There're two lessons to be learned from this little episode of Rap Genius getting rapped over the knuckles by Google Google concerning SEO spam practices. The first is that it's terribly dangerous to base an entire business on someone else's platform.
Rap Genius, the startup with $15 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, has been clobbered by Google. Rap Genius was caught trying to game Google to get higher search rankings. Google's search results are based on a lot of different factors, but
The startup says that the affiliate program is a small part of its SEO strategy — so small, in fact, that Rap Genius believes it should easily be able to get rid of any unnatural links that have appeared as a result of its so-called affiliate program
A startup gets in hot water with Google's search team. Was it a misstep, or did it just get caught doing what other companies are doing?
If you try to search for "Rap Genius" you won't get the website. You'll get its Twitter page, its Wikipedia entry, its Facebook page, but you won't get a direct link to the website. Searching for lyrics no longer brings Rap Genius
Google Downgrades Rap Genius Links From Lyric Searches
