Lyrics sites like Rap Genius have come under all sorts of fire of late for a variety of things, not the least of which being shady SEO practices. And because so much of a lyrics site’s traffic comes from search — specifically music fans searching for lyrics of songs they like — getting the boot from Google is a potential death blow for a site like Rap Genius. But that’s exactly what they’re now facing, as Google has removed them from their search algorithm.
Reports the LA Times:
Google took down Rap Genius after it was revealed that the lyrics website, which received $15 million in funding from Andreesson Horowitz last year, was offering bloggers exposure through its social media accounts in exchange for links to its website on their music blogs.
One of the important factors in the algorithm used to determine Google’s search rankings is how many pages link to each website, so by asking bloggers to link to Rap Genius in exchange for the exposure, the lyrics website was taking the linking into its own hands.
RIP Rap Genius.
(Via LA Times)
