Ramanisblog

Category: Blogging

  • Google revels how it Ranks websites.

    For bloggers, I have always maintained that the content must be interesting,supported by facts/links and the posts are to be educative,informative and interesting.

    The blogger should be interested and believe in what he/she writes.

    One need not bother about as to how some body ranks, unless of course you write for money.

    Google on Monday revealed 10 recent changes to its search algorithm that affect results as diverse as those that are date-specific and those that are in Hindi.

    Google makes more than 500 changes to its search algorithm each year. Most are tiny and some — including a recent one that added real-time results for a third of search queries — affect a large proportion of searches.

    But Google rarely publicizes its algorithm changes. One reason: It does not want to give hints to the Web sites that try to game the algorithm so that their links show up higher in results. Google chose to reveal these changes because they are less susceptible to gaming, Matt Cutts, a distinguished engineer at Google who works on search quality, wrote in a company blog post.

    There is also another reason that Google is shedding some light on the black box of its algorithm. It is under fire from government regulators who are investigating it for antitrust violations. One of their main concerns is how little Google reveals about how search works, even though changes in the algorithm can drastically affect Web businesses.

    One of the new changes will affect searches in languages for which there is little Web content available, including Afrikaans, Hindi and Icelandic. Google will now translate relevant Web pages written in English and show those results, too.

    http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/google-reveals-tweaks-to-its-search-algorithm/

    Related:

    Ten recent algorithm changes

    11/14/11 | 8:30:00 AM

     

    Today we’re continuing our long-standing series of blog posts to share the methodology and process behind our search ranking, evaluation and algorithmic changes. This summer we published a video that gives a glimpse into our overall process, and today we want to give you a flavor of specific algorithm changes by publishing a highlight list of many of the improvements we’ve made over the past couple weeks.

    We’ve published hundreds of blog posts about search over the years on this blog, our Official Google Blog, and even on my personal blog. But we’re always looking for ways to give you even deeper insight into the over 500 changes we make to search in a given year. In that spirit, here’s a list of ten improvements from the past couple weeks:

    • Cross-language information retrieval updates: For queries in languages where limited web content is available (Afrikaans, Malay, Slovak, Swahili, Hindi, Norwegian, Serbian, Catalan, Maltese, Macedonian, Albanian, Slovenian, Welsh, Icelandic), we will now translate relevant English web pages and display the translated titles directly below the English titles in the search results. This feature was available previously in Korean, but only at the bottom of the page. Clicking on the translated titles will take you to pages translated from English into the query language.
    • Snippets with more page content and less header/menu content: This change helps us choose more relevant text to use in snippets. As we improve our understanding of web page structure, we are now more likely to pick text from the actual page content, and less likely to use text that is part of a header or menu.
    • Better page titles in search results by de-duplicating boilerplate anchors: We look at a number of signals when generating a page’s title. One signal is the anchor text in links pointing to the page. We found that boilerplate links with duplicated anchor text are not as relevant, so we are putting less emphasis on these. The result is more relevant titles that are specific to the page’s content.
    • Length-based autocomplete predictions in Russian: This improvement reduces the number of long, sometimes arbitrary query predictions in Russian. We will not make predictions that are very long in comparison either to the partial query or to the other predictions for that partial query. This is already our practice in English.
    • Extending application rich snippets: We recently announced rich snippets for applications. This enables people who are searching for software applications to see details, like cost and user reviews, within their search results. This change extends the coverage of application rich snippets, so they will be available more often.
    • Retiring a signal in Image search: As the web evolves, we often revisit signals that we launched in the past that no longer appear to have a significant impact. In this case, we decided to retire a signal in Image Search related to images that had references from multiple documents on the web.
    • Fresher, more recent results: As we announced just over a week ago, we’ve made a significant improvement to how we rank fresh content. This change impacts roughly 35 percent of total searches (around 6-10% of search results to a noticeable degree) and better determines the appropriate level of freshness for a given query.
    • Refining official page detection: We try hard to give our users the most relevant and authoritative results. With this change, we adjusted how we attempt to determine which pages are official. This will tend to rank official websites even higher in our ranking.
    • Improvements to date-restricted queries: We changed how we handle result freshness for queries where a user has chosen a specific date range. This helps ensure that users get the results that are most relevant for the date range that they specify.
    • Prediction fix for IME queries: This change improves how Autocomplete handles IME queries (queries which contain non-Latin characters). Autocomplete was previously storing the intermediate keystrokes needed to type each character, which would sometimes result in gibberish predictions for Hebrew, Russian and Arabic.
    • http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2011/11/ten-recent-algorithm-changes.html

    Here’s how to play a Google a day.

    http://www.agoogleaday.com/#date=2011-11-17

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  • Blog Hits 300, 000, Thank You.

    My first Blog was on 29 August 2009- ‘Time-Non-linear Theory.

    To day the,12th of September 2011, Total Hits 300,000 was reached.

    I do not know whether  this is  good .

