This article explains what a Ping Service is and why it’s important for you if you want your blog articles indexed on major search engines. It also points out a potential problem with the WordPress Update Service and a way you can avoid getting banned by the very Pinging Services you’re pushing your content to.

Ping Definition per Wikipedia in “Geek Speak” – In blogging, ping is an XML-RPC-based push mechanism by which a weblog notifies a server that its content has been updated. An XML-RPC signal is sent to one or more “ping servers,” which can then generate a list of blogs that have new material. Many blog authoring tools automatically ping one or more servers each time the blogger creates a new post or updates an old one.

In other words, every time you post a new blog article you should ping the various search engines so they will know you have new content and come spider your site to index it.

If you use WordPress as your blogging platform, there is a feature included that will send a ping every time you have new content. You will find this service under Settings -> Writing in the menu on the left of your WordPress Admin Page. Scroll to the bottom and you will find a section called “Update Services”. Here is where your ping settings are found.

WordPress comes with the default ping service rpc.pingomatic.com, which is fine to start out with, but there are literally 100s of other pinging services you can use if you really want to get your site out there. I will include a list of some popular ones below.

A problem I have found with the WordPress Update Service is that every time you update an article, WordPress will send a ping to the list of Ping Services, thus duplicating your URL. That’s a no-no for most services and they will ban your URL from being indexed. Not good! And this can happen without your knowledge and you can potentially lose a lot of traffic without even know it.

The solution I’ve found is a plugin called MaxBlogPress Ping Optimizer. This plugin will make sure WordPress does not send a ping update to your list if you update/modify a blog article. It only allows the pings when you Publish your article the first time, so your chances of being banned are highly minimized.

I highly recommend that you install this plugin and activate it right away. You will need to register your name and site with the plugin to use it. After the activation, go to Settings -> MBP Ping Optimizer. You don’t need to do much except put the list below in the URIs to Ping, and make sure the Enable Pinging checkbox is checked. Then Save Settings and it will do the work for you.

Here’s the list of recommended Ping sites.

http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b

http://1470.net/api/ping

http://a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b

http://api.feedster.com/ping

http://api.moreover.com/ping

http://api.moreover.com/RPC2

http://api.my.yahoo.co.jp/RPC2

http://api.my.yahoo.com/ping

http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2

http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping

http://audiorpc.weblogs.com/RPC2

http://bblog.com/ping.php

http://bitacoles.net/notificacio.php

http://bitacoles.net/ping.php

http://bitacoras.net/ping

http://blo.gs/ping.php

http://blog.goo.ne.jp

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC

http://blogbot.dk/io/xml-rpc.php

http://blogdb.jp

http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc

http://blogdigger.com/RPC2

http://blogmatcher.com/u.php

http://blogoole.com/ping/

http://blogoon.net/ping/

http://blogpeople.net/ping

http://blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1

http://blogsearch.google.ae/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.at/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.be/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.bg/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.ca/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.ch/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.cl/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.cr/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.hu/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.id/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.il/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.in/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.it/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.jp/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.ma/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.nz/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.th/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.uk/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.ve/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.za/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.ar/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.au/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.br/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.co/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.do/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.mx/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.my/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.pe/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.sa/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.sg/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.tr/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.tw/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.ua/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.uy/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.vn/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.de/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.es/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.fi/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.fr/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.gr/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.hr/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.ie/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.in/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.it/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.jp/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.lt/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.nl/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.pl/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.pt/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.ro/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.ru/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.se/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.sk/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.tw/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.us/ping/RPC2

http://blogshares.com/rpc.php

http://blogsnow.com/ping

http://blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi

http://blogupdate.org/ping/

http://bulkfeeds.net

http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc

http://catapings.com/ping.php

http://coreblog.org/ping

http://effbot.org/rpc/ping.cgi

http://feedsky.com/api/RPC2

http://fgiasson.com/pings/ping.php

http://hamo-search.com/ping.php

http://holycowdude.com/rpc/ping/

http://imblogs.net/ping/

http://lasermemory.com/lsrpc/

http://mod-pubsub.org

http://mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatt

http://mod-pubsub.org/knapps/blogchatt

http://mod-pubsub.org/ping.php

http://newsblog.jungleboots.org/ping.php

http://newsisfree.com/RPCCloud

http://packetmonster.net/xmlrpc.php

http://ping.amagle.com

http://ping.amagle.com/

http://ping.bitacoras.com

http://ping.bitacoras.com

http://ping.blo.gs

http://ping.blogg.de/

http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc

http://ping.blogoon.net/

http://ping.blogs.yandex.ru/RPC2

http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc

http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc

http://ping.fakapster.com/rpc

http://ping.fc2.com/

http://ping.feedburner.com

http://ping.feeds.yahoo.com/RPC2/

http://ping.kutsulog.net/

http://ping.myblog.jp

http://ping.namaan.net/rpc

http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php

http://ping.snap.com/ping/RPC2

http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php

http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php

http://ping.weblogs.se

http://ping.wordblog.de/

http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc

http://pingoat.com/

http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2

http://pingqueue.com/rpc/

http://popdex.com/addsite.php

http://r.hatena.ne.jp/rpc

http://rcs.datashed.net

http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2

http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2

http://rpc.bloggerei.de/ping/

http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger

http://rpc.britblog.com/

http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080

http://rpc.newsgator.com/

http://rpc.pingomatic.com

http://rpc.reader.livedoor.com/ping

http://rpc.tailrank.com/feedburner/RPC2

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

http://rpc.twingly.com

http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2

http://rpc.wpkeys.com

http://services.newsgator.com/ngws/xmlrpcping.aspx

http://signup.alerts.msn.com/alerts-PREP/submitPingExtended.doz

http://snipsnap.org/RPC2

http://syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php

http://thingamablog.sourceforge.net/ping.php

http://topicexchange.com

http://topicexchange.com/RPC2

http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php

http://wasalive.com/ping/

http://weblogues.com/ping/

http://weblogues.com/RPC/

http://www.a2b.cc

http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b

http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php

http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2

http://www.bloglines.com/ping

http://www.blogoole.com/ping/

http://www.blogoon.net/ping

http://www.blogpeople.net

http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates

http://www.blogroots.com

http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1

http://www.blogroots.com/tbpopuli.blog?id=1

http://www.blogsdominicanos.com/ping/

http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php

http://www.blogsnow.com/ping

http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi

http://www.catapings.com/ping.php

http://www.feedsky.com/api/RPC2

http://www.holycowdude.com/rpc/ping/

http://www.imblogs.net/ping/

http://www.lasermemory.com

http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc

http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php

http://www.mod-pubsub.org/knapps/blogchatter/ping.php

http://www.mod-pubsub.org/ping.php

http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud

http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php

http://www.octora.com/add_rss.php

http://www.popdex.com

http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php

http://www.snipsnap.org

http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2

http://www.wasalive.com/ping/

http://www.weblogues.com

http://www.weblogues.com/RPC

http://www.xianguo.com/xmlrpc/ping.php

http://www.zhuaxia.com/rpc/server.php

http://xmlrpc.blogg.de

http://xping.pubsub.com/ping

http://zhuaxia.com/rpc/server.php

http://zing.zingfast.com

Happy Pinging! I hope you find this article useful, I’d be thrilled if you would share it with all your blogging friends, and I’m sure they could use the added traffic.

To Your Success, Because Your Success Matters!

David Haines
(215) 268-6696 Anytime!
Hey, Let’s connect on Skype! My ID is davidahaines