Posts Tagged ‘Search engines’

Why Google Analytics is so much fun

While I’m not a power user of Google Analytics like those who track e-commerce and advertising performance, I know my way around it well enough to discover fun and interesting facts about my blog’s visitors.  Below are a few insights into my blog’s statistics:
  1. I love maps!  The Demographics-Location screen shows that my blog has nearly spanned the globe.  It’s no surprise that the United States is the darkest shade of green, which means that it is the country with the most number of visits.  The countries in grey have yet to make a visit.  I am still waiting for Greenland to turn green.  If you have friends there, send them my way. Google Analytics map
  2. It is always interesting to see the search keywords used to get to my site.  “Should I…” is a very common search phrase.  Sure, I can explain how to enter credit card charges correctly into QuickBooks, but don’t expect too much more from me.Should I
  3. Below is a graph showing the value of my investment portfolio.  Just kidding!  The graph shows the number of daily website visits.  It is satisfying to see an increase in web traffic over time.  This is a good lesson for people just starting to blog to not be discouraged by low numbers.  Loyal readers, links from other sites, and search results accumulate over time, so don’t give up!Web Traffic Graph
 

Google me, autocomplete me

Out of curiosity, I occasionally enter my name in Google to see how I am doing in my goal to dominate the first page of Google search results.  Today, I decided to take a different approach and see how Google autocompletes searches for my name. According to Google, its algorithm predicts queries based on other users’ search activities. These searches provide some insight into what phrases people have used to search for me and other lucky guys out there that share my name. When I enter “Dustin Wheeler” in the search box, Google suggests the following: Dustin Wheeler AutocompleteThe first one listed is Dustin Wheeler, CPA.  Yes, that’s me!  The next two are not me (though “Dustin Wheeler Chevrolet” has a nice ring to it – it’s a dealership in Hinton, Oklahoma). Next, I went through the alphabet adding a letter after my name to see how Google autocompletes it.  Here is the letter L: Dustin Wheeler Autocomplete L Las Vegas is one of the few cities that comes up.  People could have searched for me using the city where I live to narrow the search results. Moving on to Q… Dustin Wheeler Autocomplete Q Yes, I am a member of the QuickBooks ProAdvisor program. Another fun activity is entering a company or product followed by the word “is.”  Searches for “Google is” and “Facebook is” produces some really funny autocomplete suggestions, though they are mostly negative in nature.  Google’s algorithm has some kind words for FreshBooks, however. FreshBooks is awesome Hopefully, Google’s autocomplete will say the same about me someday.

My Plot to Take Over Google Searches for my Name

Many villains in TV shows and movies have evil plans to take over the world.  I have a much more attainable goal: take over the first page of Google when my name is searched for! *insert maniacal laughter here*

Google me!

I thought it would be a good idea to “take over” Google when I read this blog post in the Harvard Business Review: Forget the business card – just Google me.  I love the business card in that blog post (which just shows a Google search box with the person’s name). A side benefit of this blog – although I didn’t create it solely for this purpose – is people being able to find me through my blog when searching for me on the Internet.  I recently Googled my name and found my blog in the first position among the search results (see below).  I used a few simple search engine optomization strategies to accomplish this.  My domain name includes my first and last name, my name is in the title tag of the blog, and the “about me” page is written in third person (even though it would have been more natural to write it in first person).

Google Results for Dustin Wheeler

Another strategy I recently began to implement is commenting on other people’s blogs.  The main reason why I comment on blogs is to add value to them, but search engine optimization is a side benefit.  The Google indexing robot finds my name and a link to my blog in each comment. Now that I have a presence for my name in Google searches, I can finally think about getting one of those fancy Google business cards … and ponder another devious plan.