7 Signs to Help You Know If You’ve Been Shadow-banned

Dear fellow blogging friend:

Have you ever felt like your traffic and engagement numbers don’t accurately reflect the actual traffic and engagement your blog generates?

Have you suspected that your blog isn’t reaching the audience it could even though you’re doing all the things you’re told you should to ensure that people see your blog amid the flood of content clogging up the internet daily?

You’re not alone.

At the risk of sounding like a grassy knoll conspiracy theorist, I am going to discuss shadow-banning in today’s post.

The practice of shadow-banning restricts the visibility of your content on social media. This happens without anyone contacting you directly to let you know that you’ve been shadow-banned for suspicious behavior, employing spammy tactics, or violating community guidelines.

How can you know if you’ve been shadow-banned?

Excellent question.

To determine if you’ve been shadow-banned, you should consider the following indicators revealing that your blog (or other social media platform) has been shadow-banned:

1. Decreased Engagement: Your blog experiences a sudden and significant drop in engagement (likes, comments, shares, and overall interaction) on your posts. This is often a sign of shadowbanning. I experienced this myself back in February of this year when my blog inexplicably dropped by over a third in a month that historically doesn’t change drastically.
2. Reduced or Inaccurate Reach: You notice discrepancies in the number of views and likes your posts show to a given audience. Plus, your posts are not reaching as many followers or appearing in the feeds of your audience like they once did. I noticed this on my blog as well as a couple of other blogs my friends publish. For example, your post has had 15 views, 5 likes, and 2 comments. However, when you find your post in a feed it only shows 1 like and , zero comments, and 8 views. Why is this important? Because people are drawn to content other people engage with and if your engagement numbers are low, it looks like no one is interested in your content. This sends the message that your content isn’t worth reading.
3. Hashtags Are Ineffective: You are employing and utilizing recommended hashtags but no one is responding to them. You do a search, but your posts don’t appear in hashtag searches or in the discover section. This is an indicator of shadow-banning. Recent examples of this are #Blogtober and #Inktober.
4. Limited Interaction: You start to notice that your posts don’t appear in the “recent posts” section or you have fewer interactions with other users, including those who follow you.
5. Inactivity Notifications: A friend asks you, “Are you still blogging? I haven’t seen your posts lately.” If your followers report that they aren’t seeing your posts in their feeds, either you’ve quit creating content or it is a sign that your blog has restricted visibility.
6. Testing with a Trusted Account: Do you suspect something is fishy but you’re not sure whether or not your suspicions are warranted? Like the old saying says: “Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean nobody is after you.” Ask a friend with a trusted account to search for your content or view your posts. If they can’t find your posts easily, it very well may be due to a shadowban.
7. Platform Guidelines: It’s always good to review the platform’s community guidelines and policies to ensure you’re not inadvertently violating any rules that could result in restrictions. This is especially necessary amidst our present cancel culture.

By the way, shadow-banning isn’t limited to blogging or blogposts. It happens on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms. How do I know? I’ve experienced it. Indeed, The Devotional Guy™ was actually banned for a period of time. I had to enlist the help of attorneys from the First Liberty Institute in order to get the ban lifted. This took several months.

If you suspect a shadowban, try to identify the cause and see if you can rectify it. Avoid jumping to conclusions. Reach out to the platform. Don’t “do nothing.” For instance, I’ve contacted WordPress support to get clarification about the discrepancies I see in the numbers revealed in “the Reader” versus actual numbers.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

As I mentioned earlier, frequent reasons for shadow-banning include using spammy tactics, violating community guidelines, or participating in suspicious behavior.

When your numbers fluctuate significantly, simply review and adjust your posting habits, make sure you are familiar with the compliance guidelines of a particular platform, and engage with your audience in an authentic and ethical manner.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

From my experience, I’ve learned it takes time for restrictions to be lifted and it takes even longer for your blog to recover, even when you follow all the recommended best practices.

There are monitoring tools that claim to check if your account is shadow-banned. However, having not used them, I cannot vouch for their accuracy or effectiveness. I believe you are better off relying on the above indicators and monitoring your individual account’s performance. This is simply part of blogging in the 21st century.

If you suspect something is awry, remember don’t “do nothing.” Take action. Speak up and speak out.

Abundant blessings and continued happy blogging my friends!

Rainer Bantau

The Devotional Guy™