Make the scrapers work for you!
Some of you had already noticed that I've added a link back to my blog in the footer of articles in my RSS feed, like this:
I didn't do that because I thought you guys couldn't find my blog. It was actually a plugin requested by Shoemoney, who wanted to make the scrapers work for him too, by getting some more backlinks from them. I thought it was a great idea, and this is actually quite a simple plugin: you upload it, enable it, maybe change the default text (which is "This is a post from <link><blog name></link>"), and you're done.
It's called RSS Footer, and a few people, like my friend Marcus, picked it up and ran with it already, I hope it works for you too!
Update: based on a quote from Matt Cutts in a post by Patrick Altoft, "How to foil scrapers on your blog", I've added the option to add a link back to the post itself, with the title of the post as anchor text. This looks like this:
Related posts
- Live Search's link command work again and they're awesome!
- Find out who's scraping you!
- Crunchbase Widget WordPress plugin
- DMOZ and Wikipedia: how it should work
- Email Your WordPress Commentors
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Cats: SEO, WordPress Tags: Link Building, RSS, WordPress, WordPress Plugins
Sam I Am Jan 10th, 2008 at 18:34
Did something like this on our own blogging platform not too long ago as well. Another benefit, outside the scrapers, is for those importing blogs as notes into their Facebook profiles. Not as great for back links (although the benefit from scrapers is also limited I'd say) that are crawled, but very good for referrals - at least in our case where it links to how to set up a similar blog :)
Probably just a matter of time before all the scraper sites start parsing out the urls; luizen!
Rudy Jan 10th, 2008 at 21:07
Thank you for the plugin. I'm using it right now.
Fatgadget Jan 10th, 2008 at 21:22
Hi Joost
This is a great plugin, thanks :)
Frank N. Stein Jan 10th, 2008 at 21:24
Nice plugin, thanks for sharing.
Feydakin Jan 10th, 2008 at 21:37
Dude, awesome, thanks..
Eduard Blacquière Jan 10th, 2008 at 21:43
Brilliant plugin, Joost!
martijn Jan 10th, 2008 at 23:59
nice plugin! using it. thx
Chris Jacobson Jan 11th, 2008 at 00:05
Nice plugin... I've been looking for something like this.
martijn Jan 11th, 2008 at 00:18
is javascript possible in the rss-footer?
Pablo Jan 11th, 2008 at 00:25
Good plugin, in my case related posts just after the feed do the work ;)
AzAkers Jan 11th, 2008 at 00:57
Sweet - one of my favorite plug-in authors & one of my favorite bloggers working togather to take the sting out of geating scraped - nice!!
Thanks for the work that went into this!
youfoundjake Jan 11th, 2008 at 01:09
This is the second plugin that I've gotten from you Joost. Please keep coding and coming out with stuff like this.
Clint Lenard Jan 11th, 2008 at 06:27
This is an awesome plugin! Thank you VERY much!
Nicholas James Jan 11th, 2008 at 07:44
Great plugin! Thanks for this :)
Wiep Jan 11th, 2008 at 09:47
Great plugin Joost! Now if only it were possible to vary the anchor text... :P
Joost de Valk Jan 11th, 2008 at 09:53
Thx for all the great feedback guys and girls!
@Martijn: you can add javascript, but most of the time it will be removed, and it won't work in feedreaders... You'll never know for scrapers though!
@Wiep: I already thought of that too, I'll think of a way to include that in the next version.
Mendax Jan 11th, 2008 at 12:12
Ok, the idea is nice, but what if a scraper uses strip_tags function to remove all the html stuff?
Joost de Valk Jan 11th, 2008 at 12:16
@Mendax: then ALL outbound links in articles won't work, unfortunately, there's not much you can do about that. What you CAN do though is add a specific string to your footer with this plugin, and run Google Alerts, Blog Search queries etc. specifically for that string.
David Bradley Jan 11th, 2008 at 12:21
Nice one, I'd previously been using a hack suggested by Patrick Altoft at http://www.blogstorm.co.uk, this is obviously much slicker, and Patrick led me to your page and thence the download!
db
Joost de Valk Jan 11th, 2008 at 14:57
@David: good to hear that!
