iElectrify

If you haven’t heard, Google’s recent launch of Sidewiki is causing a firestorm of controversy among the webmaster community. 

This “feature”, available to users with the Google toolbar (read: millions of your website visitors), lets people leave comments on the side of your site. 

The idea is great – lots of people giving feedback about your products and services.  The problem is, this is a jackpot for spammers and scummy competitors looking to trash your good name and reputation as well as promote their own products.

The current problem with Sidewiki is that comments cannot be moderated.  As long as you have a Google Profile (and if you use Gmail, Adsense, Adwords or any other Google services, you do), you can leave a comment on anyone’s page about anything. 

If there aren’t any comments about that particular page, Google will display relevant blog posts.  In the case of business websites – these blog posts could very well be from your competitors.

Moderating Sidewiki Comments

If you find a distasteful or downright wrong comment on your site – you can’t delete it.  Of course, Google tries to step in with the reassurance that its “algorithms” will take care of everything.  But as we’ve seen with other technologies – spammers, scammers and shysters are always one step ahead of these sophisticated tools. 

Until Sidewiki becomes a more manageable (and/or optional) browser addition, website owners can wrangle control from this intrusive “tool” by installing a Sidewiki blocker.

How to Block Sidewiki Comments

One savvy programmer has released a comprehensive Sidewiki blocker that can prevent Sidewiki ads from being seen on your site.  The script can be installed in minutes and there’s no programming expertise needed.  To download the Sidewiki blocker for your site, click here.

Tags: block sidewiki, prevent sidewiki comments, sidewicki, sidewiki blocker, stop sidewiki