Arianna Huffington, Spam Queen

It’s no secret that the Huffington Post is really a celebrity-gossip site that dabbles in politics on the side. As Nick Denton didn’t say when he cut Wonkette loose, link-baiting political stories don’t pay the rent.

But we didn’t realize how insidious professional HuffPo editors were at their craft until this morning, when we read this breaking story about a pending Major Sporting Event:

What Time Does The Superbowl Start?

Are you wondering, “what time does the Superbowl start?”

It’s a common search query, as is “what time is the super bowl 2011,” “superbowl time” and “superbowl kickoff time 2011,” according to Google Trends the evening before the Super Bowl.

It’s easily answered too. Super Bowl 2011 will take place on Sunday, Feb. 6, 2011, at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time and 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time.

The NFC Champion Green Bay Packers will take on the AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas. Early odds had the Packers as the favorites and both sides have several standout players.

This is not how we were taught to write in journalism school. But nor is it the work of hopeless amateurs.

Because if you Google “what time is the super bowl 2011” or “superbowl time”, guess who shows up on the first page of results?

What Time Does the 2011 Super Bowl Start? A (Continuing) Lesson in Search Visibility [Search Engine Land]