Blog homeSay you wrote something that is published on the web - and you later change your mind – should you go back and change your original thoughts – or should you leave those comments unchanged – but perhaps write a note saying that your view point has been updated?
The Opodo / Karavel affair
For example, Mario Gavira, from OnlineTravelCrunch (who has shot to fame as the one who started the Opodo / Amadeus / Karavel sale rumour earlier this week) has now gone back and re-edited his post that started the whole rumour….
Instead of:
French industry rumours confirm the imminent sale of the French online touroperator Karavel.
he now writes:
French Trade Magazine L’Echo Touristic published 2 weeks ago the imminent sale of the French online touroperator Karavel.
It would have been much simpler if he had written that in the first place as it would have stopped all sorts of blogs writing about how he started the rumour….and investigating his background – and then finding out that he is a senior employee of Opodo – the company selling Karavel. It would have been a non-story.
The Luxury Link affair
The Travel PR blog has been following the story of a Luxury Link customer (Luxury Link sell luxury travel deals). A customer, Darren Barefoot, wrote about what he believed was a bogus auction system on the Luxury Link website. Darren though has changed his mind – but has wondered whether to change his original post?
Should I modify the post title to reflect my current thinking, or should blog posts remain archival reflections of my thinking on a given day in my past?
Anyway, he has now changed his post. The post title used to be called “Luxury Link has a bogus auction system” but it is now “I was unhappy with Luxury Link’s auction system, but I’m over it”
However, as a result of how his blog works, the page URL is still:
http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2006/01/luxury-link-has-a-bogus-auction-system.html
Changing the URL would be required in order to make the change meaningful….
Read the full story on the Travel PR blog who are following this closely and discussing the SEO impact.
The OpenJaw example
I made a bit of a mess of reporting a question that I asked to John McQuillan, CEO of OpenJaw, that I asked at this weeks TTI conference (as previously reported). I asked him about competitive advantage from reservation systems – not really understanding that his company primarily focuses on dynamic packaging systems. Schoolboy error. At least John was on the case enough to come to this blog and correct me…. which he has done – and I have gone back and put next to my incorrect comment – that people should look at the comments below to see an update.
Do I also change published posts for other reasons?
I have a couple of times written a post on this blog (sometimes from home in the evening) – then gone to bed – and decided that perhaps something could be better worded (normally de-personalising the way I have written it)… so yes I do try to change previous posts. As it requires me to get up, turn on the computer, and then rewrite…. not something that I try to do that often….
Other issues with historical views: hotel reviews
I have been recently discussing the latest trend in publishing hotel reviews on websites. The same problem exists there….. as a hotel review by definition is related not only to a point in history – but also to a particular room or rate (sometimes) – and sales channel (sometimes) – and customer expectation (always). There is a real challenge about how to handle what a customer may have thought at a point of time – and determining whether that review has any relevance two seasons later….
Anyone got any views on changing published history?
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Thanks for the linkage. Why do you say that “Changing the URL would be required in order to make the change meaningful”?
It hasn’t happened yet, but once Google re-spiders the page, it should change the page title–the thing searchers look at–to my new title.
I could change the URL, but then I’d break back links from other sites. I could change the URL and set up a redirect, but frankly, that’s too much work. Why should I bother?
Hi Darren,
Thanks for stopping bye.
SEO position (which I appreciate is not really your concern – but is Luxury Link’s) is not just determined by page title – but also URL etc. I think that your page will stay in its current place – but may not get so many clicks as currently as the title is less negative (although it is quite intriguing and I may click it if I was doing research!)
You are 100% right – there is a real dilemma with breaking backlinks etc.
My personal view is that you have already done all that you need to in order to keep Luxury Link happy – and actually gone beyond the call of duty. After all you are a customer not a competitor. They are going to have to learn to live with your page where it is in the results.
I do fear though (not sure on behalf of who though!) that as a result of all this publicity around your blog that the page position may strengthen rather than become buried)