Akademik

n.

1. A fake blog containing links to sites affiliated with the blogger with the intent of boosting the search engine rankings and ad impressions for those sites. 2. Spam links added to the comments section of a blog. [Blend of spam and blog.]

— splogger n.

Polluting the blogosphere like spam in email inboxes, a rising portion of blogs are created for the sole purpose of getting search engine attention so they can promote affiliated web sites.

These "spam blogs" now comprise 10 to 20 percent of all blogs, according to Umbria, a Boulder, Colorado-based intelligence company that monitors blogs for its clients.

The blend term "splogs" was popularized: http://www.blogmaverick.com/entry/1234000870054492/ by Mark Cuban, the outspoken entrepreneur and investor.

— "Spam Plagues Blogs," Red Herring, December 27, 2005

The production of spam blogs as well as the onslaught of spam in the comment sections of blogs — also known as "splog" — is particularly irksome because it dilutes the usefulness of search rankings.

The problem is so acute that major Internet search engines Google Inc., Microsoft Corp.'s MSN division and Yahoo Inc., along with Weblog tool vendor Six Apart Ltd., joined together earlier this year to wage battle on splog.

— Lisa Vaas, "Blog Search Engine Threatens Ban of Blogger Blogs," eWeek, August 17, 2005

So here's what it comes down to. The A-listers have very popular blogs. http://blo.gs/most-watched.php will give you a feel for the most popular of them. And guess what? They allow anonymous posting. So, I can make money by using the mechanisms that advertise blog activity to identify popular blogs, and use the RSS to find links striaight to the topics, and post off-topic ads right into the comments of the articles.

Blog-Spam — is it Splog or Blam?

— glenn1you0, " The Problem with Blogs: http://www.hackermojo.com/mt-static/archives/2003/06/," Hacker Mojo, June 13, 2003