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Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

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Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#15

Post by jawerty »

I'm not sure if it's right or wrong what Google did, but it was certainly a shit business decision. It's Google's job to be a proper search tool for anyone to get the best possible results when searching something as simple as "rapgenius". If I search "rapgenius" and don't get the hugely popular website http://rapgenius.com as the first result, then that's bad service on Google's end.

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#16

Post by kunai »

michaelrbock wrote: post #14

Hmm... "This site reaches over 24 million monthly people, of which 12 million (48%) are in the U.S.The typical visitor watches Nickelodeon, visits pbskids.org, and listens to National Public Radio."

All I can glean from that is that the typical visitor to RapGenius can't be bothered to set up a separate user account for his/her children.

This brings up an important point: hardly anyone knows how to configure or troubleshoot their computer. This is by far a more important point than some arbitrary "learn to code" movement that doesn't teach CS, and does NOT teach programming – it's like giving somebody a hammer and telling them to nail a nail into a board of wood, without teaching them how to build anything with that hammer. Instead, we should be teaching people how to maintain the furniture they already own first. I just have zero respect for Code.org at this point, it's their own agenda they're trying to fulfill. They don't care about the future of the U.S., it's just self-aggrandizement as usual.

Sorry for the OT.

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#17

Post by dasmithii »

wickedOne wrote: post #8

ironically google trends shows a massive increase in interest http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=rapgenius.com

This reminds me of the Miley Cirus insanity of past months. She gained more popularity than ever before by acting erotic and capitalizing on peoples' disgust. People were promoting her name in insults and jokes around the world.

Here, the term "Rap Genius" is being popularized by controversy.

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#18

Post by fragsworth »

jawerty wrote: post #15

I'm not sure if it's right or wrong what Google did, but it was certainly a shit business decision. It's Google's job to be a proper search tool for anyone to get the best possible results when searching something as simple as "rapgenius". If I search "rapgenius" and don't get the hugely popular website http://rapgenius.com as the first result, then that's bad service on Google's end.

> but it was certainly a shit business decision

Not really, because they're using this kind of punishment to make an example of them in order to prevent future SEO abuse by others. It's probably for the better.

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#19

Post by dylandrop »

beatpanda wrote: post #13

Which is really a shame, because RapGenius is a better lyrics site than all the rest by leaps and bounds. Google is acting like a cartel here and it's absolutely ridiculous. I hope they can beat this thing.

I do think that RapGenius' punishment is pretty harsh, but I don't think Google's behavior is "absolutely ridiculous". RapGenius did some shady stuff and they should be penalized for it so that this stuff doesn't pervade the web. I also don't think Google is acting like a cartel, in that they aren't extorting RapGenius or killing family members. But maybe Google should've laid off the crusade after a week or so.
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