Search Engines and Diaries
I was asked how I knew what key words people were using when they found my diary through a search engine. The answer isn’t that complicated, but it does require a Site Meter to figure out. Other counters might give you this information as well, but I really only know Site Meter well.
If you have a Site Meter, you’ll notice on the “Summary” page a list of links for additional information. This is on the left of the screen. Under “Recent Visitors” you’ll see “By Details” and then under this “By Referrals”. If you click on the “By Referrals” option, it takes you to a list of the referring sites of the last fifty visitors to you site.
The first thing you’ll notice is that there are a handful of “unknowns” on the list. That means that the person did not use a link on a web page to get to your site, but instead used a bookmarker or typed your address in the long way. If you scan the list again you’ll notice a lot of “http://www.deardiary.org/cgi-bin/viewer.cgi”; these folks probably got to your diary by using the “Show Diaries Recently Updated” option on Dear Diary’s home page. Other links are from people’s email pages, where they used the link from the “notify” they received for a recent update you made.
But if you’re interested in how the search engines are finding you, look for entries that start with things like “http://www.google.com/search?” or “http://search.yahoo.com/search?” or “http://search.iwon.com/” or “http://search.aol.com”. There are innumerable search engines out there, but most of them will have the word “search” embedded in the URL of the search they generate. If you click on any of these search links, you will see the page that was generated by doing the search, and that page will show you the key words. They key words are also embedded within the search URL itself, but if you lack experience reading URL’s you don’t need to worry about finding the key words that way.
While the “turtle tank” interest seems to be finally dying off, I note with interest today that I’m getting a persistent repeat hits on searches using “kitten + shots” and “snake + dreams”. I’ve also had one very persistent inquiry concerning “aura + quiz”; this person has looked at my diary page for nearly every day in the last week using that search. The weirdest current search hit by far is “cracked hero dvd player user-id”. I cannot begin to imagine what that person was looking for, but it scares me a little.
Seems totally reasonable to me. Some things are just simple and don’t need any "digging".
While I enjoyed your entries today, I actually just wanted to remark on the "shareyourlife" icon in your menu. As a daughter of a transplant recipient, I am grateful that the information of this amazing and lifechanging event is being spread by individuals. So thanks for sharing that important link!
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing! I just might have to look into site meter. Not sure why who visits my journal and ‘why’ intrigues me, but it does. 🙂
Hope you have a wonderful rest of the week!
Hugs,
Lauren
p.s. I really like the new look! 🙂
It’s time to change the notify message. The comments are working =)
I was getting some odd mail and searched thru yahoo, aol, google and it all ended with some guy in China named ping.
I love your new diary look and the colors.
I am just so glad to be able to comment that I am commenting just to comment…..*smile*
froggy
Playing catch up…yipee, the comments are back!
I haven’t had enough coffee to say much more than howdy.
Your diary look is very nice.
Your entry re: the socialist’s forum is interesting. The traffic has died down since you left, it is true. That’s because you like to chat about things that are not flamebait. If he wants a board that is "political" then he doesn’t want a board like it used to be.
If people aren’t flocking to a board where every thread flames a political party, the president, the administration, foreign policy, or else discusses the state of someone’s bum, it’s not your fault. If he wants the board he envisions, then he’s not going to have a board where people have polite, friendly conversation.
He can’t have it both ways, and it’s unfair to hold you responsible for the tastes of the surfing public.
Actually, I thought those WERE good reasons. Why post to a board if it doesn’t please you as it once did. If you find something else that is better for you, then you should. Yes, there is something to be said for loyalty, but it’s a board, not a nation.
Anyway, thanks also for the discussion of Sitemeter. I’m afraid I’ve never really put mine to much use. I shall have to remedy that!