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You can just have a `robots.txt` if you don't want Google to link to your content.
by netheril96 8y ago
You can just have a `robots.txt` if you don't want Google to link to your content.
- ocdtrekkie 8y agoThe issue is that sets a black and white option of not letting people find you through Google. But the alternative is letting Google scrape your content and give it to people directly from their site instead.
- diffeomorphism 8y ago> But the alternative is letting Google scrape your content and give it to people directly from their site instead. No, that is not the alternative. The alternative is to allow citations as they are allowed everywhere else, i.e. small fractions of the content with attribution. For example, google currently may list the headline of an article and link to it. The proposal, which is based on a failed German law, is that google should pay for the privilege of sending viewers to newspapers this way. Last time they tried google simply said "no, thanks. Then we'll not list you". Newspapers immediately caved and said they will give free access. End result: monopolies get free access and smaller potential competitors have to pay. The law completely and predictably backfired. The, misguided IMO, hope now is that if it is an EU wide law, google will have to bow down and pay for the privilege of providing a google news like service.
- ocdtrekkie 8y agoI believe the newer proposal addresses that flaw. But to be honest, if Google can't build a service without theft, it should simply not operate. New solutions will be able to fill the gap.