I been thinking a lot lately about how Google tends to respect articles which trend, are shared, etc. Articles that people spend a lot of time on, seem to be engaged with, etc.
That being said, do blog articles or new stories that promote FEAR tend to work out better for SEO ranking, driving in traffic, etc?
Let's say I have an article about cotton t-shirts and how comfortable cotton is. Great stuff but kind of boring. Maybe a few people read it and they move on. BUT let's say I sell polyester tshirts and want to scare people away from cotton say I write this story about how cotton is made with this chemical Gossypol that can cause brain and nervous system damage in some people. People read it, they're scared so they stay intrigued, they share it, it trends, etc. In reality, a lot of this stuff is myths and maybe not true but the story trends.
We see it a lot with fake news stories where some conspiracy becomes the topic of the day on Facebook, etc.
I notice it when I search things in Google like, "why does my three year old daughter sneeze" and the article that appears is about how scientist say the sneezing of a three year can lead to severe health risks later in life!" Again, a story likely debunked but people saw the headline, it grabbed them, and they ran with it. Now that story trends and Google rewards the article with a top result for that keyword.
I didn't know if this would be wise and worth the energy of re-writing content? I know Google is going to cracking down on FAKE stories but until that time goes, the authors are benefiting from this type of content from what I can tell! :)
