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this x1000! By pandering to the algorithm of google, a lot of great content has become watered down, softened, or impacted in other ways. Titles have to be word

this x1000! By pandering to the algorithm of google, a lot of great content has become watered down, softened, or impacted in other ways. Titles have to be worded a certain way, article length has to be a certain length... hoping someone else chimes in with other thoughts because I used to know more about this, and SEO cheapening quality content was one of the key takeaways I had.

owlninja 7y ago
Recipe blogs are the worst! Just get to the goods already!
- awithrow 7y ago
  Many now have an anchor directly to the recipe. I try to book mark those so I don't have to read about the author pontificating on the changing of the seasons or how an ingredient in the dish reminds them of childhood for the 800th time.
- taberiand 7y ago
  It's like we've flipped APIs on their heads - humans use tools to obtain the minimal data (just the recipe), while the bots make requests and receive the whole dump of pointless, extraneous fluff in return.
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    And here comes the business trick: API access is paid and restricted and requires you to enter a relationship with the data provider. Websites are purposefully made machine-unreadable, because otherwise a lot of people would use third-party scripts to avoid viewing ads and filler content. The Internet is the exact opposite of what it was meant to be. Instead of giving efficient access to high-quality information, it gives inefficient access to watered down, spread-down, low-quality interaction. Site after site, query after query, we all continuously pay a little tax with our time.
    - zozbot234 7y ago
      This only really applies to the commercially-focused part of the Internet, though. Many Internet sites are still hosting academically-focused, non-commercial or broadly pro-social efforts, and those seem to be among the quickest adopters of Linked Open Data standards which are precisely meant to make content machine-readable, sometimes with standardized and freely available API-like endpoints for querying the underlying datastore.
    - DeathArrow 7y ago
      That is because the ad revenue model. Not many people would pay for subscription and I don't know of other working revenue models.
      - TeMPOraL 7y ago
        More people would be willing to pay for subscription, directly or indirectly, if ad revenue model didn't exist. Otherwise, "free with ads" outcompetes all. That's why I'm in favor of banning "free with ads" wholesale.
        DeathArrow 7y ago
        I am not on a high moral ground to talk about ads.I am a web developer, yet I use ublock Origin. Now, that I have some money, I am willing to pay for subscriptions, because that would mean high quality content, not because of ads. However, there were times in my life when I barely had what to eat and I barely afforded to pay for the Internet connection and paying subscriptions was the last things I was willing to do. I suppose many of the 7 billion people living on Earth are poor enough to not afford paying for subscription.
      - rdtwo 7y ago
        A lot of the revenue models suck, if you pay they just put your name in a database sell it to everyone that offers still give you ads and make it impossible to cancel. I wanted to buy cooks illustrated for example but after reading about their business practices I chose not to.
    - 7y ago
- warent 7y ago
  Years ago when I was a child growing up in the icy woods of Alaska, my parents ... ... And that was when we realized that the kindling was all damp. What to do! Four hours we ... ... it reminded of our travels in Italy ... ... And that brings us to our famous three-ingredient peanut butter cookie recipe:
  - ip26 7y ago
    I once came across a "world's most amazing curry recipe" that had two ingredients; rice, and a jar of storebought curry sauce. It was actually kind of tragic.
  - DeathArrow 7y ago
    Google has transformed any webmaster into a writer. After a few years of writing recipes, one can transition to screenplays and novels. :)
- bgrainger 7y ago
  There's a Chrome extension to fix that: https://github.com/sean-public/RecipeFilter https://github.com/sean-public/RecipeFilter > This Chrome browser extension helps cut through to the chase when browsing food blogs. It is born out of my frustration in having to scroll through a prolix life story before getting to the recipe card that I really want to check out.
bgva 7y ago
If I never have to read another article with "XYZ Is Happening. Here's What it Means" or anything to that effect as a headline, it will be too soon. SEO has created lazy writing, and as a former journalist, I hate what it's happened to my one-time profession. I can also do without sites that think they're being quirky with their newsletter popups. "Click here to subscribe" or "I'm not interested in staying informed/saving money/being in shape". Stop. You're trying too hard.

