Planet13 - 6:39 pm on Feb 16, 2011 (gmt 0)

I've enjoyed reading this thread. A lot of great discussions. Just can't believe that the NYT did a story on this. Is this "links gate" or something? Is the NYT the links police now?

They did it because the New York Times, like any business, is in the job of making money. They thought it would either help attract new readers, or retain current readers.

The more readers, the higher the advertising rates they can charge.

The higher the advertising rates, the more money they make.

I seriously doubt anyone at the NYT actually gives a toss about the inner workings of google's Algo.