Has your website been blocked by Facebook? If the answer to this question is yes, then read on.
Time and time again I hear about websites being blocked by Facebook and given the amount of search engine traffic that I receive daily on a previous blog post on this very subject (Has Facebook Blocked Your Website?), it's quite a large majority of people that are being affected.
It's not just Facebook that is blocking websites, Google+ also has a system in place whereby your website or latest blog post will not show up in communities unless it's approved by the moderator. So why does this happen?
Apart from your website or blog being in breach of content policy, I see many website and blog owners spamming the system, even if it's unintentional. What I mean by this is people posting the same link to numerous Facebook groups or Google+ communities (even pages) within a short time span. There was a case the other day where I noticed one blogger who had posted his latest blog post continuously to over 20 Facebook groups and then did the same on Google+. Now that's just asking for trouble and hence the reason for this blog post.
Now let me be clear! Marketing on social media has huge benefits but you must promote responsibly. Posting your website or latest blog post in succession to various groups or communities is not the way to do it. My rule has always been to allow an hour between each post. Yes, it might take longer for you to get the word out about your latest deal, product or blog post for example, but it's far better than risking getting your website blocked.
Another thing you shouldn't do is post to groups or communities that have different interests to what you are promoting. For example, don't go posting a technology blog post on say the latest Smartphone to a Fashion group or community. What will inevitably happen is that the members or the administrator/moderator of that group or community will report/mark it as spam, sending a notification to Facebook or Google+.
Yes, there are cases where some websites have unduly been blocked but there are others which have been blocked for good reason, probably due to the actions as mentioned above. Don't forget that if your website does get blocked, it can take weeks if not months for the block to be removed. Facebook do have an appeal form available if you think your website has mistakenly been blocked, but given the stories that I've heard over the past couple of years in regards to response time (or the lack thereof), it may just take months before the block is removed.
Update March 2018: The appeal form is no longer available. You will now need to use the Facebook Sharing Debugger to see the information that is used when your website content is shared on Facebook, Messenger and other places.
Social media is a powerful marketing platform, so don't take risks! Promote responsibly and you will have far less chance of your website being blocked by the top social media sites.
Has your website been blocked by Facebook? Did you successfully get your website unblocked after submitting a report? Please let me know by using the comments section below.
Related articles and helpful links:
Has Facebook Blocked Your Website?
Facebook Blocked From Adding Content Appeal Form (no longer available)
Facebook Page Block Appeal Form (Zero Reach Issue)
Facebook Disabled Account Appeal Form
Facebook Sharing Debugger
Google+ User Content and Conduct Policy
Facebook Community Standards
If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar on the left-side of the screen or by using the "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.
As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow on Facebook and Google+, via Email or by subscribing to our blog feed.
You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/djones1509
https://www.google.com/+DerekJonesUK
Until my next post on Monday listing top tools and tips for blogger outreach, have a fabulous weekend!
© 2013. This article is DMCA protected. Republication is prohibited.
Time and time again I hear about websites being blocked by Facebook and given the amount of search engine traffic that I receive daily on a previous blog post on this very subject (Has Facebook Blocked Your Website?), it's quite a large majority of people that are being affected.
It's not just Facebook that is blocking websites, Google+ also has a system in place whereby your website or latest blog post will not show up in communities unless it's approved by the moderator. So why does this happen?
Apart from your website or blog being in breach of content policy, I see many website and blog owners spamming the system, even if it's unintentional. What I mean by this is people posting the same link to numerous Facebook groups or Google+ communities (even pages) within a short time span. There was a case the other day where I noticed one blogger who had posted his latest blog post continuously to over 20 Facebook groups and then did the same on Google+. Now that's just asking for trouble and hence the reason for this blog post.
Now let me be clear! Marketing on social media has huge benefits but you must promote responsibly. Posting your website or latest blog post in succession to various groups or communities is not the way to do it. My rule has always been to allow an hour between each post. Yes, it might take longer for you to get the word out about your latest deal, product or blog post for example, but it's far better than risking getting your website blocked.
Another thing you shouldn't do is post to groups or communities that have different interests to what you are promoting. For example, don't go posting a technology blog post on say the latest Smartphone to a Fashion group or community. What will inevitably happen is that the members or the administrator/moderator of that group or community will report/mark it as spam, sending a notification to Facebook or Google+.
Yes, there are cases where some websites have unduly been blocked but there are others which have been blocked for good reason, probably due to the actions as mentioned above. Don't forget that if your website does get blocked, it can take weeks if not months for the block to be removed. Facebook do have an appeal form available if you think your website has mistakenly been blocked, but given the stories that I've heard over the past couple of years in regards to response time (or the lack thereof), it may just take months before the block is removed.
Update March 2018: The appeal form is no longer available. You will now need to use the Facebook Sharing Debugger to see the information that is used when your website content is shared on Facebook, Messenger and other places.
Social media is a powerful marketing platform, so don't take risks! Promote responsibly and you will have far less chance of your website being blocked by the top social media sites.
Has your website been blocked by Facebook? Did you successfully get your website unblocked after submitting a report? Please let me know by using the comments section below.
Related articles and helpful links:
Has Facebook Blocked Your Website?
Facebook Blocked From Adding Content Appeal Form (no longer available)
Facebook Page Block Appeal Form (Zero Reach Issue)
Facebook Disabled Account Appeal Form
Facebook Sharing Debugger
Google+ User Content and Conduct Policy
Facebook Community Standards
If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar on the left-side of the screen or by using the "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.
As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow on Facebook and Google+, via Email or by subscribing to our blog feed.
You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/djones1509
https://www.google.com/+DerekJonesUK
Until my next post on Monday listing top tools and tips for blogger outreach, have a fabulous weekend!
© 2013. This article is DMCA protected. Republication is prohibited.
Great tips here Derek! I had my site blocked last year by Facebook and it took a few weeks before I was able to post my website link again on their system.
ReplyDeleteMy site got blocked for the reasons you specified. Now I'm careful not to post too often. Allowing an hour between each post is a great tip!
ReplyDeleteNow I know why my website was blocked by Facebook. But I did not mean any harm. Anyway this is a good thing to stop certain annoying websites.
ReplyDeleteMy website got blocked earlier today.
ReplyDeleteIt would be good to have some kind of warning (as you say) to give some indication of whether you're being too 'spammy' and/or an explanation of why you've been blocked...
My business has a Facebook Group (Intuitive Pathways), Business Page (Across The Realms) plus our individual pages.
ReplyDeleteEvery week I write a post on my popular blog (blog.acrosstherealms.com) to share with my followers though the integrated Facebook share button and every week I get an error about the page not being safe and have to fill in CAPCHA to say that it is safe.
Despite knowing my blog is safe, filling in the CAPCHA and reporting this problem weekly though the provided link Facebook still blocks my followers from re-directing to my content - thus I get several emails and complaints weekly.
My URL is safe and approved by Google+, Twitter, Pintrest, Stumble Upon, Myspace and anywhere else I share!