Keywords
Thursday 26th November
Keywords are a nightmare! To place well in google (other search engines are available) rankings, you need relevant keywords with links to your site from external sources. Pretty much. But they need to be written in natural language so that you don’t alienate readers. So my rank on Leicestershire Photographer is very good because I can say I’m a Leicestershire Photographer and so on in natural language. However, when searching google, more people type “Photographer Leicestershire” most likely because they first search for ‘photographer’ and realise there are millions of irrelevant entries so then go back and add ‘Leicestershire’ to their search. I’m only on page 5 for that search (which in itself is not bad – I was unlisted until I went to a course run by a very good Leicestershire web design company).
So how do I get “Photographer Leicestershire” into natural language? I wonder if it ignores punctuation, so “I am a photographer, Leicestershire based” would be ok? Who knows? It’s a black art, but one I’m learning to get good at!
It’s not all photography, you know!
interesting. so actually google users should just type stuff in in English instead of thinking in terms of broad-to-narrow search terms (as I do). That must be a habit from the olden days, to want to drill down and refine rather than just type in English.
sweavo
26 Nov 09 at 10:12 am
You’re also on page 5 for ‘photographer in leicestershire’ which would be easier to get into natural language. I wonder if google is clever enough to ignore the ‘in’ bit.
Also: what about people who search for ‘photographer leics’? Are you deliberately alienating people who can’t figure out how to spell Leicestershire?
Me
26 Nov 09 at 10:43 am
Heh – I just spotted that http://www.photo-challenge.co.uk is on the 4th page when I search for “photo challenge”. Not bad going for a site that’s only been up for a fortnight, and has never had any promotion, other than links from a handful of personal blogs.
Jonathan
26 Nov 09 at 11:05 am
I had a search from AOL which was “I’m looking for a photographer in leicestershire”
It’s a techie vs. Joe Public thing.
And Me, that’s a good point. I bet the competition is less fierce for the top spot on that one. Search volume will be lower, but percentage of hits from impressions would be higher.
Stu
26 Nov 09 at 11:21 am
“I’m the best photographer Leicestershire has ever seen.”
SimonG
26 Nov 09 at 11:32 am
I think that may count as unsubstantiated boasting, Simon. But very creative!
Stu
26 Nov 09 at 11:34 am
If you enter “photographer in Leicesesestershire”, it doesn’t find anything -I feel this is a design fault in the search engine.
Lois
26 Nov 09 at 4:17 pm
On a different subject, where were you between 3pm Friday November 13 and 4pm November 16? Have you an alibi?
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/fareham-and-meon/Police-on-the-hunt-for.5842781.jp
Rich
26 Nov 09 at 5:36 pm
I think anyone who doesn’t visit their goats for three days deserves to have them stolen. Hopefully they’ve gone to a more loving home.
Stu
26 Nov 09 at 5:41 pm
May be Santa’s reindeer all have mange and he has diversified into goats to pull his sleigh at night.
Max
26 Nov 09 at 6:57 pm
Shouldnt people be encouraged to use “+” when searching?
Although that didnt help me when I searched for “plastic head, blond wig, girl’s toy”
lordhutton
26 Nov 09 at 7:41 pm