I’ve highlighted before a few of the odd phrases by which people have stumbled across Bright Meadow – Chayanne in his underpants still being a personal favourite. (And yes, I posted that link just so we’d all have an excuse to look at that picture of Chayanne again) – and I figured it was time to have a quick look at some more, because it leads into what I want to talk about.
My new favourite, mainly because someone actually took the time to craft this phrase and type it into Google, is “A 1957 novel written by a british author were all the women are impregnated on the same night“. (They also get brownie points for using the word ‘impregnate’). Now the book you are looking for is John Wyndham’s “The Midwich Cuckoos”, which you can find reviewed in a round-about way here. Currently such a search on google returns me as the second link, so I feel I should perhaps go back and re-write that review so that people get more information.
It also serves to reassure me on whether Google is indexing me or not.
Clearly as the previous paragraph shows, they must be, because you can get to me through searches, but tools such as Talk Digger and the Link Popularity Check return me with no presence on Google. Even Liz’s handy tip makes it look like Google hates me. Google Sitemaps isn’t exactly being helpful either and tells me that no one links to my site. This is a lie. I know of at least three places that do, and a couple of those have a decent PageRanks all of their own…
But I am getting high listings through some searches, so clearly Google don’t hate me completely. For example, rather reassuringly, a search for “cas sunday roast” returns me as the top link.
I’m confused. I used to think I understood search engine behaviour, now it has been made stunningly clear to me I have about as much comprehension of what goes on it Google’s mind as I do about what goes on in my own (None).
I may be confused, but I don’t care that there is some odd behaviour going on. At least I keep telling myself I don’t care. Yahoo! seems to like me ok, as does MSN search. Even Technorati has started to give me some love again (albeit a little haphazardly). It’s just Google. So what if one search engine has taken an irrational dislike to my shiny new site? People are evidently stumbling across Bright Meadow on a semi-regular basis, and my faithful Blog Minions still know where to find me, so what more do I need?
Love, affection, and PageRank, that’s what I need. I know shouldn’t, but I do. No matter what I might say, and how much I know it’s not a real measure of ‘success’, I do still harbour, in the back of my mind, irrational dreams such as being in the Technorati Top 100 Blogs. I’d like to be nominated for a Bloggie. Winning one is just too silly to even contemplate, but a nomination…?
Where’s this post going? No where. It just serves to mark my 🙁 at the current state of affairs. I actually don’t know what I’d do with a readership into double digits, let alone the triple and more you need for true blogging “fame”. PageRank can’t keep you warm at night like the love of a good Blog Minion can.
Still, who said I don’t deserve both…? 😉
google, yahoo, msn, technorati, bloggies, pagerank, blog minion, talk digger, link popularity check, google sitemaps
graphic. I just couldn’t quite face the orange, so I photoshopped them to better fit the colour scheme.