What is Splog?
A splog is a kind of website that looks like a blog but is actually full of spam content. The word "splog" is made by putting together "spam" and "blog". Splogs do not contain real, helpful information written by an actual blogger.
The Content on Splogs
Instead of quality writing, splogs usually have worthless text or jumbled words that don't make any sense.
A lot of the content is even just copied word-for-word from other websites without permission.
Often, the text on splogs is either automatically generated by computers or written very quickly without care. It provides no value to readers visiting the site.
Splogs also usually have a bunch of flashing ads and affiliate marketing links everywhere.
Why Do Splogs Exist?
You might wonder - if splogs have no real content, why are they made in the first place?
The main purposes are
Try to boost the search engine rankings of other websites the splog links to
Sell advertising space on the splog itself, promote products
Earn money through affiliate programs, and make cash from the pay-per-click ads plastered all over the pages.
The Problem With Splogs
From the perspective of normal internet users, splogs are extremely frustrating.
Imagine you search Google for helpful information on a topic and instead of a legitimate website, you click a result that takes you to a splog covered in nonsense words and ads. You won't be able to find what you need.
Search engines themselves really dislike splogs too because they make search results worse and provide a horrible experience for people using their service.
How Search Engines Fight Splogs
Major search engine companies like Google have developed advanced systems to try to identify splogs among the billions of web pages they have to sort through.
They use complex algorithms and have hired many skilled engineers to detect the signs of sploggy content.
When a splog is identified, search engines can either remove it completely from search results or push its ranking way down so it doesn't show up unless you go really deep into the search pages that no one looks at.
Spotting a Splog
While you might accidentally wander onto a splog sometimes when searching, there are usually some clues that can tell you that you've landed on a spam blog.
These clues include:
Text simply doesn't make sense no matter how many times you read it
There are excessive advertisements, banners, and affiliate links everywhere you look on the page
There is clearly zero actual substantial, valuable content or information on the topic you were searching for.
The Bottom Line
Splogs are pretty much the annoying, useless, spam-filled blogs.
Their only purposes are to deceive search engines, show advertisements, and earn revenue through underhanded tactics like selling links instead of providing genuine content.
The major search engines are continually improving their detection systems and getting better and pushing down these types of low-quality spam blogs to highlight legitimate, helpful websites in their search results.