search me
A classic blog post genre that I don’t seem to have indulged in before: exposing my search engine referrals.
A lot of people are coming here looking for something about Monsters Inc, redback spiders, Lego bricks, Donatello’s David, Darth Vader… which is nice, because it looks like you’ve got to page through a lot of results to find my blog.
But what about the referrals that actually come from top ranking search results?
loris malaguzzi poem
I am the first result on Google, and this is my most common referrer since this blog began almost ten years ago. A semi-famous musician once emailed me requesting more information about Malaguzzi, which I helped her find. Occasionally I’ve intended to read more about Malaguzzi and Reggio Emilia, but it looks unlikely I’ll ever get around to it. About both there is a lot more information on the web now than ten years ago. I still find the poem inspirational.
baby ultrasound
I am the first result on Google (as an image, before the text results) which explains why it’s such a popular target for bizarre usage. Twice in the last six months I’ve had to write emails to religious anti-abortion websites asking them to stop using Daniel’s ultrasound photo. They kindly took it down, but I strongly feel they shouldn’t have put it up in such a context in the first place.
under the bridge interpretation
I am the second result on Google, much to the consternation of some Red Hot Chili Peppers fans. Yes, it’s a joke. And I still think of it every time I hear the song.
bourbon mixer
I am the third result on Google. I’m actually quite proud of the little bit of research me and Rob did. Sometimes I find or think of other possible mixers, but I get too much negative feedback about alcohol posts.
inflatable boy joke
I am the third result on Google. Still funny.
khe sanh lyrics meaning
I am the third result on Google. No one else has tried to elucidate the lyrics of this seminal song. I had a cabaret writer ask me if I’ve found anything else out about “she was lined”, but I haven’t. Wikipedia states Silver City refers to Broken Hill rather than the Vietnamese battle, which probably makes more sense in context.
(All placings higher on Google Australia.)
What searches do I wish would turn up my weblog? Well, I don’t know. Whatever will be, will be. This blog is optimised for me rather than search engines.
And since I’m writing about search, I’ll leave you with three thoughts.
Google doesn’t understand search. Despite this blog using a Google Site Map and rel=canonical, Google still turns up aggregate archive pages, search result pages, and non-canonical URLs. Will HTML5 help? I doubt it.
Advertisers don’t understand search. I’ve seen three campaigns in recent times that suggest, instead of visiting a url, you “search [keyword]”. Yet these keywords are generic and inevitably do not return the advertised website.
Employers don’t understand search. It wouldn’t take much to smear the reputation of an employer with no PageRank to speak of. So: a) be nice to your employees, and b) embrace the web.