<story><title>Open Letter to Google About Rap Genius SEO</title><url>http://news.rapgenius.com/Rap-genius-founders-open-letter-to-google-about-rap-genius-seo-lyrics</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>gmisra</author><text>This is complicated.&lt;p&gt;1. rapgenius is probably the least spammy lyrics site on the internet, and definitely so amongst those on the first page of search results. As a consumer, I would not have a problem with Google, et al giving rapgenius results a special algorithmic bump to move them up. I also know that this is an opinion - it may be a popular opinion, but it is still inherently subjective.&lt;p&gt;2. If I was in rapgenius&amp;#x27; shoes, I imagine gaming SEO would be a strategy to be seriously considered - one doesn&amp;#x27;t get into the music lyrics market without being aware of the current state of affairs. Barry Bonds believed he was the best hitter of his era, and if McGwire and Sosa were going to get credit for breaking the home run record while taking steroids, then damnit he was going to take steroids and hit 70 bombs. IMO, this is not a morality play.&lt;p&gt;3. But I do not care for the public personae of the rapgenius founders. They come off as juvenile and occasionally offensive, and I think they are bad representatives for consumer internet start-ups. I&amp;#x27;m pretty sure this is a common opinion on HN, but I am not sure how much it should color our judgment of their actions.&lt;p&gt;As they say, the game is the game.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>davemel37</author><text>1. If Google would penalize their own sites for link schemes (i.e. Chrome) done by third party agencies, certainly they should for Rap Genius. This isn&amp;#x27;t about whats the best site, this is about maintaining credibility in their index. The moment Google plays favorites manually is the moment I switch to another search engine.&lt;p&gt;2. Gaming SEO is attractive to almost everybody. Google needs to make it so painful to get caught, that people won&amp;#x27;t bother risking it in the future. The way I see it is...even if Googles algorithms havent caught up just yet to surface the best quality content, they will eventually, why not speed up the process of meeting them in the middle and focus on legit link acquisition and traffic acquisition strategies...&lt;p&gt;3. I have no opinions about Rap Genius or their founders, I think their actions deserve a massive penalty...let them run ppc for those long tail lyric lines, I doubt those clicks cost more than a nickel. Let them clean up their act, and go through the channels to request a reinclusion in the index.&lt;p&gt;The game is the game is a poor excuse. give me $15mm and a site like Rap Genius and I&amp;#x27;ll get it outranking everybody in the space in 9 months, with only legit strategies.</text></comment>
<story><title>Open Letter to Google About Rap Genius SEO</title><url>http://news.rapgenius.com/Rap-genius-founders-open-letter-to-google-about-rap-genius-seo-lyrics</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>gmisra</author><text>This is complicated.&lt;p&gt;1. rapgenius is probably the least spammy lyrics site on the internet, and definitely so amongst those on the first page of search results. As a consumer, I would not have a problem with Google, et al giving rapgenius results a special algorithmic bump to move them up. I also know that this is an opinion - it may be a popular opinion, but it is still inherently subjective.&lt;p&gt;2. If I was in rapgenius&amp;#x27; shoes, I imagine gaming SEO would be a strategy to be seriously considered - one doesn&amp;#x27;t get into the music lyrics market without being aware of the current state of affairs. Barry Bonds believed he was the best hitter of his era, and if McGwire and Sosa were going to get credit for breaking the home run record while taking steroids, then damnit he was going to take steroids and hit 70 bombs. IMO, this is not a morality play.&lt;p&gt;3. But I do not care for the public personae of the rapgenius founders. They come off as juvenile and occasionally offensive, and I think they are bad representatives for consumer internet start-ups. I&amp;#x27;m pretty sure this is a common opinion on HN, but I am not sure how much it should color our judgment of their actions.&lt;p&gt;As they say, the game is the game.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>seiji</author><text>&lt;i&gt;the least spammy lyrics site on the internet&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is songmeanings spammy at all?  They didn&amp;#x27;t even have ads for the longest time, and they don&amp;#x27;t do crappy a-dozen-pop-unders like other sites these days.</text></comment>