Rithmix could easily be blocked from the search
engine index or even have its findings deliberately tampered with
to mislead webmasters and others who sought to use it for their
own benefit. However that would be a mistake for many reasons.
Firstly, these pages are primarily a tutorial.
If these pages get blocked or polluted then many webmasters will
simply take what they learn here and create their own algorithm
analysis pages to learn from directly. These may not all be webmasters
who adhere to the AIM-pro anti-spam
policies. In fact this is far from the only set of pages of this
kind, it is merely the first ones made public and accessible to
all.
These pages help to show how good content is interpreted
and indeed will out-rank pages of little or irrelevant content every
time. It is in the interests of the search engines to help us show
people how to help people find relevant and useful content rather
than trying to 'bend' popular keywords to their own products.
Of course it would be easy for representatives
of any search engine to claim that these pages would help a competitor
to analyse their algorithms. However, these pages deal with algorithm
analysis purely on how this corresponds to page elements and has
little if any bearing on actually designing a search engine. Also
it doesn't take a genius to see that anyone capable of designing
a search engine would be more than capable of building a more comprehensive
means of analysing algorithms than these pages represent.
I can just as easily, and with more conviction,
argue that these pages are of great benefit to each engine. Here
at last is a chance to show just how advanced the search engine
algorithms are in each detail. It will also reduce the numbers of
webmasters who inadvisably submit hundreds of varying pages trying
to blindly hit the perfect balance of elements on a 'shotgun' style
blanket-coverage basis.
Blocking or spoiling the results of these pages
has no effect upon us, nor really on our visitors. We are certainly
able to compare these results against similar 'test' pages and sites
to spot differing trends. And if anyone feels that preventing these
pages from being indexed will likewise prevent people seeing them,
then there is much they need to learn about hyperlinks. The Rithmix
section will be linked to from dozens of sites of fellow webmasters
and marketing professionals. The number of these links will just
keep growing. These pages will be seen and that is all there is
to that argument.
Rithmix has validity in that it discusses how algorithms
work and how just about anyone can perform simple experiments to
analyse simple parts of them. It is not about abusing what is learnt
and indeed actively discourages abuse. To block such pages would
not be 'defence of privacy' or anything else that is noble. It would
be censoring that of which the censor disapproves.
Lets face it. The only persons or businesses that
the Rithmix pages can harm are those 'so called' positioning companies
who use 'spammy' keyword repetition, irrelevant keywords and cheap
tricks to little avail and take money from companies who simply
know no better.
If these pages can help end the practices of spammers
then both the search engines and AIM-pro have a shared benefit.
AIM-pro members are not against the search engines. As stated in
the AIM-pro policies, we share a common
goal in having internet users know that the search engines are a
reliable and effective manner to find information and products quickly
and easily.
