Rap Genius is Back on Google

#1

Post by tomlemon » Sat, Jan 04, 2014, 1:36 PM UTC

Rap Genius is Back on Google
news.rapgenius.com

Re: Rap Genius is Back on Google

#2

Post by Soviet » Sat, Jan 04, 2014, 1:47 PM UTC

I wonder how long it would take for any other website without 15 mln backing and direct line to Google to return.

Re: Rap Genius is Back on Google

#3

Post by kenshiro_o » Sat, Jan 04, 2014, 2:04 PM UTC

Looks like this involved quite a bit of work on Rapgenius' part but I am glad they cleaned up their mess and apologized to Google.

Moreover, this article feels pretty neutral/humble and techy, a far cry from the haughty attitude their founders usually display in interviews.

Re: Rap Genius is Back on Google

#4

Post by LukeB_UK » Sat, Jan 04, 2014, 2:05 PM UTC

They have the word 'lyrics' at the end of the slug for that post and a number of others which don't have any relevance to lyrics. Surely that's still bad SEO practice?

Re: Rap Genius is Back on Google

#5

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jan 04, 2014, 2:05 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Rap Genius is Back on Google

#6

Post by kanamekun » Sat, Jan 04, 2014, 2:05 PM UTC

Pretty interesting decision to include a lengthy "technical digression" in their SEO apology:

>

Re: Rap Genius is Back on Google

#7

Post by jdmitch » Sat, Jan 04, 2014, 2:07 PM UTC

Interesting closing paragraph:

>Though Google is an extremely important part of helping people discover and navigate Rap Genius, we hope that this ordeal will make fans see that Rap Genius is more than a Google-access-only website. The only way to fully appreciate and benefit from Rap Genius is to sign up for an account and use Rap Genius – not as a substitute for Wikipedia or lyrics sites, but as a social network where curious and intelligent people gather to socialize and engage in close reading of text.

ie, you should really just become a member rather than relying on google...

Also, where was bing in all of this?!? ;)

Re: Rap Genius is Back on Google

#8

Post by bushido » Sat, Jan 04, 2014, 2:07 PM UTC

This is great for Rap Genius.

But this truly saddens me as well. I cannot for the life of me understand how they were able to fix ten-of-thousands of backlinks and other shady practices and get back in the good graces of Google so darn quickly.

Frankly I do not know a single other legitimate(+with good traffic) site who was able to get back in the good graces of Google after algorithm updates without spending many many months researching any possible reasons to be penalized and fixing it themselves after repeatedly asking google for help to no avail.

Could it be that Rap Genius was special because it has Andreessen Horowitz?

Sure seems that way.

I am not going to stop using Google, but I am inclined to use them lesser now.

I would like to hear why, how rap genius was fixed this and what this means for other people who get penalized from Matt Cutts though!!

Re: Rap Genius is Back on Google

#9

Post by jarnix » Sat, Jan 04, 2014, 2:09 PM UTC

This post is complete bullshit. Of course they have relations. Maybe they cleaned their backlinks, but still I cannot believe how they got back so fast in SERP.

Anyway, Franz Kafka would die again if he saw his text on this site (http://poetry.rapgenius.com/Franz-kafka-a-dream-lyrics), so let's just forget about this site and don't use it.

Re: Rap Genius is Back on Google

#10

Post by jarnix » Sat, Jan 04, 2014, 2:10 PM UTC

LukeB_UK wrote: post #4

They have the word 'lyrics' at the end of the slug for that post and a number of others which don't have any relevance to lyrics. Surely that's still bad SEO practice?

Like lyrics of Franz Kafka, did not notice before reading your post.

http://poetry.rapgenius.com/Franz-kafka-le-nouvel-avocat-lyr...