    But I am happy that I have been able to write regularly and people have been reading , submitting comments and at times advise me the Subjects on which I should write.

    I would like to say ‘Thank You’ to all of them-Readers,Subscribers and those who comment.

    Over a period of two years  and Twelve days of my blogging experience, I have made many a mistake.

    A list.

    I was confused  between ‘Categories and’ Tags ‘( still am).

    The Result. I have ,116 Categories ,8,501 Tags. 

    I thought the more number of Tags I add-I had included Search Engines Names, like Google,Bing !-, I will have more Hits!

    I came to know that Search Engines are designed to ignore people like me (who add unnecessary tags).

    I was under the mistaken impression that Category is the Subject.

    I am in the process of correcting these mistakes.

    I have learnt that Key words are those words that come to me automatically as I write.

    I was advised by people in the SEO that I have to use more key words in the body of the blog, which is saying ‘include as many key words as possible’. 

    I refused because it affects my flow and then it is not me writing spontaneously.

    I read in Google Blog on Search Optimization, over-use of key Words is counter productive.

    As I mentioned  on reaching the One Lakh mark, I write ‘raw’,as people call it,with no touch ups.

    After all it is not literature , but sharing of one’s thoughts.

    I ensure that the facts are correct and I am true to my convictions.

    If wrong in my views in the light of Facts, I correct myself.

    I remember that i did not know what Visual editor was when it appeared in WordPress.

    I just started writing and I was able to write easily.

    Nor did I know how to apply a Link in the Blog.

    Readers can still see Links in my earlier Blogs in Text Format( I am not correcting them to remind me often of my stupidity.

    Uploading Images and Videos ,the same issues!

    Then I started reading WordPress Help and Tutorials.

    They are extremely useful for a man who can not understand much about Computer ,let alone Blogging.

    Here I would like Thank WordPress Help Desk,especially Karim  and Sheri , who systematically followed up my queries even if I forgot.


    Thank You,Karim and Sheri. 

    Google Help on Blogging  has proved to be highly useful.

    To evaluate my site I rely on Alexa.com.

    It is simple, devoid of jargon and I am able to understand where I need to pay attention.Not only Alexa gives me my Audience Profile, it guides me on Bounce rate,Key Word Search,Speed of the Site.

    It provides me insights into Traffic Rank,Reach View,Page Views,Page Views per User,Time on Site,Search and Links among other things.

    Quantcast and Woorank are two other sites of the same type.

    They are equally useful.

    Thanks to Google,WordPress,Alexa,Woorank  and Quantcast. 

    And Thanks to my children, whom I have been pestering with my blog information ad nauseum , for encouraging me.

    Related.

    For the best web hosting, WordPress is the gold standard. Because of the SEO that is already incorporated into the WordPress platform, the customer’s search engine ranking will be higher than it would be with many other hosting websites. In order to keep your search engine results at a high ranking level, it is important to frequently update your website with original content. Additionally, when you post a sale or special event on your website, it will be found by the search engines more rapidly and your ranking will increase, so that you are closer to the top of the search engine results. This in turn will generate more traffic to your site and broaden your prospective customer base.

    http://techattitude.com/blogging/the-magic-of-wordpress/


  • Bounce Rate, in Detail.

    The acceptable  Bounce Rate is between 40-60%.

    One must note difference between the bounce rate of the Home Page and landing Page.

    ‘Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page. Use this metric to measure visit quality – a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance pages aren’t relevant to your visitors. The more compelling your landing pages, the more visitors will stay on your site and convert. You can minimize bounce rates by tailoring landing pages to each keyword and ad that you run. Landing pages should provide the information and services that were promised in the ad copy.

    http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?answer=81986

    First, let’s take a look at the problem from a theoretical standpoint: Is a high bounce rate bad? When is a high bounce rate something you don’t need to worry about? While each algorithm package has a slightly different technical definition of bounce rate, a bounce means that a person came to the website, viewed one page, and left. However, assuming this is always a “bad thing” is a bit naive. Sometimes the page answers a person’s question, solves their problem, or gives them the information they wanted. It does such a good job that users don’t need to do anything else. Want an example? I run some travel websites. As we know, airlines and government websites often have horrible SEO and architecture. So I often take the top questions people are searching for and create a collected FAQ page for these queries. One of my pages has a high bounce rate of over 85%. However, by using a service like crazyegg, I can track clicks on the print button. Over 45% of the people who visit the page print it. It’s pretty hard to say that page isn’t doing its job.

    http://www.wolf-howl.com/google/high-bounce-rate-bad/

    Bounce rate is a very important metric for website owners. It basically tells you what percentage of your visitors are “bouncing” away after landing on your site (e.g., they just visit one page and leave before clicking on to a second page inside your site). A bounce can occur for several reasons, including:

    • The visitor hit the “Back” button on his browser.
    • The visitor closed his browser.
    • The visitor clicked on one of your ads.
    • The visitor clicked on one of your external links.
    • The visitor used the search box on his browser.
    • The visitor typed a new URL on his browser.

