All about blocking in Zen

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Remains one of the popular Russian platforms for posting content. In 2021, Zen publications were viewed daily by 20 million people. There are many monetization options available here and it is still possible to achieve good organic reach indicators. This makes the platform quite attractive for bloggers. However, Zen has restrictions that make it easy to get banned. Read our article to find out how to avoid this.

Hidden and overt limitations
It is worth starting with the fact that in addition to direct closure, when the owner can find out about it by logging into the account, Zen practices shadow ban, which is more dangerous than a direct ban. After all, the blogger continues to invest effort in filling the channel and does not immediately find wordpress web design agency out about the pessimization. In such cases, owners note a decrease in coverage on individual publications or on the channel as a whole, although representatives deny shadow ban. Usually, technical support says that such measures are not applied or refers to the work of machine algorithms. However, there is an opinion that to avoid a shadow ban on Zen, it is enough to follow the rules established on this platform.

What people don't like about Zen
It is quite logical that any informational reasons that are prohibited in the Russian Federation - alcohol, drugs, illegal activity, gambling and 18+ content are under restrictions. Let's consider each of the areas.

Casino
Gambling has been prohibited in Russia since 2009, except for specially designated gambling zones. Therefore, it is prohibited to promote gambling events on Zen. Although writing about gambling is allowed, but only in an artistic or historical context. When posting such content, you should be extremely careful and attentive, since the line separating artistic text from hidden advertising is very thin.

Duplicates and repetitions
There is no direct ban on duplicate content on the site. However, such publications are guaranteed to be detected by the index algorithms and, according to experienced bloggers, lead to a decrease in search results. If you are engaged in deleting old posts and reposting publications, this is a direct path to a shadow ban. Even when posting material that was previously posted elsewhere, be sure to include a link to the source and write that this is your material.




This also includes constant publications of the same type of content. For example, selections of approximately identical products or rewriting of approximately equivalent content materials, which can lead to the channel being pessimized.

Clickbait
Yandex really doesn't like clickbait headlines. There's even a separate article in the Zen directory dedicated to clickbait publications. Clickbait is understood as the design of the headline and post card using misleading information - distortion of facts, concealment of information, exaggeration of the real state of affairs, direct calls to action, manipulation of emotions and deliberate mistakes. You need to be extremely careful about the design of the headlines and images for posts - they must correspond to the content of the material, otherwise there is a high risk of falling under direct restrictions. This is also a very fine line, which you should not cross, so as not to get a permanent ban.

It is worth noting a rather interesting version of clickbait: Zen can block a channel for posting incomplete content and omissions, when the material does not have a logical conclusion.

Advertising of medical services and medical products


Also under restrictions under Russian law. Therefore, it is better not to post any recipes, medications or healing advice without prior approval from Yandex technical support.

Materials containing references to alcohol, tobacco and drugs are also prohibited.

Copyright
Another non-obvious point for which you can get banned on Yandex is copyright infringement. Moreover, the infringement may apply not only to text, but also to video or any other materials. For example, pictures. In most cases, this only happens when the author of the original materials directly contacts Yandex support. But in this case, blocking becomes guaranteed and irreversible.

Erotic content
Here everything is quite simple - it is desirable not to allow any explicit subtext in the text or naked body in the illustrations. Practice shows that even if photos in swimsuits from the beach are posted, algorithms can perceive such photos as explicit content violating the rules of the site and pessimize them in the search results.

Obscene language
Obscene expressions and abusive speech in public are prohibited in the Russian Federation, and Zen respects the law. Therefore, you should not use dirty words and hate speech in your materials.

Spam
It is also not recommended to publish advertising links without specifying partner material, links to your own website without linking to the channel and calls to action. When you need to post a link to a partner site, do not forget to check the box that you are posting partner material. Otherwise, according to observations, there is a high risk of falling under restrictions. For those who are developing their own website together with Zen, we remind you of the need to indicate this by linking the channel to the site in the studio settings.