AOL 'Creating Websites by Automated Methods' - how will G react?

[aristotle]

I was reading this article:
[reuters.com ]

and came across the following quote:

"AOL, for example, is embarking on a strategy of creating a plethora of niche websites through automated methods on which to place ads, partly through its own ad platform. It has called this "leaning into the fragmentation of the Web."

Does anyone know how they will create these websites "through automated methods"? I'm also wondering how Google will treat such websites in its search rankings.

[Receptional Andy]

I agree with rogerd. They'd probably make more money just auctioning off the domain name. It's hard to see how this idea ever got past the meeting stage.

It just seems like a very mediocre idea with a terrible implementation. Essentially, it's an RSS aggregator with no features whatsoever, dodgy search capabilities and a DNS wildcard.

Still, they are picking up some traffic, something like 6k/day according to Google's last estimate:

[trends.google.com...]

[Dave_Hybrid]

Just look at alexa. Into the top 10k in 2 months.

[callivert]

How depressing. Is this what the web has come to?