kung fu grippe

Dishwashers, and How Google Eats Its Own Tail

Google has become a snake that too readily consumes its own keyword tail. Identify some words that show up in profitable searches — from appliances, to mesothelioma suits, to kayak lessons — churn out content cheaply and regularly, and you’re done. On the web, no-one knows you’re a content-grinder.

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Something has to give, but I wonder what will — the snake, its tail, or us?

Posting empty BS at scale has never been without its cost to those of us who actually use Google for more than bootstrapping a score of execrable income muses.

But, over the past year or two, the urine-to-potable-water ratio of our public well has gone totally out of whack.

The wink-wink, nudge-nudge tolerance for empty Google bait needs to stop. It’s no longer simply a matter of bringing unnecessary tragedy to an already-littered commons—we’re at risk of seeing our biggest public library turn into a pile of empty books whose flashy covers contain nothing but coupons for more empty books.

[via Sippey]