What do you think is the impact or effect of article titles in Google and other searches?

I think most folks are like me in that they will look for information about a subject on the net by entering a few keywords, names, places, etc. and looking at a list posted by relevance; date; 24 hours; etc.

A lot of publications manipulate interest in their articles by manipulating their article title to either attract, misinform, mislead, or incite. A lot of times, the title in the article that comes up is different from the title on the search page.

More often, the content doesn't equate with the sometimes, breathless or titillating titles.

My point is really about the titles used here on DU. Just an observation, not necessarily some instruction or persuasion: Our titles on DU often appear right beside the supposed best and brightest writers and pundits on the net; and, by extension, sometimes, around the country and globe.

The titles we post are sometimes (not always) picked up by the search engine robots and seen, mostly, in the 'by date' section of a specific search result. Sometimes they remain on the 'relevance' page for days; providing balance and perspective to normally flat, institutionally biased news sources.

For example, if I want to know about Florida's vote purge, I might google 'Florida vote.' This is a sample of DU posts competing for attention, and in some cases, informing and clarifying 'mainstream' news reports:


Florida Official Behind Gov.Rick Scott's Voter Purge Linked to $1 ...
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Democratic Underground - 1 hour ago
Rick Scott's (R) administration, citing possible violations of voting rights law. Florida officials had been purging a list of suspected non-citizen voters, estimated at ...

"Republicans Plot to Steal White House" by Paul McGeough at ...
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Democratic Underground - 14 hours ago
So welcome to the state of Florida, where the state emblem is the hanging chad. Remember, it was here that just 537 votes in the recount drama of 2000 threw ...


Give the people what they want, and give it to 'em hard
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Democratic Underground - 22 hours ago
Florida will probably vote Republican this year, and it's easy to see why. Just look how much Florida has suffered at the cruel, socialistic hands of Washington.

Florida Rep. Ted Deutch: Scott's the Fraud
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Democratic Underground - 52 minutes ago
Ted Deutch, a Florida Democrat opposed to Gov. ... “In a state which has a history not of voter fraud but of not making votes count with very close elections, that's ...


Just an observation, DU.