A few days ago, the NYT ran an article about a very bad company. I’m not going to provide a link to the site, but needless to say, this guy was one of the worst examples of what’s wrong with online businesses.
Google announced today that they implemented an algorithm that penalizes bad reviews. The crux of the issue was that all the bad reviews and bad press this company was receiving was providing links to their site. A link is a link, no matter what the anchor text says. Some of these links were from the NYT and other well known and respected sites.
This begs the question: do people bother to check out a site anymore? Do people simply believe that because Google ranks the site, it’s legit and sound? Do people not check the BBBOnline or search online for reviews of retailers?
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I read the whole story. Seems that this was part of his negative publicity strategy as even though the reviews were bad, getting links from many well ranked sites gave him a boost in Google’s search results list.
Weird way of making a name for yourself. Everything will come down on his head sooner or later. Maybe it worked on a short term but is it worth risking your freedom and maybe even life for this?
Eugen