owlninja 7y ago

Recipe blogs are the worst! Just get to the goods already!

awithrow 7y ago
Many now have an anchor directly to the recipe. I try to book mark those so I don't have to read about the author pontificating on the changing of the seasons or how an ingredient in the dish reminds them of childhood for the 800th time.
taberiand 7y ago
It's like we've flipped APIs on their heads - humans use tools to obtain the minimal data (just the recipe), while the bots make requests and receive the whole dump of pointless, extraneous fluff in return.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  And here comes the business trick: API access is paid and restricted and requires you to enter a relationship with the data provider. Websites are purposefully made machine-unreadable, because otherwise a lot of people would use third-party scripts to avoid viewing ads and filler content. The Internet is the exact opposite of what it was meant to be. Instead of giving efficient access to high-quality information, it gives inefficient access to watered down, spread-down, low-quality interaction. Site after site, query after query, we all continuously pay a little tax with our time.
  - zozbot234 7y ago
    This only really applies to the commercially-focused part of the Internet, though. Many Internet sites are still hosting academically-focused, non-commercial or broadly pro-social efforts, and those seem to be among the quickest adopters of Linked Open Data standards which are precisely meant to make content machine-readable, sometimes with standardized and freely available API-like endpoints for querying the underlying datastore.
  - DeathArrow 7y ago
    That is because the ad revenue model. Not many people would pay for subscription and I don't know of other working revenue models.
    - TeMPOraL 7y ago
      More people would be willing to pay for subscription, directly or indirectly, if ad revenue model didn't exist. Otherwise, "free with ads" outcompetes all. That's why I'm in favor of banning "free with ads" wholesale.
      - DeathArrow 7y ago
        I am not on a high moral ground to talk about ads.I am a web developer, yet I use ublock Origin. Now, that I have some money, I am willing to pay for subscriptions, because that would mean high quality content, not because of ads. However, there were times in my life when I barely had what to eat and I barely afforded to pay for the Internet connection and paying subscriptions was the last things I was willing to do. I suppose many of the 7 billion people living on Earth are poor enough to not afford paying for subscription.
    - rdtwo 7y ago
      A lot of the revenue models suck, if you pay they just put your name in a database sell it to everyone that offers still give you ads and make it impossible to cancel. I wanted to buy cooks illustrated for example but after reading about their business practices I chose not to.
  - 7y ago
warent 7y ago
Years ago when I was a child growing up in the icy woods of Alaska, my parents ... ... And that was when we realized that the kindling was all damp. What to do! Four hours we ... ... it reminded of our travels in Italy ... ... And that brings us to our famous three-ingredient peanut butter cookie recipe:
- ip26 7y ago
  I once came across a "world's most amazing curry recipe" that had two ingredients; rice, and a jar of storebought curry sauce. It was actually kind of tragic.
- DeathArrow 7y ago
  Google has transformed any webmaster into a writer. After a few years of writing recipes, one can transition to screenplays and novels. :)
bgrainger 7y ago
There's a Chrome extension to fix that: https://github.com/sean-public/RecipeFilter https://github.com/sean-public/RecipeFilter > This Chrome browser extension helps cut through to the chase when browsing food blogs. It is born out of my frustration in having to scroll through a prolix life story before getting to the recipe card that I really want to check out.

bgva 7y ago

If I never have to read another article with "XYZ Is Happening. Here's What it Means" or anything to that effect as a headline, it will be too soon. SEO has created lazy writing, and as a former journalist, I hate what it's happened to my one-time profession. I can also do without sites that think they're being quirky with their newsletter popups. "Click here to subscribe" or "I'm not interested in staying informed/saving money/being in shape". Stop. You're trying too hard.