B10G Jan 11th, 2008 at 15:32
Thanks Joost, this is just what I have been looking for, up until now I have just been manually updating blog posts which I know have been scraped with keyword links.
Joost de Valk Jan 11th, 2008 at 15:36
@B10G: good! If you have any ideas for plugins feel free to let me know ;)
Andrew Jan 11th, 2008 at 16:09
Does this mean you are now happy for your blog to be scraped?
Joost de Valk Jan 11th, 2008 at 16:10
@Andrew: no, but if there's assholes who do it, the result is a bit less of a catastrophy :)
Andrew Jan 11th, 2008 at 16:14
I think it's a smart solution. Maybe you could include some javascript to disable mouse clicks if the post does not appear on a certain domain?
Or is that overkill?
Dave Jan 11th, 2008 at 16:20
Joost. You the Man!!!
Love the plugin.
Joost de Valk Jan 11th, 2008 at 16:30
@Andrew: I think that's a bit too much...
@Dave: thx :)
Sucker Jan 11th, 2008 at 16:38
Yes! Thanks for the update, I'll definitely use this now!
David Bradley Jan 11th, 2008 at 16:38
It's irrelevant whether one is happy or not about a site being scraped. There is very little you can do to prevent it unless you want to spend valuable blogging time serving cease and desist letters. Much better to make the scrapers work to your advantage than trying to get rid of them one by one (it's like playing wack-a-mole anyway, get rid of one, another pops up). Sciencebase seems to be scraped all over the place and I have tried to get rid of those sites that try to pass themselves off as "the" original site, but for the general news scrapers, you just have to put up with it and count it as more eyeballs seeing your words!
db
Rob Jan 11th, 2008 at 16:42
Thanks Joost, this is a great plugin to fight against scraping.
Joost de Valk Jan 11th, 2008 at 16:48
@Sucker: nice.
@David: so true, I do occasionally send out cease and desists though.
@Rob: glad you like it!
David Bradley Jan 11th, 2008 at 16:52
I have to admit, I do too. I got a whole scraper network shutdown just before Xmas. I'd sent the old C&D to the whois registered owner of the domain, and when that didn't work, I emailed the registration/hosting company. They said it wasn't their problem, but then got back to me a day or two later to say they'd shut the domain down. Obviously, something seriously dodgy going on above and beyond scraping Sciencebase!
db
Joost de Valk Jan 11th, 2008 at 16:55
Well you can ask Andrew, who commented above. I got his SEOBook affiliate account shutdown because he was scraping me :P
Joost de Valk Jan 11th, 2008 at 17:05
@All: I could use your help on the Digg above!
FireflySEO Jan 11th, 2008 at 17:08
Hi Joost,
Good work! Looks like a very useful plugin, I have just installed it and lookforward to seeing if it helps with the SERPS.
Just subscribed to your feed also.
Thanks
Allan Stewart
Joost de Valk Jan 11th, 2008 at 17:09
Great to hear Allan! Welcome as a new reader, I hope you'll enjoy your stay!
get paid to Blog Jan 11th, 2008 at 20:59
Thats a cool idea...I'll check it out and see if i can get it on my site fr the authors..they are always asking me about concerns like this.
Andrew Jan 12th, 2008 at 00:38
Does this work with the spammers who advertise medication and other things on older blogs as well Joost?
I'm getting so absolutely sick of getting those and having to log in and spam filter them.
I'd love to know.
Thanks,
Andrew.
Rekzai Jan 12th, 2008 at 00:54
Will this work if I'm using feedburner for all my feeds?
Scarf*oo Jan 12th, 2008 at 10:35
This solution will help, but I find it somehow obtrusive. Still a great tip, thanks!
Rasmus Jan 12th, 2008 at 14:19
That's clever Joost, very clever! Cool plugin, thanks for sharing it :)
skuub Jan 12th, 2008 at 18:28
Nice Plugin Joost - now I won't mind if some of the scrapers find my new published blog posts ;)
Jonathan Jan 12th, 2008 at 21:10
Great suggestion - I'm using a Feedburner Feedflare called "attribution" now, but when I move over to a Wordpress installation (currently on MT), this will be one of the first plugins I install.
