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Daily Mail Hides Geekiest Job Listing Ever in Robots.txt File

by Warren Riddle on August 25, 2010 at 06:30 AM

MailOnline Robots.txt
Search engines typically dispatch "robots," or "spiders," to systematically crawl the Web for timely, pertinent and specific information. Programmers control the actions of those crawlers with robots.txt files, which command the spider to patrol certain websites and to index specific material. Inevitably, huge nerds will also hide quirky messages right in the heart of the geeky protocol.

The U.K.'s Daily Mail needs to fill a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) manager position, so the organization decided to solicit applications in just such a fashion. The buried robots.txt listing, which seeks "a talented SEO Manager," assures them of search engine snoops and worthy candidates, saying, "if you found this then you're the kind of techie we need!" While the Mail may not typically inspire praise or arouse the awards organizations through admirable ethics or professionalism, the paper certainly appears skillfully familiar with at least one of the tenants tenets of journalism: "Know your nerds audience."

Tags: geek, jobs, robotstxt, search engine, search engines, SearchEngine, SearchEngines, the daily mail, TheDailyMail, top, web crawler, WebCrawler

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