to the bad guys, as far as I’m concerned, is already suspect…)
I should save the ones I get and just fwd them to Alan… or Joost :)
I just have such a thick skin built up against all this kind of stuff my ‘report-as-spam’ finger is so quick I hardly know what happened lol
That is one nasty plugin. The good news in all this is that your post and links to your post fill up the first page of Google’s SERP (right after the author’s page), so hopefully no one will install the plugin.
I hope many people should read this post as people who are not aware of such link farm might go and install this plugin in order to get more backlinks and by the end they will land up with Google Sandboxing.
Thank you so much for writing such a nice post and keeping wordpress community healthy. I was looking for SEO plugins for my blog and I feel very lucky after I found this post. I hope there should be a way to “blacklist ” a plugin in wordpress community.
It almost seems like they don’t know what they’re doing if they’re emailing you and asking you to review it. Link schemes work for awhile until Google finds them and then you’re done. Any person or product that is offering to get me backlinks for free is nothing worth looking at. Even if they were links that were considered okay by Google, they’re going to end up not helping much…
outch what a bad plugin! the great news is that you’re ranking pretty high now :)
This one is a good proof of how much good and crap stuff we can find when starting to play around with wordpress plugins, dummies beware!
This post would have been pretty funny if it was a paid review. “Do NOT use BlogPress SEO. Ever.” –would have been great line to end a paid review post with, ha.
Call me crazy but I would never use that plug in just based on the design of it’s website.
Wont be long before your post ranks higher in google than the actual plugin.
oh wait…. You R :)
Stumbled :)
It does rank #1 if you google WordPress SEO. I had to manual input the site myself … and it looks like a scheme site anyway, though users might DL the plugin from a directory instead so they would never know.
The website itself looks like spam. However, I think you did the right thing warning the community. Now, when people will Google this plugin, they’ll find this post.
Great stuff!
Thing is, there are will be alot of people new to blogging which will think this nasty plugin will work.
Killer review! And good point re the no free lunch (links) it just doesn’t exist and for good reason.
Thanks for info! It’s a really sneaky trick ;/
Thanks for the warning. This is sneaky!
Just hearing “100′s of backlinks like crazy” should ring all kinds of spam/scam alerts. Thanks for the heads up Joost!
Yikes. Thanks for the warning – so many people would have fallen into their nasty little trap.
Thanks for the taking the time out to warn people about this. I received the email too and like you was alarmed right away by the idea of an automated backlink builder.
The one thing about spam that I’ve never been able to wrap my head around is why people would take it upon themselves to devote to much time and energy to an inherently flawed project. It’s an utterly self-defeating outlook on life.
Thanks. Glad to see a deserving attack.
BTW, What’s the license on this plug-in? Might it be a benefit to tweak it such that one could define your own exchange network? Being able to automate that among “friends” might be of benefit, no? Would that be a no-no? Maybe there is such a plug-in beast already?
I like that idea of networking blogs you choose or creating a network of friends.. I have a few blogs that are different topics but cross over in some areas. It wouldn’t have to be 1 for 1 either since you don’t want to put a link just b/c you have to reciprocate.
They wouldn’t even have to be follow I’d it would make it less spammy (unless they are and i missed that)
Thanks for the heads up. Is this plugin from MaxBlogpress?
I am getting BOMBARDED with automated comment links! Can you help?
Thanks for warning, Joost! We have to be careful – spammers are everywhere…
It would be funny to see the author of this mod try to counter your arguments. Darn scammers.
This is very clever coding done by plugin developer. Thanks for exposing the risks involved in using the plugin.
BlogPress plugins was always spammy from their first plugins. I remember using some of their plugins before 2 years, and i was getting a lot of their annoying mails after that…
Excelent post. Something to learn from the good and bad practices…
Keep writing, thumbs up!
Thanks for warning us. this plugin use certainly spamming
Is that why I get those random emails asking for a link and saying “I like your blog on keyword keyword keyword, I have added your link at: url”
The FTC is only really worried about endorsements – they don’t necessarily look on links as endorsements, and it can easily be covered by a sitewide disclosure policy or linking policy.
To be honest affiliate links combined with an endorsement without a very clear disclosure, or testimonials which might affect a purchase decision are more likely to be of concern.
A network such as arkayne.com isn’t far off the same kind of link scheme.
I just received one earlier and am quite surprised people go around spamming webmasters to install their plug-in. The promotion process is already fishy to me.
