Search Engines and Blogs

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Maybe someone has some thoughts on this. I have been frustrated by how most search engines handle my blog.

I am set up so that each post gets it own page. However, when a person does a search that comes up with my blog and they click on the search engine link, it always takes them to my blog home page, rather than the page from the hit.

That isn't 100% true. So far I have found that search.com, webcrawler.com, and msn.com properly index my pages.

The big ones, including Google, which actually hosts the blog, doesn't!

It is kind of frustrating for a search engine to find that one of my blog entries matches someone's search, but when they click on it they are taken to my blog home page rather than the actual post.

Does anyone have any ideas about how to fix this?

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Here's a strange search engine blog result.

Addblock plus is an extention for Firefox. It blocks some types of advertizing on web pages.

If you go to Google (at least today) and type in:
addblock plus

Guess what the number one hit is! It's my "other blog" entry about it. I find it amazing that such a thing happens. I didn't write the program, and I don't offer it for download - I simply mention it as one of the extensions I am using with Firefox.

About the time I think I understand Search Engines, something like this happens!

[Marsha Lynn]

My thoughts on this matter are here (http://www.naznet.com/community/showthread.php?t=693). I share your amazement that the search engines send people to blogs that have only passing references to the search terms. Most of my hits of that type come through MSN.

If you want a more humorous look at this phenomena, one of NazNet's own has an interesting blog entry (http://ihaveadhd.blogspot.com/2005/12/farm-animals-gasoline-tampons.html) on the subject.

Marsha

Here's a strange search engine blog result.

Addblock plus is an extention for Firefox. It blocks some types of advertizing on web pages.

If you go to Google (at least today) and type in:
addblock plus

Guess what the number one hit is! It's my "other blog" entry about it. I find it amazing that such a thing happens. I didn't write the program, and I don't offer it for download - I simply mention it as one of the extensions I am using with Firefox.

About the time I think I understand Search Engines, something like this happens!

[Marsha Lynn]

Weirdest hit yet on my blog:

Someone did an MSN search for Don Marsh lyrics and ended up at my blog. That struck me as odd since I don't know that I know any Don Marsh lyrics. I checked it out.

Sure enough, there were 79,036 results and my blog was second on the list. That's because my name is Marsha. I once used the word don't, and I once used the word lyrics.

It took two faulty moves to end up at my blog this way. 1) The stupid search engine had to come up with the results. 2) The search-challenged computer user had to look at the random words put together to come up with the hit and follow the link! Hello! It's a blog! The words "Don" and "Marsh" never appear together in it. Try one of the other 79,035 hits! Or better yet, choose a better search engine and learn to use quotes in your searches. :rolleyes:

By the way, searching on my name and actually getting a hit that points to me has traditionally required scrolling down the list of results past all the Marsha Lynn Smiths and Marsha Lynn Browns and various genealogical sites before finally finding the NazNet Advent devotionals from a few years ago. However, the current #1 hit for a google search on "Marsha Lynn" is my NazNet profile. I've noticed that's the case for a few other names, also.

I haven't decided whether or not I'm pleased with that result, but it's certainly interesting.

Marsha

Here's a strange search engine blog result.

Addblock plus is an extention for Firefox. It blocks some types of advertizing on web pages.

If you go to Google (at least today) and type in:
addblock plus

Guess what the number one hit is! It's my "other blog" entry about it. I find it amazing that such a thing happens. I didn't write the program, and I don't offer it for download - I simply mention it as one of the extensions I am using with Firefox.

About the time I think I understand Search Engines, something like this happens!

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Sure enough, there were 79,036 results and my blog was second on the list. That's because my name is Marsha. I once used the word don't, and I once used the word lyrics.

I am surprised that the search engines picked up words like "marsh" from "Marsha." I know they search across plural or singular forms of words but not words within words.

Here's something else I have discovered. Apparently, people do a lot of searches about David dancing before the Lord when the Ark was returned to Jerusalem. I did an entry on that and I get a fair number of hits from people doing that search.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I'm posting to this old thread because it is on a related subject -- and, I think it is kind of funny too!

I got an email this morning containing some good news from a church family. However, I couldn't place the family!

Now, I was out of town for almost a month, and we have been blessed with some new folks over the past few weeks. Still, it seemed strange to me that I would receive such an email as the one I received and not be able to place the sender.

Then, this afternoon I got a second email, asking, "Pastor Scott, is there a time we can meet this week?" It was a very innocent email, but it was bugging me to death that I couldn't place this person. I really wanted to do so before responding.

I decided to do a google search for her name. One of the few hits was for a church newsletter in another state. Then, I noticed that the pastor was also "Pastor Scott."

It had to be a case of mistaken identity, but how did this established church member suddenly start emailing me rather than her pastor? Now I was hooked - so I started reading up on their church. I googled the pastor's name and then I saw a link to his blog. Instead of using "Pastor Scott" he intentionally used "Pasture Scott." Apparently, he has an email address along that line.

Since www.pastorscott.com is mine, he has registered a catchy alternate version of it. She accidnetally typed it "right" - and I started getting emails from her!

Just a typical day in the electronic life of a "pasture."

[Gary Creely]

Maybe someone has some thoughts on this. I have been frustrated by how most search engines handle my blog.

I am set up so that each post gets it own page. However, when a person does a search that comes up with my blog and they click on the search engine link, it always takes them to my blog home page, rather than the page from the hit.

That isn't 100% true. So far I have found that search.com, webcrawler.com, and msn.com properly index my pages.

The big ones, including Google, which actually hosts the blog, doesn't!

It is kind of frustrating for a search engine to find that one of my blog entries matches someone's search, but when they click on it they are taken to my blog home page rather than the actual post.

Does anyone have any ideas about how to fix this?

Sometimes a site map helps the search engines get things straight, although I am not sure how to manage that on blogger.