Sam Dodd Jan 12th, 2008 at 21:46
Makes me think I need to figure out a way to have more scrappers attempting to steal my content. Does anyone have any suggestions for attracting scrappers?
Halifax SEO Jan 13th, 2008 at 11:14
Good work Joost! Thanks for sharing it.
Just subscribed to your feed also.
Sam Dodd, using the technorati tags for some important keywords, will help.
kevin Jan 13th, 2008 at 16:08
Nice plugin. I have downloaded it.
Your google analytics also works great.
Thanks
--
Kevin
Plenty of Software: Free downloads center
http://www.plentyofsoft.com
Ryan Jan 13th, 2008 at 22:15
Great plugin Joost. Its been working wonders on all of my sites.
Ken Teegardin Jan 14th, 2008 at 07:09
Excellent idea. I will start using that on all my blog entries..
CBR Jan 14th, 2008 at 07:46
Yep this is a good idea but I wonder how long it will be until the scraper sites catch on and block the url's. Until then I will give this a try, nice work.
Marc Jan 14th, 2008 at 14:57
I use a similar plugin and have noticed that scrapers have started removing my custom text and permalink link text.
Joost de Valk Jan 14th, 2008 at 14:59
@Marc: well, in this plugin you can alter the text every once in a while. Should make it harder to remove it.
Erik Heidt Jan 15th, 2008 at 06:36
Joost -
A useful feature would be the ability to change the message without effecting older posts. This would enable changing the settings without causing the RSS feed to appear as all new posts.
Cheers,
Erik
Art of Information Security
Joost de Valk Jan 15th, 2008 at 08:07
@Erik: good idea... That would mean doing some different stuff though, I'll have a think about it.
simon Jan 15th, 2008 at 17:09
Great plugin!! seen a good response to my blog reactions since adding this RSS footer...
Alfred Jan 16th, 2008 at 00:14
got here from http://www.tenaciouscreations.com/
Man this is one superb plugin, was just thinking of something like this when I found it.
Will upload it later today, thanks for the plugin
Joost de Valk Jan 16th, 2008 at 08:26
@Simon & Alfred: glad you like it!
Marko Pyhajarvi Jan 16th, 2008 at 14:05
This is great, I've been looking for something like this one. Thanks! Gotta install it tonight..
Joost de Valk Jan 16th, 2008 at 14:07
Glad to hear that Marko!
funky Jan 16th, 2008 at 18:04
I am considering to start with plugins develop for a long time.
Thank you for inspiration!
Joost de Valk Jan 16th, 2008 at 18:06
@funky: glad I inspired you, have fun, and share the cool stuff you create :)
Shycon Web Design Jan 16th, 2008 at 20:55
Ah, great plug-in. There isn't much you can do to keep people from scraping your stuff, but why not get some links out of it! :D Thanks
JLH Jan 17th, 2008 at 00:28
I made a minor tweak, I changed line 18 from ...'RSS Footer', 1, basename... to ...'RSS Footer', 10, basename... just so that subscribers couldn't see and change the options.
Joost de Valk Jan 17th, 2008 at 17:03
@JLH: yeah, thx... Version 0.7 fixes that!
Brian Jan 17th, 2008 at 20:00
This is a fantastic idea but unfortunately the plugin doesn't seem to work on my blog. I enable the plugin and edit the footer message but it doesn't appear at the end of each post. Could it be that my theme is incompatible?
Big respect for this excellent concept just the same. You're one of my favourite plugin authors!
Joost de Valk Jan 20th, 2008 at 12:19
@Brian: which version of WP are you using? Could you email me that?
SusanneUK Jan 20th, 2008 at 18:04
Just adding my eternal thanks to the bottom of the pile, I will send others your way as well..
Thanks again
Sue
nottingham honda Jan 20th, 2008 at 21:56
i hate scrapers sites with a vengance!
mainly because i think their adsense is making more money than mine.
Bianca Jan 21st, 2008 at 23:07
Thanks! This is a great plugin! Now to sit back and hope it works. :)
Darren Jan 26th, 2008 at 01:28
You got to love this. These scrapers are killing my sites. I can't wait to see my traffic fly back from this.
Does this work for those who already scrapped my blogs? or only new scrappers?
