The Scam of Online Blogs

I used to write for a living — or at least, I used to get paid per word for it, which is a very different thing. That system taught me more about how the internet's advice machine actually works than any single article ever could.

Quality Over Quantity, Except Not

Under a cost-per-word model, the incentive is simple: produce more, not produce better. Multiple articles a day, with little to no meaningful fact-checking or citations, because fact-checking doesn't pay per word and neither does a citation.

Misinformation Risk

When there’s no real editorial backstop, a writer can pull a statement out of thin air and have it accepted as fact. Exaggerate a grapefruit’s health benefits enough times across enough sites and it starts to look like consensus, when it’s really just the same underpaid writer’s guesswork, laundered through a dozen domains.

SEO-Driven Content

Blog owners optimize for Google rankings, not accuracy. The result is a lot of content engineered to rank rather than to inform — underpaid writers repurposing whatever’s already ranking, over and over.

The Self-Help Caveat

None of this means every self-help or how-to article is worthless. But personal improvement is individual, and it shouldn't be flattened into a formula by someone paid by the word to produce one. Treat these articles as a starting point, not a solution.

Where That Leaves You

Seek out writers who are actually trustworthy and actually do the research — even if that means paying for it, and even if that means fewer ads shouting at you along the way.