Reading between the lines I guess the proposition Jenny is making is that the use of links are changing.
She starts of with " Do you remember what it was like to really surf the Internet?" Indeed these days we (the users) moved from surfing the web to ctl+l.
Because the use of links have changed and we (the users) do use it to give credit it makes sense that the legislator is keeping an eye on links and how it should be used in our society: " US Government is simply advocating that we all take some responsibility for what we link ".
Furthermore because of these copyrights and other guidelines (read nofollow) people fear the use of links: " a situation has been created where the use of links in general is being diminished "
Another cause about why the value of links are changing is because search engines are giving instant answers. Like in Google`s knowledge graph: " Then, they scrape the data that Yelp provides about that particular business so that when you do a search, you don’t even have to click through ... including Wikipedia, Tripadvisor, and others "
This instant answers isn`t because search engines want to kill links, it is because they tracked their users and look at what the users demand. Therefore Google introduced universal search, to combine different searches into one. However this vertical search " devalues the links those sites provide to the merchant "
However is this behaviour from Google unintended or not? That is not clear. On the other hand, there are quotes like: " break their spirits ". And " the fear-mongering of these penalties and the inconsistencies with which they are applied and revoked is something that I think Google needs to answer for ".
When you enter mediation, your attorney advises you that mediation is difficult. It is only successful if both parties walk away and they are not 100% satisfied. We need mediation to end this war on links.
Jenny Halasz originally shared:
Google and the SEOs need to find a way to get along, we`re facing attack from a bigger foe... the US Government.?
The War On Links
In case you didn’t notice, we are waging a war over links. Some would say that SEOs are at war with search engines, but I disagree. Search engines and SEOs have a symbiotic relationship; and without meaning to, we’ve killed the value of the link. The link, once a simple connector from one site to …
