Following some comments on WUWT about the “+1” scheme to boost ratings, I first joined the scheme, then decided to do it the old fashioned way and click on the WUWT link when searching for “global warming”.
So, imagine my surprise when I found WUWT on …
PAGE 35
Yes, that is right! WUWT was on page 35 … I had to double check to make sure it was right because it was behind the GWPF, behind climate audit, behind unrealclimate, behind the IPCC behind sites that none of us have ever heard of.
- So, why was it on page 35 of the google results?
- Why having clicked on it just once, did it move (via another PC on another URL) to page 34?
- And, why when I checked the page, was there not a single meta-tag telling the google search engine this site had anything or wanted anything to do with global warming?
The simple answer given the ease by which I escalated the ranking by a single click is that no one ever clicks on a WUWT page when they search for global warming. And before everyone starts point to google bias, obviously, no one trusts the top ranking sites (they are mostly paid for … or promoted due to google’s own politics) but whilst it is quite possible WUWT has a lower ranking than it should, I think there is much more to this and quite a lot has nothing to do with Google and so I have a few suggestions:
- I have to be honest, and say that I don’t think Anthony Watts has a clue about publicising his site particularly for search engines. E.g. he doesn’t even mention global warming as a search term in the meta tabs telling search engines which words and phrases characterise the site. That just screams out that he doesn’t exactly make his site google friendly and it’s not surprising that it is so lowly rated.
- Sceptics most probably do not use Google to find the site. If we don’t search on google, how is google supposed to know that people want to find that site when they search?
- And yes, Google hates WUWT … and more than likely is actively trying to repress the site. OK, we have to accept that, so we have to work together to try to reverse this.
What can be done
1. Search for global warming and click on the WUWT site.
Go to google and enter “global warming”. Then click the last number at the bottom to go to pages 10, then 19, etc. until you reach page 35 3435.
(Addendum: the next WUWT page is around page 70 of google results!!)
Then start going backwards until you find an entry for any page linked to wattsupwiththat.com and then click it.
Repeat prescription every day!
2. Add a link to wattsupwiththat.com
Where ever and when ever add a link.
3. Join the “+1 scheme“
Join the scheme and then find the WUWT pages and press the +1 button
Adding a link from your own site is the best way to boost a site’s performance – provided your own site is in good standing with Googgle and is relevant in some way. Use the words ‘clomate change debate’ or some such similar as the link text.
erm . . . (damn no editing facility) – better to use ‘climate change debate’ 🙂
http://files.sinwt.ru/download.php?file=25FOIA2011.zip
“The simple answer given the ease by which I escalated the ranking by a single click is that no one ever clicks on a WUWT page when they search for global warming.”>>>>>>>
– Hey, Scottish Sceptic- did you really say that ??
Pingback: WUWT search engine issues | Watts Up With That?
You can get more than 10 entries per page on Google if you go to something like
http://www.google.co.uk/webhp?complete=0&num=50
This will force it to return 50 entries per page.
For Firefox there is an add-in FastestFox that, inter alia, has an option called Endless Pages. If this is on then when you scroll down to near the bottom of the page it starts loading the next page as an addendum to the current page.
So with ‘num=50’ specified, if you go down to the bottom of the page 10 times then you will have the first 500 entries in one big web page.
Being in one web page you can then easily search for any string that you like (e.g. “watts”) in loads of results in one go.
Jim
Hmm, I always go there via Google, and it is always first on my list – whether I type “Watts up with that” or “WUWT” ………. ?
SS, you’re famous at last! WUWT has mentioned you so expect to be swamped.
I think.perhaps the answer is,that WUWT is so well known that few people have to look for it on Google. I have an icon on my bookmark bar and just click on that and I suggest so do the majority of the 31 million viewers.
31 million? Watts has confessed himslef that he massages the figures, which I find quite ironic.