Technology
This is the official technology community of Lemmy.ml for all news related to creation and use of technology, and to facilitate civil, meaningful discussion around it.
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Rules:
1: All Lemmy rules apply
2: Do not post low effort posts
3: NEVER post naziped*gore stuff
4: Always post article URLs or their archived version URLs as sources, NOT screenshots. Help the blind users.
5: personal rants of Big Tech CEOs like Elon Musk are unwelcome (does not include posts about their companies affecting wide range of people)
6: no advertisement posts unless verified as legitimate and non-exploitative/non-consumerist
7: crypto related posts, unless essential, are disallowed
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See, this is the exact process I am trying to describe. I'm sure that made sense in your head, and I'm sure if you think about it for a second you'll realize that Target will very happily set up an affiliate link, just as Amazon does. And, of course, a whole bunch of the SEO listicles are the SEO hooks of bigger traditional review sites, including RTINGS, IGN or whatever. For the sake of argument, punching in "best bluetooth speaker" on DDG returns SEO listicles from Tom's Guide, Wired, RTINGS, the New York Times, CNET and The Verge, in that order.
Which is not to say it's not annoying, affiliate links and SEO have done terrible things to how practical reviews on websites are presented and parceled out. But that's not to say they aren't done honestly or lack validity on the sites that do it right, which are also the more successful ones.