The Part Of Huffington Post That Upsets Me

They can suck-the-air out of the the site which has spent time and resources to develop a story.

I visit Huffington Post a lot. The site has plenty of good info, but it does do a few things that really upset me. With that in mind let me introduce to the concept of linkjacking.

In its very basic form, linkjacking is the act of taking content from another site, posting it to yours, and then submitting your site to a traffic driving source.

That quote is from 2007 and comes from Muhammad Saleem at Pronet Advertising. I’m linking back, so Muhammad is probably OK with it and happy for any traffic I provide.

It’s the opposite of what Huffington does!

Take a look at the screengrab at the top of this entry and the Katie Couric mention. You would think clicking there would take you to the photos. Nope! It just takes you to another Huffington page which then contains a link to the original. Huffington gets you to look at another page with ads by linkjacking the story.

Even worse, if you enter “Katie Couric bathing suit” in Google look who’s first: Huffington Post. That’s just not right.

A site like Huffington has huge pull in search engines. Even when they’re not the originator of the material they often rank first! They can suck-the-air out of a small the site which has spent time and resources to develop a story.

Google has begun to work on this problem, but there’s a long way to go.

12 thoughts on “The Part Of Huffington Post That Upsets Me”

  1. Mikey has a point Geoff. 😀

    Can understand the frustration involved though… those posting original content on the web often find themselves virtually disenfranchised by the practise you describe.

  2. Geoff –

    This is more of a Google issue than a Huffington Post issue. HP has just figured out a way to generate more traffic to their site, which is how the capitalist system works (unfairly, as so often is the case). And I’m sure HP feels justified in doing this – others certainly do it.

    It’s another case of the bigger/smarter dogs getting their way, and it’s an example of why we need someone (Google or the government, if they can’t/won’t do it) to keep things fair and accessible for all.

  3. Matt will probably tell you that combatting this issue (as well as “content scraping” sites) is supposedly part of the new algorhytm in development. I hope they get it figured out, it’s a loophole that has existed for far too long.

  4. So can someone explain the attraction of Katie Couric in a bathing suit? It’s not like she’s some “hot” 20 yr old??? Seems like if one wanted to jack traffic, one could find something with a wider appeal.

    1. Deb –

      You’re right about that. There were no “hot” 20 year old pics to click on! Still it was a creepy move on my part to even follow the link. That being said this linkjacking behavior is endemic on Huffington.

      1. Geoff, if you start spending your time hanging on the computer looking at hot 20 yr olds, your wife may be finding you a job. You know – like flipping burgers at McDonalds. 🙂

  5. Hi Geoff – I asked Brian Smith (yes, THAT Brian Smith) to write a column about your job situation for the Patch that I edit. He did a wonderful job, and I think you, and those who admire you, will enjoy it. And that is where I learned about your blog, which I will now bookmark and check regularly!
    Read it here –
    http://patch.com/A-dFSd

    Best wishes . . .
    Kathleen Schurman, Editor Bethwood Patch

  6. Geoff, I’m glad to see you’ve exposed this unethical practice. Frankly, I’m no fan of Huffington Post and their liberal, politically-motivated agenda anyway.

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