you're looking at christmas day. it'll be more interesting in a week.
Rapgenius.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics
71–80 of 130 posts
Re: Rapgenius.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics
#72As a total aside, how do sites like Quantcast and Alexa get traffic information from other websites that they don't have code on? (or do they?) I feel like getting accurate traffic statistics on one's own website is tough enough.
This is 'directedly measured data' from RapGenius (notice the icon / message in the upper right hand corner). RapGenius voluntarily added tracking code to their website to enable Quantcast to do this.
In this case, then, the numbers are likely to be quite accurate.
Re: Rapgenius.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics
#73Can someone explain why this is a topic worthy of discussion? I get that they had a SEO tactic, Google penalized them, they offered an empty apology for it, and now we're up to the present. Stating the obvious of "traffic drops when Google penalizes you" seems like a "sun rose again today"-type story.
For me, it's incredibly interesting because I did not find anything wrong with the tactic they used: in fact, it is far, far better than actual SPAM techniques they could have used instead. Or the bullshit tweaks to content that other sites use to improve SEO score, when those tweaks do not benefit the consumer in any way.
Think about the fact that there's a human in the loop, and that it's a plug or tit-for-tat. The ways that companies actually do SEO 'within the rules' is way, way worse than that.
Also as a consumer I have only been on their site It also seems quite genuine, from the tone of the email. Totally normal.
You might think I have some association with rapgenius, but I don't: my only association is that the handful of times I got to their site, I was absolutely thankful and totally surprised at the quality of the result.
By contrast, there is a good chance there are textual quotations I've searched for where I missed good commentary there that I would have appreciatied.
All of these aspects, especially above-all the fact that consumers are happy when they do get to the rapgenius site, that combine to make this story very interesting to me.
I see rapgenius as the good guys, and very honest, in their attempt to gain additional exposure on real content.
Re: Rapgenius.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics
#74Interesting thing to note: the severity of penalty may be hurting Google too. It was already mentioned that Rap Genius lyrics can't be found even when the words "Rap Genius" are included in the query. So when a user wants to find a Rap Genius lyrics page via Google (as is the custom for most of them), Google fails to provide them with a relevant result.
Re: Rapgenius.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics
#75Can someone explain why this is a topic worthy of discussion? I get that they had a SEO tactic, Google penalized them, they offered an empty apology for it, and now we're up to the present. Stating the obvious of "traffic drops when Google penalizes you" seems like a "sun rose again today"-type story.
In one of the other threads, some stated that Google do not have monopoly status. The claim they used was that google only has 25% of the search market. This topic is interesting because it shows how much in a monopoly status google really is in in controlling where traffic goes on the net.
I'd replace the word monopoly with popular.
Re: Rapgenius.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics
#76Can someone explain why this is a topic worthy of discussion? I get that they had a SEO tactic, Google penalized them, they offered an empty apology for it, and now we're up to the present. Stating the obvious of "traffic drops when Google penalizes you" seems like a "sun rose again today"-type story.
>Can someone explain why this is a topic worthy of discussion? I find it incredibly interesting to know just how hard they got hit. I find it interesting that maybe someone from rap genius will be in these comments providing some extra context and insight. Can you explain why you care if other people discuss a topic you don't think is "worthy" of discussion? You know you can ignore the story and look at the entire re…
>Can you explain why you care if other people discuss a topic you don't think is "worthy" of discussion?
I thought there might be a piece to this story that I was missing. I gained a lot of value from the replies to my question (esp. the conversation spawned from @snowwrestler's comment.)
>You know you can ignore the story and look at the entire rest of the front page, right?
You didn't really need this in your comment. It was a bit of snark that devalued your otherwise justified response.
Re: Rapgenius.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics
#77Can someone explain why this is a topic worthy of discussion? I get that they had a SEO tactic, Google penalized them, they offered an empty apology for it, and now we're up to the present. Stating the obvious of "traffic drops when Google penalizes you" seems like a "sun rose again today"-type story.
In one of the other threads, some stated that Google do not have monopoly status. The claim they used was that google only has 25% of the search market. This topic is interesting because it shows how much in a monopoly status google really is in in controlling where traffic goes on the net.
you are not using that word correctly. If Google was the only company doing search and prevented others from entering the market you would be correct. Being the best through a superior product and innovating is not a monopoly.
Re: Rapgenius.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics
#78Can someone explain why this is a topic worthy of discussion? I get that they had a SEO tactic, Google penalized them, they offered an empty apology for it, and now we're up to the present. Stating the obvious of "traffic drops when Google penalizes you" seems like a "sun rose again today"-type story.
Part of it might be Schadenfreude since HN does not seem to think much of RG.
Beware trying to assess "what HN thinks" about a topic from informal, personal scans of items. Neither the top stories, nor the longest/loudest threads, are necessarily representative of 'most readers' or even 'most commenters' – just those that show up at those times/places.
Where the especially peeved choose to spend their attention (and comments and upvotes) can make lots of people or companies seem like community bete noires – even if most of the HN audience thinks the targets are fine or even admirable, but just has less energy for anti-carping.
Re: Rapgenius.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics
#79Can someone explain why this is a topic worthy of discussion? I get that they had a SEO tactic, Google penalized them, they offered an empty apology for it, and now we're up to the present. Stating the obvious of "traffic drops when Google penalizes you" seems like a "sun rose again today"-type story.
The funny thing about this whole controversy is that they're getting more organic links to rapgenius.
When the penalty is taken care of - they may be sitting in a better position than they were previously.
Re: Rapgenius.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
In one of the other threads, some stated that Google do not have monopoly status. The claim they used was that google only has 25% of the search market. This topic is interesting because it shows how much in a monopoly status google really is in in controlling where traffic goes on the net.
you are not using that word correctly. If Google was the only company doing search and prevented others from entering the market you would be correct. Being the best through a superior product and innovating is not a monopoly.
Doesn't matter how you achieve a monopoly: it's defined by dominance, not bad-behavior. And once you have monopoly power, things that used to be legal for you to do – for example certain pricing or bundling strategies – can become illegal.