Sure, "Oil Rig" clearly wins, but I think "small hairless penis" deserves an honorable mention.
As you well know, My Avid Readers, not too long ago I staged a search engine optimization (SEO) experiment. I had been struck by the fact that my most active post was “How Does An Oil Rig Work?,” which I wrote quickly and while stoned, as no more than a beginner blogging exercise. You know, trying to figure out how the WordPress buttons work. I posted the lame post on January 5, 2009, and as of February 2, 2009, the thing had received a mind-bottling 16 views, which was definitely my all-time high for any post.
I figured that such impressive traffic must be the result of accidental SEO, namely the fact that I included language about and links to sites featuring information on not only oil rigs but also penis pumps. So on February 2, 2009, I set out to test if this was in fact the case by posting “Let the SEO Games Begin!” This post is full of filthy phrases and shocking links and I thought it would kick the ass of the boring oil rig cum penis pump post. But this was not to be.
My SEO test results have been confusing, to say the least. Ultimately, I think they simply prove me wrong about the SEO power of a featuring sexy and/or violent and/or disturbing phrases and related links. The fact is that I think that people cruising the blogosphere are actually a lot more interested in how oil rigs work than I had thought. That first post on oil rigs (and penis pumps) continues to remain popular, while the SEO war post had a brief flash of fame before fading away into relative obscurity. (Of course, the lack of success achieved by “Let the SEO Games Begin!” could have simply been a result of the post’s dry, tell-all title.)
Ultimately, my lighthearted experiment leads me to conclude (phew!) that the easiest way to blog for best the SEO results — at least if you are a regular human being and not a major company – is simply to do so without giving thought to SEO tactics. I’m pretty sure there are SEO tactics that DO work, but why waste effort on them? I already have two or three semi-regular readers, and I really can’t hope for more than that. So I’m going to just focus on posting honestly, no matter how silly, stoned, perverse, light-hearted, super-serious, on-track or off-topic my kind of honesty might be.
For the record, Dear Faithful Readers, here is some vague (but honest) data and conclusions regarding my own, personal SEO experiment:
What is an "all time high" in the SEO World, anyway?
• When I posted “SEO Games” I thought I might be onto something. Withing four hours of posting, my “site page views” rocketed from less than 10 to 56, which was and has remained an all-time high for traffic to my site.
• By the end of the day, “SEO Games” had received 8 post views, which was half of what “Oil Rig” had earned in almost a month.
• The next day, by late afternoon, “SEO Games” had earned another 6 views, and I thought it was going to quickly displace “Oil Rig.” I definitely thought I was onto something. But then the trend changed:
• In the nearly two months since then, “SEO Games” has received only a very few more hits, topping out at today’s 20 post views. On the other hand:
• “Oil Rig” continues to be popular, chugging along like the tortoise against the hare. As of today, it’s up to a mega-whopping 45 post views, squarely remaining my top post. But don’t forget, “SEO Games” did create the most traffic ever to the site. Maybe consider this:
• I just found some neat-o WordPress stat graphs for each of the two posts. What they seem to show is that “SEO Wars” was a one-hit wonder (both for itself and overall site traffic), while “Oil Rig” keeps on churning along, regularly getting hits and bringing traffic to the site. (Kind of reminds me of those slow-and-steady, up-and-down oil rig pumps that got this whole nonsense started.)
Like the hare, "SEO Wars" surges ahead fast and furious -- promising a clear win.
Like the tortoise, "Oil Rig" just keeps on going, slow and steady -- winning clearly in the end.
What does all this mean?
• To me, it means that, at least at this point, I cannot manipulate the traffic to my site in any controlled manner. The silly post I wrote in five minutes while stoned gets all the hits, while the post written to exclusively for SEO and bring in tons of traffic did nothing but bring in a few random hits.
• Another lesson I’ve learned is that I think that people really are interested in how oil rigs work — or at least penis pumps. I myself, even though I was stoned, really did want to understand why they go up-and-down, up-and-down, and that’s why I wrote the post. So maybe somehow the sincerity of my post, even if ridiculous, has paid (and is paying) off in terms of gaining traffic. Hmm?
• Another lesson I have learned is that I can’t really make head nor tail of the WordPress stats, although they seem incredibly impressive. I think they must be more for those trying to make money by proving their blogging prowess, not those of us just trying to communicate with a few faithful readers. (As I write this my “Stats” panel tells me that the third of my “Top Searches” is “small hairless penis.” HUH? What do I do with that?)
• Concerning sincerity, SEO issues and how to progress with my own, personal blogging, I think I have begun to see what I have so many times advised others in articles I have written for dead-tree publications as a so-called blogging expert: Sincerity pays when blogging. Look:
• My blog is still so very, very small time in terms of traffic that I do not need to worry about who I offend or turn off with SEO games or any other shenanigans. But my little SEO experiment suggests that, at least with blogging, I will reap what I sow, pulling in readers directly or indirectly in direct relation to the sincerity with which I write, even if that sincerity is stoned or flip or flighty or retarded.
A Little Web 2.0 Feedback on SEO, Please
I would be seriously interested in any of your insights about SEO, WordPress statistics and all related behaviors in the blogosphere. I’m not interested in “tips and tricks” to getting hits. I’m looking for thoughtful ideas and experiences about the topic in general, and how to consider them (if at all) in relation to satisfying blogging.
For example, as much as I like the idea of getting thousands of hits , do we have a responsibility to approach our naming, tagging, linking and so on, so as to help filter out traffic (i.e., humans) not interested in our content. Should we be trying to bring order to the chaos that is the blogosphere?