For about ten days between Christmas and the start of the New Year, the lyrics sharing and annotating site Rap Genius was removed from Google search results due to the site’s asserted manipulation of the algorithm Google uses to place search results.  If, during this time, a hopeful user entered the term “rap genius” in Google’s familiar search bar, they would find themselves presented with a number of news articles discussing the site’s misconduct, rather than a link to the website and its once-helpful lyric reprints.

While being removed from Google results might not immediately seem so apocalyptic for a company–directing your browser to the rapgenius.com domain would still take you to the site’s homepage–the impact on the site’s daily unique visitors was disastrous. See the proof, provided by Quantcast:

 

One might look at such a devastating plummet in site traffic and simply say, “Rap Genius had this coming.  Play by Google’s rules, and you get to reap its benefits.”  There is a discussion to be had there, along the lines of, what’s the bigger offense–publicizing the feat of cracking Google’s code or obliterating a site’s visibility at will?

Another, related question to ask might be, “Is it really okay for a single platform to have so much power over the fate of websites that rely on it to survive?”  Certainly something to think about, given the modern first-worlder’s dependence on search engines and their gift of at-your-fingertips information.  Given the typical volume of traffic to sites like Rap Genius, it’s clear that typical music consumer is no exception.  

We’ve found this to be a difficult question to answer definitively. As the web only gets increasingly noisy, it’s understandable that most users would want a single, reliable, consistent informational source.  And when it comes to the task of quick-searching, Google’s the one.  (And even if you’re using other engines, we’d bet money that you’re still using the phrase “Google it.”)  Humans are creatures of habit; we get locked into certain routines, and Google has capitalized on this fact, quite brilliantly, by offering a consistent, idiot-proof, lightning-speed platform on which to conduct searches of various levels of complication and oddity.  We users have responded in kind by faithfully using the search engine, pairing it with our default browsers, turning it into a colloquial verb and dictionary term, and otherwise pledging our allegiance to the imperial engine regardless of competitiors’ privacy, results-per-page, and other offerings.

And so, even in the case of Rap Genius, whose story appeals to our indie spirit and technology-embracing attitude, one can’t deny that it’s none other than ourselves, users of the Internet, who have enabled Google to play such a dominant role in the digital landscape. And so, Goliath wins – at least for now.