Posts from July 2007

When I moved this blog from hosted Wordpress , I submitted the site to Google and Yahoo! After that, I noted the respective crawlers indexing the blog and thought no more of it.

I subsequently registered the site in Google Webmaster and Yahoo! Site Explorer and added a sitemap to help the robots index my site more efficiently. After a while, it was clear that Google was responsible for the vast majority of traffic to my humble blog. Mainly 'one-hit wonders' but welcome nevertheless.

Today, while dabbling with various reports in Google Analytics, I compared the performance of the two major search engines over the past nine months.

The statistics are quite staggering, to me at least. So much so, I have been moved to include inline images (which took me 14 hours and they're still not right) to reinforce the point.

Over a period of nine months, Google (17,562) absolutely hammers Yahoo! (413) into the ground.

So then I started to get curious. Why does Google do such a better job of indexing my blog ?

The standard test I use is to search for a set of keywords from a recent blog entry and see whether it appears on page 1.

For this test, I used "under the covers at Wimbledon' from a post made last Sunday. On Google, this appeared as the first post in the first page. I already know that Google is very timely at indexing my blog. If I post an blog article with an internal link (pingback), my RSS feed of Google inbound links notifies me instantly.

Here are the Google results. The blog article is the first entry displayed on the front page.

OK. So now for Yahoo!

Here is the Yahoo! equivalent. Nothing for the actual blog article on page 1. However, the main blog page is listed which happens to contain a snapshot reference to the article title.

Which is more relevant ? Which looks a better match for the actual search terms ? Which one would you be tempted to click on ? Which site would you advertise on ?

Next, I went to Yahoo! Site Explorer to see whether the actual blog article was indexed yet.

No it wasn't. So, an interesting experiment and I am sure SEO magicians in white hats will arrive promptly to point out the error of my ways.

A footnote : The Yahoo! chart does appear to shows worrying signs of life from mid-May. The number of daily referrals jump from almost zero to almost a whole 10 visitors in a single day !

Come to think of it, Live.com (previously known as Dead.com) has also recently sparked into life, rising from the floor to reach the dizzy heights of a spike of 3 daily visitors.

Google beware !

LHR-NCL (BA1326) Dep: 09:40 Arr: 10:45

Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Newcastle airport where the local time is 12:50. Once again, we would like to apologise for the [2 hour] delay to this service. We hope this does not inconvenience you and wish you a safe and pleasant onward journey.' 'Passengers wishing to smoke should note that, following changes to UK legislation that came into effect over the weekend, smoking is not permitted anywhere in the terminal building.'

'Passengers wishing to smoke should only do so on the concourse in located front of the main terminal. For the safety of fellow passengers, please dispose of all cigarette butts carefully. In particular, be aware of fast moving vehicles packed with gas canisters, petrol and sharp objects, as these may cause damage if inadvertently ignited by a stray cigarette.'

'Thank you for your attention. Good afternoon.'

If you are the parent of a teenage girl, I have some fantastic news for you.

Good news - You will never have to purchase an air freshener for your car again. Ever.

I kindly gave my daughter and three girlfriends a lift yesterday. As each young passenger boarded, pleasant smells and odours of various perfumes and fragrances wafted and swirled around the car interior until it resembled a perfume counter at Boots.

By the end of the journey, as I jettisoned my precious cargo, the smell was overpowering and I started to feel positively nauseous and light headed. 15 minutes later, I found myself slumped unconscious over the steering wheel. Or rather, the police officer did. Thank goodness, I passed that breath test and the policeman also had a grown-up daughter, who has just graduated from Exeter University.

Despite opening all windows, the sun roof and leaving the boot open in a futile effort to de-fumigate the vehicle, this pleasant smell will persist for a period of six months, rendering the need for small, refillable air fresheners that attach to the air vent grille completely superfluous.

Bad news - the cost savings of the air freshener won't make up for the unspecified and intangible costs of owning a teenage daughter.

This year, like the previous three, we applied in the LTA ballot for Wimbledon tickets. This year, unlike the previous three, we were allocated two tickets for Court 1 for the middle Saturday in blazing June.

I checked the Order of Play on Friday night. My wife asked me who was playing. I casually replied 'Oh - just some ladies playing pit-a-pat tennis then Djokovic (Men's #4 seed) against Kiefer followed by another ladies singles match.'

'Are the ladies well known ?'

I manfully tried to control my rising excitement and the quiver in my voice: 'Oh I dunno - someone called Sharapova. I think she's the pretty, athletic one. Tall, blonde hair with long shapely legs who also does modelling.'

After a cold shower, I checked the weather forecast, looked outside at the torrential rain and, for the first time in 23 years, said a little prayer before turning in.

The day dawned grey and wet. We arrived at Wimbledon, prepared for the increased security checks. A gentleman in a blazer asked me and my son to open our coats. An unusual request but, in the interests of homeland security, we complied. He said 'I'm awfully sorry, Sir but you can not wear those T-shirts on Court 1.'

We looked down at our chests. My son's read 'Blog in Isolation' and mine was adorned with 'www.nbrightside.com'. 'Why not ?'

'Those shirts constitute "ambush marketing" which is strictly not allowed by the LTA. Come to think of it, didn't I see you two dancing on stage at Glastonbury last week behind Iggy Pop waving a "Bring back Wispa" flag ?'

Undeterred, we promptly removed one layer to reveal our contingency shirts

'Come on ~~Andy~~ !' 'Come on ~~Tim~~ !' 'We love you, Maria !'

'That's much better, Sir. Have a great day and enjoy the tennis.'

Pictures here.