martinibuster - 4:19 am on Dec 12, 2009 (gmt 0)

Technically, a vote for a site is a vote for it's content. But when someone does a link bait thing that attracts links to the link bait page, does that link represent a vote for the content of the site or is the link bait link a valid vote for the page and the entire site regardless of what else is hosted on the site?

Is link bait simply an exercise in social engineering for the purpose of getting others to link to a site? Is that really what the search engines had in mind when they began counting votes as a measure of how authoritative site content is? At what point does a site stop being authoritative and is simply well linked because they have an aptitude for churning out link bait? Should a search engine regard a site as authoritative because they offer great top ten lists?

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that link baiting links do not represent a vote for the content of a site. I'm leaning toward believing that link baiting links shouldn't count for a sites link popularity score. Link baiting isn't about the quality of a site's widgets for sale. Link baiting isn't about their customer service. Link baiting isn't about how deep the information about widgets is at the site. Link baiting is merely a method for amassing links regardless of the quality of the content. But for the search engines to accurately determine relevance, shouldn't links to a site be all about the quality of the site content? If assigning links is about the quality of the content and its relevance to a query, then I don't see why a search engine would regard links from a link bait technique differently from links obtained from an artificial link scheme such as a site counter.

Never mind what I think. I want to hear what you think. Link bait links should count as votes for the content and the quality of the site? Or link bait links are only links to the bait and should not be construed as votes for the quality of the site?