I agree with you that automatically exchanging or buying links should be considered fun, but recent day i read an article on a blog. At the end of the article i saw somethink like “related posts”, but they were links to external websites. Related links on external websites. Firstly, i said: “Cool, this blogger is not selfish and give me more to read even it is on another blog”, but then i realised that it is involved in some kind of network to exchange links at the bottom of articles.
I’m not sure yet how useful is for readers, but if this kind of activity is useful then it is good to keep. Why not giving my users the opportunity to read related articles on other blogs ? And why not to show my articles to readers of other related blogs ?
I think link spam is when there are too many links where no one clicks. If they provide value and people click on the links it means they are worth clicking and they are real links.
Thanks for warning us. this plugin use certainly spamming
Have you tried creating a dummy blog account and test the plug in? but yeah, it really is scam :)
Anyway thanks for the post!
Don’t know if this plugin is good or, but some of the things you wrote sound a little hypocritical, most major companies buy links (at least where i live) and trying to fool Google’s algo is by no means breaking the law – Google is just a search engine, and not a very good one for that, seeing how talented SEO’s and giant content farms rule its SERP’s with the shallowest content
Dude, if you think that’s hypocritical, why don’t you answer with a real name and a link to your website? :) Maybe you know that what you’re doing isn’t very kosher?
I’m representing myself and not the company whose IP you see… and in any case, this is my honest opinion and i certainly don’t work for this plugin developer, BTW you haven’t addressed what i wrote…
There’s a big difference between buying links and setting up automated link schemes like this. If you buy links, you’ll usually make sure these links generate traffic as well, and are actually relevant to your content etc. You wouldn’t let a plugin determine which content relates to each other.
Also, while it’s not breaking the law, most people using plugins like these have NO idea that they’re breaking Google’s “laws”, and what the result could be. That’s why I wrote this post. I do not condone spamming of any kind, and think that in most cases, buying links is a poor excuse for not building decent and link worthy content.
I actually like the basic idea of the plug-in.
I have two blogs with a similar theme, but different focus. One is “how to” and the other is “news about”.
I have the YARPP plug-in installed on both blogs which does a pretty good job of linking to similar posts. I often wish there was a plugin to link similar posts in the “how to” blog to the “news about” blog.
Would sure save me some work.
If you accept that the idea is OK, then it is not much of a stretch to want a plug-in which links similar posts in other people’s blogs, and allow other’s to link to your posts.
Why is that a problem?
Wait till a site gets a penalty or even a ban: they all come crying for help at our (SEO) door. So go ahead and buy links, but if it’s to obvious, please don’t complain when I file a spam report.
check this. my site does have a problem right now when i used some plugins. i cant remember what it is. :( Just curious can this code also be seen on wp themes?
Thanks for the warning!!
Thanks for explanation. I got his email today and I was searching on line before plugin installation. I had bad experience with another PAID plugin named Seopressor and I still experience Google dance on some websites because of it. So, it obvious why I don’t trust similar plugins anymore.
oh gosh…*phew*……finally…..! thank you mate…..*phew* again. their mails have been spamming me for over 2 months now. i was waiting for a qualitative review. and it really is shocking about that code inserted amongst the others that sends the user details without permission back to that guy. that means he sure has em inserted on all those other plugins he offers then huh isnt it
Yup, it looks like my email address must have been captured by one of their spambots. I just got an email today from the plugin and was Googling around. Glad to see your review!
I would like to make it clear from the start I am not much for any automated software whether it be for obtaining links or putting out your blog or article to a mass of directories or even one however
please read this part that is in your article on Blogpress SEO Plugin and then read Google’s guidelines and it looks like the software does what the guideline are requiring. (Note as far as Quantity,Quality and relevant content)
As soon as you install the plugin, the plugin will find all relevant blogs in the network which are similar to your niche. So if you write about dogs then the plugin will find all blogs which talk about dogs. Once the plugin find the relevant blogs, it will mutually exchange links between the blogs. So if you have 300 posts in your blog then it will find 300 similar posts in the network, and in turn mutually links with those posts. So you will get around 300 backlinks right away. The more you write the more backlinks will be found by the plugin for your posts. This is a ongoing process and I can assure you that you will see gradual increase in traffic
Now Google’s Guidelines: Your site’s ranking in Google search results is partly based on analysis of those sites that link to you. The quantity, quality, and relevance of links count towards your rating. The sites that link to you can provide context about the subject matter of your site, and can indicate its quality and popularity. However, some webmasters engage in link exchange schemes and build partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. This is in violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and can negatively impact your site’s ranking in search results. Examples of link schemes can include:
Kenneth c Young
Here is my free tip for the day and that is in the the case of the plugin Blogpress SEO or any plugin for that manner is 1. check to see if the plugin is in the wordpress plugin directory.2. If it is not there stay away from it. 3. If it does happen to be there then check to see if it is compatible with your recent version of wordpress. Keeping to this rule of thump when it comes to plugins hopefully will keep us bloggers out of trouble.
