"I really don’t view Google’s role as judging the truthiness of the web. That is, after all, what Stephen Colbert is for. :) But if someone is sloppy enough to get caught (or to admit!) making up a fake story, I don’t think Google has to blindly trust those links, either.
My takeaway from this brouhaha: There are plenty of ways to market a site creatively without deceiving anyone. Don’t burn your credibility by using fake stories. It’s a short-term tactic and makes people trust you less in the future."
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My takeaway from this brouhaha: There are plenty of ways to market a site creatively without deceiving anyone. Don’t burn your credibility by using fake stories. It’s a short-term tactic and makes people trust you less in the future."
10 Comments
Comments
Of course, what Matt said is what I and a few others predicted would be the outcome. Google won’t police sites for fake stories, but if someone jumps up and down pointing at his fake linkbait intended to attract links, of course they’re going to take notice.Interesting to note how the original article now carries a prominent disclaimer that it is false, something Lyndon said he didn’t see the need for. Wonder where that decision came from.
Very clear addition from Matt in a comment belonging to the same thread:"I’m not talking about curating content of the internet based on value judgments. I’m talking about detecting people trying to game or spam the system and counteracting that."
Does every post that mentions Matt Cutts go hot? Just curious. Nothing against this particular post.
Umm...this one doesn’t appear to be hot, bbcarter. (yet)
Considering that most of the sphinns that appear in the What’s New sidebar make the first page- isn’t that true?- isn’t that close to a forgone conclusion?
I’m still wondering what Matt Cutts and his group do about websites where they don’t think Google should ’blindly trust those links’. Do they throw them out of the index as they presumably do for spam websites or is there some more gradual approach. Is that where they apply a minus X points penalty? Given an intention to be a little more open, it would be interesting to hear what the rules are.
bwelford"Do they throw them out of the index as they presumably do for spam websites or is there some more gradual approach. "I guess, mostly such sites would suffer a drop in PageRank value, lost of top positions on the serps for their main keywords and might notice a drop in Google referrals.
bbcarter: I also suspect that Matt Cutts is spamming Sphinn. ;-)
Folks,Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease. Be generous. I need all the Sphinn Love I can get to move to the Hot Topics :-)
Don’t burn your credibility by using fake stories. It’s a short-term tactic and makes people trust you less in the future.Seems the majority of Americans disagrees with that or GWB would never have been re-elected...