Keeping up with dating industry news takes a lot of effort. I have a number of Google News alerts set up and I still manage to miss big stories all the time.
Last week I came across a Google News alert for a story about a man who murdered (or not as the case may be) a woman he met on a dating site.
Imagine my surprise when I clicked through to the Examiner article, which featured the following headline:
Is Google using linkbait techniques to drive clicks? Given the highly automated nature of Google News, I don’t assume so, but this is troubling. Is the Examiner able to push up alternate headlines through meta-data or something? Lets go take a look.
Sure enough, a look at the raw HTML of the Examiner article shows that they have peppered the phrase “wade-ridley-match-com-murderer-graphic-details-online-dating-tips” throughout, no less than 35 times. Bring on the Fail Whale. Furthermore, someone at the Examiner should receive a stern lecture about editorial best practices and get demoted in Google search rankings if necessary.
