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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%

#101

Post by sanswork »

crazygringo wrote: post #97

I find Google's actions to be bizarre. 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, unpun…

There are clear guidelines and due process.

Amazon and iTunes aren't paying you for the link they are paying you for the sale.

In the second and third cases it is no different if you're paying for a keyword link and if Google found out about it you would be penalized.

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#102

Post by CamperBob2 »

kunai wrote: post #34
KC8ZKF wrote: post #30

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.

So?

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#103

Post by sanswork »

ugexe wrote: post #89
bichiliad wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget that rap genius didn't / doesn't want to just be a lyrics site, they also do the whole "what do these lyrics mean" deal. I'd have no idea what 2 Chainz was going on about half the time were it not for RG.

You'd have no idea what 2 chainz was saying, or the meaning of what he is saying? Which begs the question: if you don't know what 2 chainz is going on about half the time why do you listen to him?

If you treat the voice as another instrument it can be enjoyable without making sense.

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#104

Post by 001sky »

tptacek wrote: post #52
arkitaip wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

schadenfreude by who? Certainly not by Google or the media.

By people who are not fans of Rap Genius, of which there are many. (I like the site, for what it's worth).

Right, but this is a link to a piece of data. Calling it "emotive" is odd.

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#105

Post by mindcrime »

sejje wrote: post #73
drig wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My feeling is that Google is acting like a monopoly. It's wrong that a private company is able to exert this much power over others, even if the others are being shady.

That's only the case because this company has built its model with Google as a primary player. I understand the facts of the situation--a rap lyrics website HAS to build around Google to achieve optimal success. But if you aren't willing to give away that much control, build a less-successful version or just find another business.

This certainly points out one interesting thing... each and every content producer in the world has a vested stake in promoting other, alternative search engines. No one should put all of their eggs in one basket.

If you're a content producer, you should absolutely be looking for ways to promote other search engines (and other traffic sources) as a hedge against getting screwed by a change at $DOMINANT_PLAYER.

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#106

Post by 001sky »

sejje wrote: post #71
jonknee wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is RapGenius the best result for Google searchers? I just want lyrics, if Google can get me to them I am happy. RG has a ton of bloat that I don't want or need.

Because when you google for "rapgenius" the best result is unquestionably rapgenius.

No, when you have the website you don't need to "google" it.

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#107

Post by nawitus »

jameszhang wrote: post #96
jonknee wrote: post #62

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…

My browser (Chrome) shares screen real estate between its search functionality and address bar. Therefore, if I have searched "facebook" on Google but have not explicitly typed " http://facebook.com" into the address bar, Chrome remembers the "facebook" search as I start to type it out. As a user, the next most obvious action to take is to tab-complete + enter, and voila, there goes the Google search for "facebook".

When I tab-complete + enter, Firefox autocompletes it to http://www.facebook.com and then opens the URL.

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#108

Post by notastartup »

jonknee wrote: post #47
mschuster91 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1. Even if RapGenius did cheat, they are still the best solution for Google's customers (i.e. those sheep whose data can be mined and sold). So I don't get why Google essentially fucks up with their customers.

Why is RapGenius the best result for Google searchers? I just want lyrics, if Google can get me to them I am happy. RG has a ton of bloat that I don't want or need.

> " I just want lyrics, if Google can get me to them I am happy."

This is what I said when I met with Milun Tesovic from Metrolyrics, and what was more shocking is that they were licensing lyrics and paying royalties for it and that they used jQuery to block people from copying and pasting lyrics. You could be sued for copying pasting "copyrighted" text and that every other lyrics site were using "pirated" text.

You telling me consumers can't copy paste the words to "bitches aint shit but hoes and tricks " (Dr. Dre 1992, Chronic) because they are paying royalties for it out of their own pocket?

Needless to say, the traffic between azlyrics and metrolyrics reflects this. Former has been trending up for the past few years, while metrolyrics have stagnated and is less frequented than azlyrics.

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#109

Post by grey-area »

V-2 wrote: post #99
baldajan wrote: post #38

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…

> but pressing the a "death button" for a website is not a solution. 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...…

Should Google have that sort of power over almost every business in the world?

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#110

Post by icebraining »

dmak wrote: post #24

There really needs to be some checks and balances here. Perhaps an opensource search engine? I think an entity like Google having so much control over which businesses die or survive is a little ridiculous.

We already have an Open Source search engine, it's called YaCy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YaCy

Of course, nobody uses it.

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