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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%

#111

Post by reyan »

spamizbad wrote: post #56
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.

Google penalized BMW, arguably one of the best automobile manufacturers in the world. Very little outrage over that. Just because you're good at something doesn't mean you're above the rules. I RapGenius was an AWFUL lyric site there would be zero sympathy from anyone over their SEO tactics.

I don't argue the merits, but the BMW case is obviously different (BMW core business, dependency on Google results, etc.), hence the disproportionate reaction.

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#112

Post by velis_vel »

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…

> 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?

I don't know about affiliate links, but paying a blog to advertise you will also land you on Google's shitlist (unless you mark the link nofollow, in which case they don't care.)

Edit: according to http://www.webpronews.com/heres-what-googles-matt-cutts-says... you are actually supposed to nofollow affiliate links but they can usually handle it automatically for big sites like Amazon or iTunes.

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#113

Post by sillysaurus2 »

JohnTHaller wrote: post #75
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.

RapGenius doesn't need to 'beat this thing'. They need to suck it up and deal with the punishment for getting caught cheating. Google has very clear guidelines. RapGenius decided to go blackhat SEO anyway (because 'everyone else does it'). They got caught (blatantly). And now they're dealing with the penalty. If you don't want to have a 6 month penalty on Google, don't cheat.

Rapgenius needs to find some way to recover from this if they are to survive. What are you saying they don't need to do?

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#114

Post by loceng »

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.

People couldn't search for lyrics on Google before Rap Genius came along?

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#115

Post by jonahx »

sanswork wrote: post #101
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.

Where can you find those guidelines?

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#116

Post by notastartup »

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.

Google is acting in their best interest which is to see that they are the consumer's sole choice when it comes to search. It makes sense that they would try and make an example to send the message that they are willing to go to great lengths (such as taking out businesses that depend on their traffic source) to those that don't play by the rules.

Azlyrics is the best imho, no heavy javascript, no annotations, just simple lyrics you can copy paste in to your blog or facebook.

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#117

Post by kunai »

the_rosentotter wrote: post #91
kunai wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> is indicative that the visitor has children or siblings ... or parents.

Fair point, but I doubt anyone visiting pbskids and Nick is upping their swag by checking out what verse Jay-Z just busted.

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#118

Post by sanswork »

jonahx wrote: post #115
sanswork wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Where can you find those guidelines?

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769

(You find it by searching google webmaster guidelines)

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#119

Post by aliakbarkhan »

ddw wrote: post #98
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…

I consider myself sophisticated and I still use Google for something like Rap Genius: "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.

If you actually knew how to use Google this wouldn't be a problem. The `site:` filter is your friend.

Re: Rap Genius Traffic Has Dropped By Over 80%

#120

Post by w1ntermute »

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).

Why was it disliked (prior to this incident)?
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