I have often commented that the power of Google is to make things disappear. No, not literally disappear in the Godfather sense. But by changing algorithms to bury someone on page 2349 of search results, they may as well be gone.

Google made RapGenius.com vanish from the tubes because of their SEO spamming. They are unsearchable.

If you search for Rap Genius on Google right now, the homepage for the startup is conspicuously absent from the first page of search results. You won’t find it on the second, third, or fourth page either. Instead what you’ll see on the first page of results are stories about how Rap Genius got smote by Google, links to their Twitter and Facebook and, at least for me, a link to this Billboard article about “How Rap Genius Won the SEO Game.”

 More importantly, links to the Rap Genius pages for popular songs, which would often pop up as the top result, got similarly smacked down.

Thing about that for a moment, in light of my post the other day about Twitter (accidentally) disappearing tweets about DuckDynasty. These mediums exercise great power to control what we see and don’t see.

Update: Some more commentary.

But it’s the idea that I’m passionate about. Or at least want to protect, like the Freedom of Speech in America.

The Internet is a changing place. It’s scary that Google can do so much to such a great Web resource. Even though the world needs Google, the world needs Rap Genius too. And if Google is dedicated to reciprocally providing its users with what they need, then they’ll bring back Rap Genius. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon.