The Financial Times has drawn attention to what it sees as "an uncomfortable paradox": the fact that content farms such as Demand Media are being created to "ride on the back of search engines." Such a company creates content that is highly optimized for search engines, tracking who is searching for what and hiring freelancers to write articles on these topics.

"As its influence across the web grows, Google's algorithm is starting to shape the world it describes," the article notes. It quotes Shelby Bonnie, co-founder of CNET, who commented that "people have made a business out of gaming its [Google's] system."

For more on this story, visit our sister publication, editorsweblog.org.