Posted on 02/08/2011 9:15:52 PM PST by abbyg55
Are you wondering, "will AOL's acquisition of the Huffington Post be successful?" I bet you are, as that's been a common search engine query since the announcement earlier this week that AOL will buy the Huffington Post....
Before I go on, let me stop and say a couple of more important things: Aol, Aol Acquires Huffington Post, Aol Buys Huffington Post, Aol Buys Huffpo.... See what I did there? That's what you call search-engine optimization, or SEO. If I worked at the Huffington Post, I'd likely be commended for the subtle way in which I inserted all those search keywords into the lede of my article. In fact, the keywords above are taken directly from HuffPo's page announcing its acquisition, and my first paragraph is a rip-off of a search-engine baiting article the site posted on Sunday, "What time does the Superbowl start?"
HuffPo's facility with keywords seems to be one of the main things that Tim Armstrong, AOL's CEO, loves about the site. Armstrong, a former Google exec, can't get enough SEO—according to an internal memo that Business Insider posted last week, he's pushing for the company to use an "SEO checker" to look over 95 percent of AOL's stories by the end of March. He believes this will yield a big payoff for AOL; 40 percent of its traffic, the memo says, will come from search engines.
I don't blame Armstrong or Huffington for pursuing this strategy. Making a living off the news is hard, and if they've figured out a way to fool search engines into pushing visitors their way, I salute them. But there's a long-term problem with their strategy: They won't be able to fool the computers forever.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
AirAmerica On Line.
Short the stock. It will fail in my opinion. Tack a liberal agenda to a tech dinosaur and you get a clever, liberal failure.
slate.com is perhaps jealous?
I noticed this mumbo jumbo before but never new it was a scam by the web sites for hits. This business model has the same ability to work as Pets.Com did. Looks like the altruistic, liberal Zsa Zsa found a sucker to unload this turkey to and run with the cash.
Next Media Animation (Taiwan) made a clever animated news story about the acquisition.
I bet you’re right. Further down in the article it says, “But Google’s weaknesses aren’t permanent. Search engines’ algorithms are getting better at detecting keyword gaming.” Arianna probably knew the jig was almost up and unloaded HuffPo while she could.
He does seem a little miffed.
Now, more than ever, AOL is a virus.
Even if the searches are artificially skewed, what does that really mean? I sure as heck don’t click on the first link that comes up just because it’s the top result; I read the little paragraph and look at what the link is. I’ve gone through several pages of results before deciding if any met my criteria.
I doubt anyone, unless they are really naive about searches, would just automatically click the first link.
There is no reason whatever not to actively boycott AOL. They are allied with the dark side.
It’s as though being merely irrelevant wasn’t good enough for them.
Wow. This is some ral astute observing by Farhad Manjoo.
You'd be surprised how many small businesses think keywords are the be-all and end-all to their website's success. I have a friend that used to work for a company that marketed their keyword expertise to small businesses and entrepreneurs. It's a scam, but business was booming when she left last year.
I've hated AOL ever since they flooded the mail with their CDs. I have a small PO box and they didn't fit. I'd find a slip in my box and have to stand forever in line to pick up the item at the counter. 9 times out of 10 it was another AOL CD.
I don't know why anyone still uses them. Their email service sucks. I've never used It but I have some friends that do and they're always having problems with it.
The very first thing I do with any new computer is remove all AOL supplied software. AOL is a virulent virus.
Several years ago I was dating a lady with two kids, aged 8 and 10. She got her AOL bill and it had more than tripled. Seems AOL had converted her kid's limited access accounts to primary accounts. After dozens of fruitless phone calls, I drafted a letter for her to AOL explaining that AOL had, in essence, entered into a contract with an 8 y/o and 10 y/o. She signed the letter with a CC to our state's attorney general.
She got a refund of previous over payments and an apology. Then she dumped AOL.
As I have alwasy stated, there is only one thing missing from AOL and that is an “H” between the “A” and the “O”!
AOL = Fools Gold. Ted Turner used to be among the richest people in the world, now claims he is worried he will be a burden on his children.
I quit AOL years ago..
I tried the search and two of the top three hits were for the Huffington and Puffington Post, they’re smarter than I suspected.
That would be so cool!
..But then, where will the liberals get their hilariously ridiculous talking points?
They may have to translate old Mao publications from the 70’s or old Pravda's from Kruschev’s day...
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