The fact that websites can be launched without the controlling eye of an expert editor means that facts and figures can easily become slippery, unreliable and untrue. The furore over Wikipedia is a case in point. It can be difficult distinguishing between good and bad information online. Wikipedia is now used by researchers, journalists and students for information. It can be a goldmine explaining obscure as well as well-known facts and phenomenon. But although there is clearly more knowledge and information available thanks to the internet, not all of it is trustworthy. This can be because the content was written poorly, because the information wasn't properly researched or because the content writer simply didn't care about accuracy. There are many commercial businesses trying to get to the top of Google rankings, and SEO optimisation can be used at the expense of quality content. The two needn't rule each other out, but not all companies are motivated by quality, they simply want quantity.
What has been dubbed the ‘cut and paste' attitude to information raises a whole host of questions, not simply about reliability. What happens if a fake fact is on a website, and it is copied and pasted enough times so that the fake fact eventually is believed to be true? And when it comes to cutting and pasting information, there is the whole thorny question of copyright laws. It's almost impossible to protect information on the web, just as it is almost impossible to control it. Information can also be disguised – social network sites such as YouTube have been infiltrated with corporate promos in disguise.
Citizen journalism and bloggers recycle news from traditional media and even create their own news. But without the safeguards and quality control of traditional media in the form of legal advisers on issues such as defamation, news editors to recognise the value of a story and sub editors to edit grammar etc. much information online is essentially unreliable. There are trusted brands and websites – such as national broadsheets and of course the BBC, but Wikipedia is just as popular.
A recent story exposed how unreliable it can be. The site relies on volunteers to write and edit the site. One prominent editor, it was reported, assumed a false identity with a fake PhD in religion. He was really a young student who used existing books such as ‘Catholicism for Dummies' to write articles on religion. Like social networking, and the current articles debating whether or not famous celebrity profiles are real or not, people can pretend to be who they want to some extent online. They can create online identities that are far removed from the real world. Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, said the site is built on ‘trust and tolerance' but unfortunately trust and tolerance don't always go hand-in-hand with the human race. The student claimed he taught undergraduate and graduate theology.
Content can suffer if a company focuses on keyword stuffing at the expense of having original, trustworthy and informative content in order to improve their ranking. However Google guidelines suggest that to improve your ranking, plenty of rich information is essential. Keywords have to be used but they have to be relevant and in context. Websites that use keywords without authentic content risk being penalised by Google. According to recently revised Google guidelines, your ranking will suffer if:
- You are a thin affiliate site: These sites collect pay-per-click (PPC) revenue by sending visitors to the sites of affiliate programs, while providing little or no value-added content or service to the user. These sites usually have no original content and may be cookie-cutter sites or templates with no unique content.
- Use doorway pages: Pages created just for search engines
- Use auto-generated content: Content generated programatically.
- Use scraped content: It's worthwhile to take the time to create original content that sets your site apart. This will keep your visitors coming back and will provide useful search results.
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