Unintentionally Blank

Come on, everyone has done it, putting your own name into Google to see what appears in the results or whether your blog is first. OK, so maybe I have had a slow Sunday as I come to write this, but I am pleased with my current results in the world’s biggest search engine. For a start I have had the top results for searches for Phil Nash for quite a while now, however there is a greater prize at stake. Taking the top spot for just a first name is quite a challenge and something I (quite excitingly!) find myself moving closer to every time I check.

So, I am even more pleased to say that I am one of the top 100 Phils in the world according to Google, appearing at 69 on Google.com, 32 on Google.co.uk and number 8 on Google.co.uk when searching for “pages from the UK”. To make it to the top will be tough, I will have to beat Phil Collins, the UK number 1, and Dr Phil for the coveted spot on Google.com, but I reckon I have time on my side and the patience!

Of course, the real aim is to to achieve something that amounts to high levels of geek cool like Matt Mullenweg’s business card (which reads “1. Go to google.com 2. Type in “Matt” 3. Press “I’m feeling lucky”).

One day I will have that! One day!

Have you googled yourself lately?

Watching the keywords that drive traffic to your site or blog can show a few things; the interest in certain posts, whether users are finding what they search for when they arrive at your site and the amusing combinations and events that conspire to cause one of my posts to appear as result number 31 for the phrase “strange experience blindfold”.

Another interesting result turned up two days ago, when I received a couple of visits for the search top wordpress designs. Whilst touched that Google considered my design to be one of the top WordPress designs, I didn’t believe them and decided to look closer into why I appeared so high up the ranks for these keywords.

Continue reading “Google Flatters Me: When SEO Goes Right” »

A buzz has gone around the Internet this weekend. Sure, Microsoft bought out an advertising firm for $6 billion, but a deal like that pales in significance when there is a rumour of Google making a purchase. The excitement is, of course, doubled when the company on the other end of the rumours is one of the blogosphere’s favourites, FeedBurner. Vecosys reports that Google is to buy FeedBurner and Valleywag followed that up with the likely price tag of $100 million.

But why would Google do this? To revive contextual advertising within feeds, to integrate more data into Google analytics and tie bloggers and other publishers into the Google way even more? I think that both of these ideas, while incisive and probably true, forget what Google do, and want to continue doing, best. Search.

Continue reading “Google To Buy Feedburner? The Real Reasons” »

First Yahoo released their oneSearch, now Google have improved their mobile search. The mobile web is growing and the big search engines are pinpointing how we like to search and use our mobile devices. Now they will look to localise results and return information within the search page rather than make us click through. Yahoo will return results in your area for searches for things like movies and food and will return local news, weather and traffic reports if you type in a city. Google too promises to make an informed decision over whether you want web, local or image searches based on what you input.

When Read/Write Web broke the story on oneSearch, they had me sold. The next time I was going to use my mobile to look something up, I was going to go straight for Yahoo as opposed to my standard use of Google. Now it has all changed and I have a decision to make again. I will be trying out both Google’s new mobile search and Yahoo’s oneSearch to find out which suits me best. I need to know who provides the best data, which search is quicker, who’s search is the most accurate in my area and ultimately which search answers my questions the best. I’ll post my results when I’ve decided.

In the meantime, what mobile search engine do you prefer? Do you tend to stick to your favourite desk top search or do you shop around? Do you even use the mobile web? Let me know your thoughts on the potential competition here.

Last week, Google announced themes for their personalised homepage. I love using the personal homepage and thought this was an innovative and endearing idea, even though it is quite a move from Google’s standard stark white background. My one problem was that I couldn’t use it to start with.

Continue reading “Google’s Personalised Homepage Themes - Not So Personal In The UK” »