Really, Rupert? Really? As part of his broader paid content strategy, News Corp.'s head is toying with the notion of making the company's content unfindable via Google. Sure, Murdoch and his minions
have criticized search engines for taking a free ride on its content -- and even argue that
readers who randomly reach a page via search have little value to advertisers -- but the move still seems almost childishly rash.
Doing his best Rupert impression,
Marketing Pilgrim blogger Andy Beal mocks: "I've decided that I really don't need as many
of you coming to Marketing Pilgrim each day. In fact, I've decided to start charging for the content that we publish. Oh, but I will still keep the advertisers' money. They'll just have to get used to
the idea that we don't have as many eyeballs viewing their ads. And, lastly, I'm kicking out Google. Yeah, I don't need it bringing any additional readers to the site. They just consume extra
bandwidth."
Regarding Rupert's contention that search engine traffic is expendable,
Download Squad insists: "He's pretty much just plain wrong ... Search engines pretty
much make the Web go round."
Seconds Mashable, "It proves that Murdoch is sticking with the old model of how news
and information is disseminated, and doesn't plan to change it ... The problem is, things don't work the way they used to any more.
Yet, according to paidContent,
Murdoch doesn't even understandThe Wall Street Journal's present reliance on
Google as a serious driver of valuable Web traffic, so he can hardy speak to the company's broader search plans. "Murdoch doesn't seem to know how the Journal actually handles Google ... The Journal
isn't invisible -- but much of it can be impenetrable after a certain point."
"But the main reason why News Corp. ... won't [block Google] is because, for all their bravado, they know
very well how much they rely on Google and the other search engines and that they can't afford to suddenly become basically invisible to the web,"
writes Softpedia. "The fact is they have no problem with Google sending millions of readers their
way, but they'd rather have the search engine pay them for it as well. But Google can do very well even without the biggest newspapers in the world, something that can't be said the other way around."
Read the whole story at Mumbrella et al. »
Does Vegas have odds on this yet? I giving December 31st as the over/under on the no-follow tag.
As @oilman says: If Rupert's threats turn to reality grab the popcorn, sit back, and watch and an empire crumble.