Linkbait Strikes Again! Matt Cutts Speaks Out!
Earlier this month, the worst case of linkbaiting reared its ugly head that took the Internet demi-gods by surprise and created a controversy of mammoth proportions. There was a story (fake one) that was posted on a website with the title, ‘13 Year Old Steals Dad’s Credit Card to Buy Hookers’. A local news station somehow picked up this story and the story spread like wildfire, with reputed national television news networks picking up the story as well. It was also distributed by numerous social activity websites. Due to the ferocity of the publicity, the website from where the story originated, was able to gather over 1,500 inbound links in less than a week. Indeed, there is no such thing as ‘bad publicity’.
Many individuals, who are aware of the potential of the Internet, went into a frenzy of debates and posts at Sphinn regarding the problems that this particular link bait had created. Well, after a lot of long and heated debates, Google’s Matt Cutts spoke about his opinion on the problem. This is what he had to say, “Google may respond negatively to other misleading practices not listed here (e.g. tricking users by registering misspellings of well-known websites). It’s not safe to assume that just because a specific deceptive technique isn’t included on this page, Google approves of it. There’s not much more deceptive or misleading than a fake story without any disclosure that the story is hoax.”
However, his comments only added fuel to the already raging fire, whether Google should or should not penalize the websites that promote link baiting. However, the sad truth is that, numerous websites use the unethical means of link baiting for garnering more inbound links and for higher rankings too. Many users insist that link baiting is acceptable to build impressive content, tool etc. However, Google should go after those who provide inaccurate information through the process of linkbaiting.
Whatever we think or say, in the end all eyes would be fixed on Google to see what steps it takes if it ever does, to combat the increasing menace of link baiting.
May 28th, 2008 at 1:45 am
[...] Due to a recent controversy that had been sparked by a case of link baiting, Google's Matt Cutts was compelled to step forward and give his opinion on the guidelines by which Google treats linkbaiting. More… [...]