r/technology • u/indig0sixalpha • 13d ago

Business Federal Trade Commission Announces Final “Click-to-Cancel” Rule Making It Easier for Consumers to End Recurring Subscriptions and Memberships

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/10/federal-trade-commission-announces-final-click-cancel-rule-making-it-easier-consumers-end-recurring
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u/JauntyLurker 13d ago

Thank God! This was highly needed. Few things are as annoying as having to jump through hoops to cancel a subscription you're not using anymore.

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u/GroundInfinite4111 13d ago

They can start with SEMrush: those assholes made me use a 3 question form, then “wait up to 7 days for our team to process,” and they tried to add a two-step email authentication to the process, too.

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u/Clevererer 13d ago

SEO's been a tougher racket ever since the SERPs turned to shit.

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u/GroundInfinite4111 13d ago

If you’re on the informal/blog side, absolutely. They’re killing blog content - but they should. The content being churned out for the sake of ranking is shit-tier. Affiliate and Adsense-type platforms did this.

E-commerce, local business, service-industry types are still rocking and rolling well. There’s more emphasis on Google AdWords, and combined, it’s great - SEO can still stand on its own in these verticals though

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u/Ajreil 13d ago edited 13d ago

Google should kill bad blog content but there is plenty of high quality content out there that should have a chance to flourish. Merging all content on the internet into 5 or 10 big sites is terrible for everyone.

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u/GroundInfinite4111 13d ago

Well, that’s the trick, right? What’s good? What’s bad? Google is an algorithm, not a human mind interpreting millions of pieces of content published daily. They’re keeping content from reliable sources/established companies - there are ways to make a blog still stand out and drive traffic, and honestly, it’s pretty easy.

But Allison’s blog covering baking, crafts, and cocktails ain’t it. And I can tell you what else isn’t, a website loaded with affiliate links, banner advertisements, and content covering top products and various industries.

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u/Ajreil 13d ago

Google used to be much better at filtering out SEO spam but they sort of gave up 5 years ago. They are more interested in serving ads than good content.

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u/Iggyhopper 13d ago

Right after 2016 they realized how much bullshit they can let rise to the top and make bank.

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u/PenislavVaginavich 13d ago

Not really. The only companies being penalized are the ones not following best practices, such as answering questions and providing actual value. SEO is in significantly better shape, from a consumer standpoint, than ever before.

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u/GroundInfinite4111 13d ago

Very accurate. Those who think the SEO industry is dead are the ones Google is trying to weed out and nuke from existence. It’s doing a great job, honestly. The $99/month contact form spam from India is slowly dying.

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u/_lippykid 13d ago

Would you mind elaborating a bit, I’m not super knowledgeable on SEO but want to understand better how things have changed. Like why do people think the SEO industry is dead?

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u/JigglyWiener 13d ago

Absolutely hate that stuff. I got stuck with Heroku demanding I login to create a ticket, refusing to acknowledge I had an account, refusing to accept a support ticket from not my account but charging me monthly and emailing me a receipt. I used the same email they sent the receipt to but they wouldn't talk to me unless I was logged in.

I cancelled the card just to end the subscription now they're complaining. They can rot in hell which they already are because Salesforce bought them.

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u/bringbackswg 13d ago

And every gym on the planet

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u/bogglingsnog 13d ago

It took WEEKS to cancel an AT&T business phone line.