Search Engine Spam v. Yellow Pages

Web sites that exist only to sell advertising

This article appeared in today's Wall Street Journal, and it addresses the huge rise in the number of web sites that have been created for the sole purpose of luring visitors to click on advertising.

The critical issue is that search engines rely on machines to create their index whereas the Yellow Pages directories are created by physical or telephonic visits to verify the advertiser is in fact who he says he is.

Also, although the Yellow Pages include listings of all business telephone numbers, they only contain additional information on paying advertisers.

Once again, money makes the world go 'round.