Kenneth
Yikes, busted guys :)) Bad move!
Thanks Joost. Really bad plugin. Updated on my blog also
LOL owned!
Nice review thanks
Cheers mate! Usual rules – if it seems too good to be true….
I appreciate you risking taking a hit for dissing competition in order to let us know about this one.
Just in case someone stumbles onto it without investigating further, I wrote a sidewiki for their site directing them to your post. If I haven’t got your permission to paraphrase you, then let me know what I should say instead. Let’s hope it helps keep people who don’t know to read reviews from getting snared…
It is interesting that people again and again go for that hole in the fence. There is no easy way of making your site jump to the top of big G. Wait – there is! Good content. Spend time on good content and the world will beat a path to your door.
OMG, I have installed this plugin to one or two of my blog and I am not sure which one. I have to manually check and delete it
Thanks for the warning
Well I want to give my comment on buying links and that is don’t for I do not buy them as I work for them however I am wondering if some website hacker can use a person website link to buy links?.
Kenneth c Young
If anyone with the experience in plugins can tell me what they feel has happened to my website then please feel free to leave a comment here. Here is my website http://www.soyouwanttolearntoblog.com
Kenneth c Young
I will love to see this kind of plugin request that comes to disturb you and force you to review on it.
The plugin is even worse than you initially thought. There is a backdoor function in it that allows anyone that knows your admin email (e.g. whoever is at info@blogpressseo.com) to gain admin access to your blog.
Dang.. I No longer use this plugin as of now! Thank
Jeeeee, I couldn’t check (anymore) on wordpress.org how many times it has been downloaded. Anyone an idea? I’ve seen a lot of tricks, but this one is beating everything else. Not only the automail, but also the backdoor function.
Thanks for posting this. I think some new bloggers will hopefully read it and NOT download this terrible plugin. It’s not just SEO spam, it’s privacy violation and security violation plus a good dose of stupidity by sending out a malware plugin like this for review.
Yoast your right. Everytime we find a plugin our programmers will check it. It is no suprise for us what you are telling. We aslo found plugins with strange actions. Some of them gives hackers a change to hack a blog or website. Just a hint don’t use a plugin if you do not understand what it will do.
He calls you a toast!
http://blogpressseo.com/wordpress/how-can-i-review-a-free-plugin/
Thanks for getting the word out about this… Send it far and wide, people…
Hehehehe that’s so funny. I didn’t say that about paid plugins, of course. Nor would I have made a stupid spelling error like that ;)
I like how he put “Ethical” in the title too … *shakes head*
I have this admit, this is kinda pathetic. Don’t kissing up to google. Just saying.
You know what’s pathetic? Replying like that and not daring to give your real name.
Lolz, this gave me a good chuckle :)
Thanks for helping rid the internet of such diabolical crud.
Great article, but — Really? There are Federal rules about links? Citation please, I need to know what the rules are.
Nitpick: “It get’s worse” would be “It get is worse” — no need for a contraction in a normal verb. I saw a handpainted sign yesterday for “Donut’s” — sheesh.
Very Gay.
Looks like it was a good concept for a plugin ans well done to the author of it.
Unfortunately it didnt work out for him but it was a very good effort.
Well I think that I may have mistakenly put this Blopress SEO plugin on my wordpress and ended up having to destroy all the files from the site that I was using been suspicious of what the creep of that plugin would do with my personal information. The trouble now is that I am beginning to get suspicious of all plugins.
Kenneth c Young
i cant believe it. for now i know, you review your plug-in every time to check it. maybe its a spam. right? thanks for this warning.
I can’t thank you enough for posting this. I was thinking about installing the BlogPress SEO plugin. I was unaware of link schemes being looked down upon by google, in fact, I didn’t know there was such a thing. Anyhow, I thought I’d check it out first and I’m glad I did.
You saved me! Thanks again.