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Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm confused. Do you think RapGenius visitors are children or adults?
RapGenius visitors are probably adults or young adults, but the fact that the average "visitor" visits NPR and pbskids is indicative that the visitor has children or siblings, which means that a child and an adult are on the same browser on the same user.
... or parents.
This has moved from an interesting case study in SEO to unadulterated schadenfreude.
If RG thinks they're so great (and all the bandwagoners on HN), then they should prove it by playing fairly. My suspicion is that the vast majority of people who search for lyrics don't care about song meanings or annotations. Azlyrics does just fine, which is why they've always been at the top. If people wanted song meanings they would search for song meanings. My theory is that RG wasn't able to grow as fast as the…
This has moved from an interesting case study in SEO to unadulterated schadenfreude.
An interesting side effect of this is the phenomenon of less sophisticated users who use Google as their address bar. If you run a decently well-known website you see this in your analytics reports (at least back when you could see Google search keywords)--repeat visitors coming to your site from Google after searching for your site by name. This is why "facebook" is the top Google search. Since you can't find RapGen…
Getting people to link to you is what SEO is all about. Basically every site concerned with SEO does it in one form or another -- I thought this was what most every blog affiliate program was about!
So Google decides to "punish" RapGenius just because its program got a little bit of public notice, while 99.9% of other sites which do the same, continue doing the same thing, unpunished?
It just comes across as capricious and petty. For a site as large as Google, there should be some kind of due process involved with clear published guidelines, or (preferably) they should just work on improving their algorithm.
How is what Rap Genius is doing any different than Amazon or iTunes paying you for affiliate links, or you paying a blog to advertise you, or buying a friend a beer to include a link to you? Where exactly does the line get drawn?
An interesting side effect of this is the phenomenon of less sophisticated users who use Google as their address bar. If you run a decently well-known website you see this in your analytics reports (at least back when you could see Google search keywords)--repeat visitors coming to your site from Google after searching for your site by name. This is why "facebook" is the top Google search. Since you can't find RapGen…
"rap genius kendrick lamar swimming pools" would get me there quicker than any other way.
It's incredible that now that search string sends me to other pages that link to RG's lyrics but not directly to theirs.
What I find shocking is a single company (Google) has the power to cause such a dramatic decrease of a website it deemed "unworthy". Sure, it can justify its actions by saying they broke the rules, but pressing the a "death button" for a website is not a solution. I feel as though Google needs to re-examine their core principles and determine how to better handle an issue like this. Otherwise, I suspect Google might…
What is a solution then? It seems like a good deterrent. It has to hurt.
In Poland (where I'm from) they similarly punished Ceneo, Skąpiec, Nokaut (all most popular price comparator services) and even Tesco. See http://www.seoportal.pl/ceneo-skapiec-tesco-ukarane-przez-go... (Polish) or http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&pre... (English by Google Translate).
Not one of these websites has died, but a lesson was taught.
If RG thinks they're so great (and all the bandwagoners on HN), then they should prove it by playing fairly. My suspicion is that the vast majority of people who search for lyrics don't care about song meanings or annotations. Azlyrics does just fine, which is why they've always been at the top. If people wanted song meanings they would search for song meanings. My theory is that RG wasn't able to grow as fast as the…
I think if anything, the fact that they are funded and need to produce positive ROI for their investment creates incentive to "grow at all costs". However, the cost has been too great.