At this point everyone is doing it.

[CanSpace]

You know, it’s been years since we’ve all learned and accepted what all these “top 10 hosting companies” websites were about. Commercial enterprises standing to rip the highest affiliate commission, not benefit or educate a consumer. Fine. It’s a business model. I get it.

Then I started noticing these top lists posted in B-grade media: tech news sites, tech sections of magazines, etc., followed by more mainstream tech media like CNET or ZDNet. Then outlets like FORTUNE magazine started to run “10 Best Hosting Companies in 2022” kind of stories, with very little thought provided, promoting all the same companies.

But now it’s finally everywhere. I came across this article in Forbes this morning, titled "Best hosting services in Canada for August 2023."

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/ca/business/software/best-web-hosting-services/

Understandably the small print discloses that the “Forbes Advisor may earn a commission on sales made from partner links”. But this part would irk anyone with at least a bit of familiarity with either the hosting industry or journalistic ethics: “but that doesn't affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.”

The advisor then proceeds to list the best hosting companies for Canada with not a single one of them being headquartered in Canada, only one of them even running on .CA domain (with .COM being the main one), only one being CIRA certified, if I am not mistaken, and pretty much all of them priced in US currency (GoDaddy is the only one that at least gives the option to change displayed currency). Obviously, no verification of any kind was conducted, so when the author says “great support”, “best for wordpress” or “best for reliability” (meaning all others aren’t as reliable?), it doesn’t really mean anything.

Icing on the cake is Forbes listing an editor who did fact checking. What did the editor fact check exactly? If the affiliate links were copied correctly?

Just a disappointing reality that even top grade journalism is no longer journalism.

 

[worldbus]

In recent years, the publication of useful posts or, in other words, report ads, has increased significantly even in reliable medias, and regardless of the web hosting business, it is undoubtedly a part of the digital marketing competition, which can simultaneously lead to links building and improving the ranking in Google. (let's not use the SEO word at least this time!) Even somehow Google has come to terms with this issue and when you spend more money or connection in this way, it will give you more points! In my opinion, this issue alone is enough for the prosperity of this style of advertisements and businesses. Certainly, if Google adopts a change in its method to include or distinguish such content from analysis and news, then we will see less publication of such content in the style of advertising or reportage for profit in even reputable medias!

 

[SenseiSteve]

I learned my lesson years ago about hosting with anyone on the Top 10 lists. Most disappointing was Hostgator because at one time, I thought they were a decent provider. True journalism had flown the coop.

 

[PeterShene]

I love that they enforced that you have to disclose the commission part. People found out Google ranks top tens really well. Even now still and suddenly the affiliate marketers were writing lists and skyscraperting each other endlessly. We end up with a not-so-great top ten list.

I think at some point some regulators required them to disclose commissions. This helped because a lot of people could see you are paying to say these names. I still hover over links in a top ten list and if I see any kind of identifier I immediately question the validity of that list.

"Certainly, if Google adopts a change in its method to include or distinguish such content from analysis and news, then we will see less publication of such content in the style of advertising or reportage for profit in even reputable media!"

This here is what needs to happen. But I suspect Google won't do it because the top tens also make it really hard for businesses to rank so they need to buy into AdWords.

@SenseiSteve if I see HostGator or GoDaddy even in a Top 20 list that list is immediately disqualified.

 

[Rabisu]

In fact, this top 10 ranking is determined entirely by advertising budget. Otherwise, there are places that do not have a ranking, but provide much better service than companies that are in a ranking. The only thing missing is their advertising budget.

 

[baksie]

Exactly, I wouldn't recommend rush for the cheapest prices (anymore). Quality of supporting of your hosting is №1 parameter which I am looking now. Then comes the stability of uptime. And close after is the price.

Downtime is deadly for your reputation and salings

 

[HostShark]

Yeah I'm pretty sure they pay to have their sites listed, but that is just the way it is. They have a huge advertising budget and it makes the market access for small companies that much harder and might I say; "unfair".

 

[josephf]

Are there any review sites left that are honest and rate them accurately?

If so, which?

 

[bigredseo]

Icing on the cake is Forbes listing an editor who did fact checking. What did the editor fact check exactly? If the affiliate links were copied correctly?

Just a disappointing reality that even top grade journalism is no longer journalism.

Have you reached out to them for comment or update? This would be a perfect article for your own website where you can then link to theirs, post their responses about "no comment" or "no response" and continue to dig. Hit them up on Twitter, hit up Forbes, hit their media team - if the article is not up to par, it's your duty to let them know it.

Forbes writers are an interesting crowd. All of them accept article ideas and incentives for those ideas. You write a small fluff piece on your business, pitch it to them, enclose the check, and now you're posted on their website.

But I'd call them out on the article, like you did here on the forum. Call them out via email, their comment section and then on twitter. You will get leaches on twitter that will say "what do you expect" but you may also find a few people who advocate also. Maybe even team up with a few KNOWN hosting companies in Canada and together write an op-ed piece.

This is a great SEO strategy to gain some buzz and some links. I'd jump all over this!

 

[CanSpace]

Maybe even team up with a few KNOWN hosting companies in Canada and together write an op-ed piece.

This is a great SEO strategy to gain some buzz and some links. I'd jump all over this!

It isn't a bad idea. My worry is that I may either have to switch my attention to 'the fight' full time, or may have to hire a whole PR department as the number of media outlets participating in this practice is staggering.

 

[bigredseo]

It isn't a bad idea. My worry is that I may either have to switch my attention to 'the fight' full time, or may have to hire a whole PR department as the number of media outlets participating in this practice is staggering.

If you approach it from an SEO angle, you don't have to catch them all - just a few will be enough to move the needle.

Nobody can catch everything, and most times, it's not worth the effort to go that far down the rabbit hole. But it's an easy PR move that would be a fairly easy email to fire off. Take an hour, write an email template, then have it on standby for the sites you come across.

"Hi, I noticed you didn't use any Canadian Hosting companies in your list of Top Canadian Hosts, so I'd like to introduce you to CanSpace.".....

 

[Artashes]

"Hi, I noticed you didn't use any Canadian Hosting companies in your list of Top Canadian Hosts, so I'd like to introduce you to CanSpace.".....

That is a very difficult pitch to sell. As much as it makes perfect sense if we talk about pure editorial culture, but most publishers today will simply ignore because not only they see the end goal of the approach from a mile away, but also because the original story is for profit and they won't be looking to dilute it with something that isn't going to contribute financially.

That's my gut feeling with this particular case. But as you mentioned, you only need 1 outlet to bite to bring a nice boost in SEO.