Low Value Content

Last week I tried to add ads to this website, but according to Google everything on here is 'low-value content'. This means that I was not allowed to join AdSense, and my dreams of becoming a millionaire by writing about University Challenge remain out of reach (if you want, you can join my Patreon here...).

One of the handy tips Google offer to solve this is that 'when you create content, it’s important to ask yourself if it provides substantial value and originality when compared to other sites covering similar subjects', and well, I'm not sure about the value, but the originality is surely there? Plus, there are loads of websites that don't meet this criteria which still get to suckle at the teat of Big Ad.

Another piece of helpful advice from Google is that:

An accessible, easy-to-use navigation bar (or menu bar) is a key part of providing a good user experience. When building your navigation bar, consider the following points:

• Alignment – Are all the navigational elements lined up correctly across all devices?
• Readability – Is the text content on your site easy to read?
• Functionality – Do your drop-down lists work correctly? Are all navigational elements clickable?
• Accuracy – Are the elements bringing the user to the right content?

What I could do would be to pay attention to all of these elements and make sure everything is perfectly in line with their requirements. But that sounds like a lot of work, so if you could just add a comment below saying that you really like the functionality of my drop-down lists then that might be enough to trick their verification algorithms.

And I will try, of course, to make this content as high value as possible. Its just that so far my best efforts don't appear to have been enough.

Last week's match was between two of the weaker teams (on paper, based on their first round performance) of the second round. This weak we have two of the strongest. RGU were one of only four teams to break the two-hundred point barrier, and Courtauld won the match with the third-highest combined score.

It'll be unfortunate for whoever loses, but as I said last week - this is the nature of knockout competition, and the opportunity to make the quarters is there waiting to be seized.

My bias will naturally be towards RGU, because I went to the same school as their star player Donald Anderson, but Courtauld were very charming in their first match, so it will be a shame if we have to say goodbye to them too.

How has the alignment of my text been so far? Never mind - here's your first starter for ten.

Courtauld Skipper McMeekin gives his customary wry smile as he mentions his degree - Circum-Atlantic Visual Culture of the Late Colonial Period - which is absolutely his wont. It doesn't help him on the opening question though, which goes to RGU's Anderson, who picks up where he left off in the first round.

Bonuses on 'buildings and their imitators' give them five more points, before McMeekin gets Courtauld off the mark with Of Mice and Men (its culture, but I'm not sure if its Circum-Atlantic Visual Culture of the Late Colonial Period. Nevertheless, two bonuses give them the lead).

Another starter for Anderson (he got seven in the last match, which you can read about by clicking on the 2022 tab and testing out both the functionality and accuracy of my drop-down lists) swung the advantage back north, but they struggled again on the bonuses.

No one knew where La Coruna was for the first picture starter, but Dodds, wearing another excellent shirt along with her standard beret, won the bonuses for Courtauld with Ozymandias.

Anderson's third - a brilliant buzz of Gregory Perelman - continued the back and forth nature of the match. Neither side has been able to string together a sequence of starters together thus far. Dodds negs the next ten pointer, allowing Cullen to sweep in and break this streak. Anderson, again, wins them bonuses on record labels, putting them fifty points clear going into the music round, which Anderson also gets.

The bonuses are on tunes in 5/4 time. They recognise Sufjan Stevens immediately, but didn't know Harry Belafonte. The last one is Taylor Swift, which I, and presumably many of you will also have known pretty quickly, but they shrug their shoulders, clueless, until that man Donald suggests 'well, we can always guess Taylor Swift'. When your luck's in its in, I guess.

The Courtauld dry spell is snapped by McMeekin, but they didn't manage any bonuses. Anderson's hot streak ends too, with an unfortunate early buzz of Rousseau (the answer is Rousseau's book - The Social Contract). Mackarel picks up his mistake, but again, Courtauld cannot capitalise.

Neither side is able to get many points on the board over the next few questions, but that suits RGU, who are sitting pretty in the lead, perfectly. Cullen knows that the amino acid tyrosine has the symbol 'Y'. She and Anderson share a look that says to me this was one of the things they had revised together. When she takes the next starter as well, its game over.

Courtauld do manage a few more starters, but their weakness on the bonuses is put in a stark light, managing less than a third of their five pointers.

RGU 180 - 75 Courtauld

Its a shame that Courtauld had to leave us, because they were such an enjoyable watch in the first round, but they weren't able to get stuck into this match in the same way and were comprehensively out-quizzed by RGU.

I'll see you next week for another second round match, but in the meantime - could you read this sentence? If you could then my readability must be on point - take that, Google!