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Open Letter to Google About Rap Genius SEO

news.rapgenius.com

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Re: Open Letter to Google About Rap Genius SEO

#21

Post by mbesto »

yeukhon wrote: post #16

Can someone actually explain or try to convince me why paid links are bad? What about non-paid SEO links? I am not familiar with the arguments. Say I am running a blog and I am asking my friends to include my blog link in everyone one of his links regardless what. And we are just doing this to get each other noticed. Say he's writing a C++ tutorial and I will also cook up a Python equivalent and say "hey guys if you…

This: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/paidlinks

Re: Open Letter to Google About Rap Genius SEO

#23

Post by scottrblock »

No. This is a lie. Let's compare their original email [0] to their apology. While we're at it, let's look at their logical fallacies.

  For example, compare Rap Genius’ (RG's) annotated edition of Justin Bieber's new hit single "Heartbreaker" – which dozens of Bieber fans have annotated with details of his break up with Selena Gomez – to AZLyrics’ version of the same
This is a false clause [1]. Nobody is doubting RG's content is superior. If anything, better content would be a reason not to engage in blackhat SEO.

  Excessive link exchanges ("Link to me and I'll link to you") or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking

  We don’t do this.

  That is, links shared on Twitter may give temporary traffic to fan sites, but not long-term link juice.
Yet, in your email to bloggers, you promised to

  get you MASSIVE traffic
Well which one is it, temporary traffic or massive traffic? This is a direct contradiction.

  With limited tools (Open Site Explorer), we found some suspicious backlinks to some of our competitors:
Again, lyrics sites or shady. They also don't raise VC money from Andreessen Horowitz. You'll be held to a higher standard, and rightfully so, if you're truly hoping to become more than a lyrics site. This is bandwagon fallacy [2].

[0]- http://jmarbach.com/rapgenius-growth-hack-exposed

[1]- https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/false-cause

[2]- https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/bandwagon

Re: Open Letter to Google About Rap Genius SEO

#25

Post by look_lookatme »

Goopplesoft wrote: post #18
davemel37 wrote: post #11

This site should be penalized up the wazoo. This "non-apology" apology, is the classic example of a tattletale at school...the classic excuse of its not my fault cuz everyone is doing it...more importantly, it is wrong, and demonstrates a "our sh don't stick mentality" exchanging a tweet for a link is considered exchanging services for a link, which does indeed fall under the buying links category.) Furthermore, whil…

Very childish indeed, it was not an apology at all but a 'they're doing it too' kind of post. I've seen this type of childish behavior on a couple occasions with them (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NAzQPll7Lo )... I'm quite surprised they decided take this approach. Edit: mirror, since I'm betting the text will be modified soon considering the reactions here. http://pastebin.com/dMh7dgxp

Childishness seems ingrained in this company's DNA.

Re: Open Letter to Google About Rap Genius SEO

#26

Post by [deleted] »

mbesto wrote: post #21
yeukhon wrote: post #16

Can someone actually explain or try to convince me why paid links are bad? What about non-paid SEO links? I am not familiar with the arguments. Say I am running a blog and I am asking my friends to include my blog link in everyone one of his links regardless what. And we are just doing this to get each other noticed. Say he's writing a C++ tutorial and I will also cook up a Python equivalent and say "hey guys if you…

This: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/paidlinks

[deleted]

Re: Open Letter to Google About Rap Genius SEO

#27

Post by joelrunyon »

I really want to like rap genius but I have a few basic beefs:

1. It's hard to read. Yellow or even white on black kills my eyes.

2. The "click" to translate" thing is really annoying & tough to read the full song. I feel like a side by side annotation would work better.

3. It's not as clean as other lyrics sites. Sure other ones are spammy - but they give me exactly what I'm looking for.

From a conceptual side of things - I really like what Rap Genius is trying to do. However, the little things like the ones I mentioned above make me looking for other alternatives.

Re: Open Letter to Google About Rap Genius SEO

#29

Post by revelation »

yeukhon wrote: post #16

Can someone actually explain or try to convince me why paid links are bad? What about non-paid SEO links? I am not familiar with the arguments. Say I am running a blog and I am asking my friends to include my blog link in everyone one of his links regardless what. And we are just doing this to get each other noticed. Say he's writing a C++ tutorial and I will also cook up a Python equivalent and say "hey guys if you…

Your scenario isn't exactly what happened here. Rather, how would you feel if your friend asked you to link 10 Justin Bieber songs in your Python tutorial?
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