How Las Cruces Broke Google-"Music in the Park" Among Most Read Stories in 2024 [#9]

Even with the omission of our articles, a Google search still returns dated and useless information.

An Editorial Review
By Levi Gwaltney
Image: Courtesy

According to Google Search Console, thousands of people searched for information about the “Music in the Park” series organized by the City of Las Cruces’ Parks and Recreation Department. Many of those who searched reached Las Cruces Digest’s first article on the subject. It was such a popular article that it landed in this year’s Top 10 Most Read articles.

Las Cruces Digest published four articles on the Music in the Park series. Unfortunately, Google returned search results for past events ONLY. If you wanted to get information about the concert before it happened, you wouldn’t find it on Google. For this reason, all of the articles have been removed because of the confusion created for those searching for information about the concerts.

Music in the Park Broke Google

The reason Las Cruces Digest created four separate posts about the Music in the Park concerts is because that is how the concerts were announced. There was no comprehensive list provided in May regarding who would be performing in August. Instead, the City of Las Cruces announced who would be performing one month in advance necessitating multiple articles. The following four articles were published in sequence from May through August:

Google only indexed and published the first of these articles. Once we discovered this, we updated the information and changed the title to “Google Insists on Promoting Old and Outdated News”. The updated article linked to the more timely articles, and remained one of the top search results for months after.

If you follow these links, now, you will find a 404 Error Page. Las Cruces Digest does not wish to add to any confusion about when and where and how those in our broader community can attend Music in the Park concerts.

Google, We Have a Problem… Still

Even with the omission of our articles, a Google search still returns dated and useless information. Even now, the information returned is from as far back as 2022, and what is “current” is only for a truncated period.

First Page Google Results searching for “Music in the Park Las Cruces” (Search conducted on December 23, 2024):

The most timely information listed in the Google search originated from Instagram and Facebook posts.

We Won’t Be Gaslit By Google

The world does not work according to Google’s algorithm, no matter how much the “search” monopoly might want it to. Music in the Park is a perfect example of how SEO (search engine optimization) requirements and creator “best practices” lack any usefulness in promoting events. This is Google’s problem, and not the problem of a city government wanting to provide community events for its citizens. After all, if internet content creators have to build the algorithm themselves, then Google isn’t really providing any service at all, is it? It is just simply an arbiter of access taking on the role of wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Google… do better.

Article posted by:

Levi Gwaltney

Levi Gwaltney is the Editor In Chief of Las Cruces Digest. The Editor makes editorial and posting decisions regarding content published on this site. In most cases, the Editor makes little if any contribution to content published, and takes no credit for the content of republished posts. If available, the source or author of posts is provided at the top of the article.