| "Google is finally doing something about scraping" I hope this is genuine and not a disingenuous diversion on Google's part. The fact that the Huffington Post still ranks very high for trendy searches makes me wonder. As usual, follow the money: the scraping sites exist to make money, often through Google's advertising; Google gets a cut. The original content is often on sites with no advertising or real traffic, from which Google profits nothing. EDIT: To expand on this: Google-search for any hot topic in the news, say the name of some misbehaving pop star. See the HuffPo result near the top of the page. Look down to see several results from real newspapers. This is where the original content can be found. Most of these newspapers are about to die because they're not making any money. HuffPo investors are filthy rich because they're gaming the search engines to profit from copy-and-paste. ANOTHER EDIT: I apologize for my characterization of the Huffington Post. I was describing, accurately, the nature of that site as it was the last time I visited it some time before its purchase by AOL three years ago. The HuffPo I see today is utterly transformed. They use wire services, do plenty of their own reporting, and many of the links on the front page go directly to other news sites. They are no longer a copy-and-paste site. |
I also assume that by "HuffPo investors" you mean AOL? Huffington Post is a fully owned subsidiary.
(Disclosure: I consult for Huffington Post)