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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

#71

Post by pkfrank »

ripberge wrote: post #46
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…

You are very misinformed if you think these strategies do not work. They are a necessity for a startup in very high competition niches. Take a look at the source of the very reputable: www.usatoday.com/sports/ and search for "NFL Tickets". Blatant link buying by vivid seats. SeatGeek does this all over the place as well. When you have really strong competitors buying links like this and getting away with it--it's the…

Is there a legitimate way to "tattle" on competitors that are blatantly abusing SEO practices?

Re: Open Letter to Google About Rap Genius SEO

#74

Post by ripberge »

pkfrank wrote: post #71
ripberge wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are very misinformed if you think these strategies do not work. They are a necessity for a startup in very high competition niches. Take a look at the source of the very reputable: www.usatoday.com/sports/ and search for "NFL Tickets". Blatant link buying by vivid seats. SeatGeek does this all over the place as well. When you have really strong competitors buying links like this and getting away with it--it's the…

Is there a legitimate way to "tattle" on competitors that are blatantly abusing SEO practices?

You can report them using Google Webmaster tools. I have done this for several sites, but the link buying & ranking within Google continues. The system is broken.

Re: Open Letter to Google About Rap Genius SEO

#76

Post by radicalbyte »

cdelsolar wrote: post #73
radicalbyte wrote: post #72

To go off on a slight tangent: WTF have they done to their links? They open crappy preview windows, totally breaking the UX in the process?

you don't know what Rap Genius does, huh?

Ahhh, a Bieber fansite. That explains it :)

Re: Open Letter to Google About Rap Genius SEO

#77

Post by davemel37 »

pkfrank wrote: post #71
ripberge wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are very misinformed if you think these strategies do not work. They are a necessity for a startup in very high competition niches. Take a look at the source of the very reputable: www.usatoday.com/sports/ and search for "NFL Tickets". Blatant link buying by vivid seats. SeatGeek does this all over the place as well. When you have really strong competitors buying links like this and getting away with it--it's the…

Is there a legitimate way to "tattle" on competitors that are blatantly abusing SEO practices?

Sure, here is the link. https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/paidlinks?pli=1

Re: Open Letter to Google About Rap Genius SEO

#78

Post by buttsex »

seiji wrote: post #62
minimaxir wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since Rap Genius is a YC company, that is unlikely. This also isn't the first time a YC company has had ethical issues called out on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5092711

Does anybody else see the folly in letting a corporation with their own agenda run a real time news site?

Eh, as long as HN doesn't censor bad press on its startups (I don't know, maybe they do?) I'm fine with it.

Re: Open Letter to Google About Rap Genius SEO

#79

Post by davemel37 »

ripberge wrote: post #46
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…

You are very misinformed if you think these strategies do not work. They are a necessity for a startup in very high competition niches. Take a look at the source of the very reputable: www.usatoday.com/sports/ and search for "NFL Tickets". Blatant link buying by vivid seats. SeatGeek does this all over the place as well. When you have really strong competitors buying links like this and getting away with it--it's the…

I didn't say buying links doesn't work. I said asking for a series of exact match anchor text links, on the bottom of a blog post on a site that is likely irrelevant, is very unlikely to work.

More importantly, any strategy that is against Googles quality guidelines that works today, probably wont work forever, or even for another several months. The pain and suffering of getting slapped by google is much too intense to justify the short term gains.

Matt Cutts himself said recently that the best way to discourage spammers is not just to hurt their bottom line, but to "Break Their Spirits." http://searchengineland.com/googles-matt-cutts-on-search-spa...

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