BillinDetroit Feb 1st, 2008 at 23:08
I doubt if scrapers are a large problem for me, but what the heck ... every one-way inbound link is a good one, no? While my content is ~100% original, it is hardly authoritative.
Just ask my wife. ;-)
colbert low Feb 2nd, 2008 at 02:43
Looks like a great plugin. I will try it
Beth Feb 3rd, 2008 at 11:36
Great idea for a plugin! I've had issues with scrapers for a few months and have tried everything including a warning type plugin that provides readers the information about the post being scraped and to contact me. But I see this as something I can capitalize on- with as many scrapers using my content I should be number 1 on Google and Technorati!
Ephena Mar 14th, 2008 at 03:20
I do something similiar on all webpages because of scrapers. even though my sites links are relative links. I hardcode some on all pages with the full http :// structure so that as my sites are scraped or more commonly 302 redirected to as belonging on their sites, they unwittingly publish at least some hard coded urls to the original content. I do think it helps safeguard against scrapers.
Jack Mar 16th, 2008 at 13:15
Doesnt work for me me either. Using wp 2.33 with feedburner for feeds.
Gunnar andreassen Mar 23rd, 2008 at 16:42
Scraping has been a big problem, hope this thing fixes it. Thanks!
Glenn Dixon Mar 30th, 2008 at 15:39
An awesome idea and approach - if you can't beat 'em, fuck 'em! I like it.
John Honeck Apr 2nd, 2008 at 16:50
Since the 2.5 update I've noticed that in the feed the post to the article itself isn't using permalinks but rather links to ?p=xxxx instead.
Joost de Valk Apr 4th, 2008 at 13:06
You're very right John, fixed that in 0.7.5!
pozmu Apr 10th, 2008 at 20:51
Hi
Nice plugin, but it doesn't work well with internationl characters (e.g. Polish) :(
pozmu Apr 10th, 2008 at 20:56
In previous post, I meant that output in administration panel is garbage after saving RSS footer text.
Another thing is that it doesn't work with RSS excerpts - in "after" mode nothing is displayed, and in "before" mode footer and link to article (if enabled) is displayed, but it's plain text, not link.
zylla3 Apr 13th, 2008 at 05:20
Thank G*d I found this post and comments. Every time I read about plugins, I do a 90d turn when I get to the words: code, php, html, etc. This business of scraping is giving me headaches, but the coding stuff doesn't make it any better for me.
At least it's good to know I'm not alone. It was by accident that I discovered 90% of my posts at this particular site [luckily at an early stage]. I thought I was crazy losing sleep googling this scraper and blogging about it. I have learned to reshape my blogging at this point to accommodate the experience...until I could learn any of the good stuff you're all talking about. Thanks!
Michael Apr 17th, 2008 at 10:10
Great plugin, that I have just installed on my website. Superb work.
However, there is a small glitch: When you enter text in German - as I did - although it works fine in the newsfeed, in the options-panel of the plugin itself, it's displayed not correctly. When you save again without cleaning this mess up, of course the humbug of characters goes into your newsfeed...
And as many others said before: A great plugin (actually, also the second from this website that is in use on 3th.be)! Thanks.
Justin May 4th, 2008 at 06:08
Awesome idea Joost.
I have installed your plugin, but my results is showing only plain text, no live links.
This is the address of my feed.
http://kingyorkie.com/feed
Any advice appreciated.
Thank you.
freelance webdesign May 4th, 2008 at 21:08
Great plugin. Thank you very much.
Best Regards from Denmark :)
johncarter May 13th, 2008 at 08:35
Hey Friends!
I have developed a new web directory and need your valuable comments to know if something needs to be inculcated.
It will be of great pleasure to have your valuable comments.
Netty Gritty May 13th, 2008 at 11:06
As a wordpress.com user, I don't have access to plugins. But I am gonna use a Feedflare that will link to my blog url under every post.
It's a great idea. Thanks for the post! :D
diani Jul 1st, 2008 at 19:03
That's great, thank you very much.
Charles Jul 2nd, 2008 at 17:21
Thank you for this great plugin. This is really helpful.
Ian Oct 27th, 2008 at 17:51
Hi
I just installed this but it doesnt appear to change my rss output