    All the actions above would cause the visitor to leave your site. Provided he did any of these actions right after arriving at your site (and before clicking on to a second page), it would be counted as a bounce. In fact the formula for finding the bounce rate on your website is:

     Bounce rate = Visits that left after one page / Total number of visits

    For example, if during a certain month your site received 120,000 visits, out of which 80,000 bounced after visiting just one page, your bounce rate for that month would be 80,000 divided by 120,000, which equals to 0.66 (or 66%). Notice that you can calculate the bounce rate of your whole website or of single pages inside it.

    http://www.dailyblogtips.com/what-is-bounce-rate/

    If you have an engaging content and a simple design you might get a good bounce rate below the 40% mark.

    Reduce Bounce Rate.

    Smooth Navigation

    Smooth and simple navigation is necessary to enhance the user experience. Linking one web page to another helps in reducing the bounce rate of the website to a very far extent. The intention is to help the users extract the required information with an ease. 

    Do not add unwanted elements

    Suppose your website contains relevant information, appropriate images and essential call to action tools and suddenly a pop up ad appears, your ardent efforts to enhance your users’ experience may get hampered in a very short instant and thus distract the users’ attention from your website.This results in high bounce rate. Hence, it is advisable to exclude such elements.

    Eye catchy taglines

    Taglines/ headlines are the first elements that the users come across while reading a web page, an article etc. A headline is essentially the gist of what follows and should propel the readers to read further.On another note, key word rich headlines help in improving the search engine ranking of that page. If your headline is able to catch the eye of the readers, it automatically lowers the bounce rate of a website.

    Website compatible with different browsers

    Browser compatibility is one of the most important factors in reducing the bounce rate of a website.  

    Make sure that your website is compatible with every web browser.

    Encourage the users to take an action.

    Users participation is an essential factor to establish a strong brand identity, to improve your sales, to keep the users abreast of the latest in your company or industry, to uphold the interests of the users etc. This can be achieved with the aid of video clips, audio clips, live chat, discussions, answering questions, leave a comment section etc. All these activities helps in reducing bounce rate the bounce rate of a website.

    Use re-directions where necessary.

    Don’t overload with images

    Do not overcrowd your website with unrelated images as it makes the website heavy and thus have a negative effect on the bounce rate of a website.

    Read WordPress Blogs and watch the tutorial.

     

  • Twitter Finds’up to 30 Dismembered Bodies’

    A Twitter tweet
    Image via Wikipedia

    Any News will have an Event preceding it.

    Unless the source is checked .only misinformation remains.

    Yesterday,I came across a news item that the Supreme Court of India had asked the CBI to find where the 2G Scam money has gone before seeking opposing the bail application of Kanimozhi!

    I was about to blog on this when I came across the news that the Court had only mentioned in passing as to where the money has gone.

    It is not only non-existent stories but selective, and quoting out of context that has to be checked.

    If there are any incorrect information in my blog,please inform me.

    Story:

    On last Thursday’s visit, cops did come upon the smell of rotten meat (from a broken freezer), and blood on the door (from Bankson’s daughter’s boyfriend, who cut his wrist). They showed up after receiving a tip from a psychic (now under investigation). By that time however, even International news agencies were covering the non-existent story with growing detail including headlines such as, “Dozens of bodies’ found in mass Texas grave,” that were tweeted and retweeted hundreds of time. …

    “The way the events unfolded, probably around 3:30 or 3:45 p.m., we received a call from the Liberty County Sheriff’s Department (Public Information Officer) Rex Evans, so it did not start with a tweet with us,” Collura told Garfield. “So I can set the record straight.” Curiously, PIO Evans didn’t mention the cops got their tip from a psychic.

    For his part, PIO Evans didn’t seem interested in placing blame … or accepting it. He pretty much just spread it around, letting us all off the hook, or hanging us on it. “I believe not only mainstream media but social media played an integral part in,” the non-news frenzy. Adding that you can’t really pin it on anyone in particular, PIO Evans offered this timely observation: “In social media, nobody stops to verify anything.” Be it Facebook, emails or Twitter, “you can disseminate any information you want. Problem is, people don’t stop and think what they are releasing or putting out there could actually be harmful for someone else.”…

    “I thought ‘Medium’ was canceled,” cracked the Los Angeles Times‘ Scott Collins on Twitter Tuesday night as news outlets rushed to retract their breathless headlines about a (non-existent) stack of two dozen dismembered bodies. Just about every media outlet sent a breaking alert out on Twitter, fromThe New York Times, to Breaking News, to the Associated Press. And plenty “confirmed” the story. ABC tweeted, ” ‘Dozens of bodies’ found in mass Texas grave.” Seth Mnookin tweeted the sentiment of many this morning: “Hope “breaking news! dozens of headless bodies on Texas ranch!” was fun for @nytimes, et al, while it lasted.”

    The supposed story of bodies, including those of children, rotting in an unattended farmhouse on the outskirts of metropolitan Houston came from a psychic who provided a tip to police. A psychic who is now under investigation. Most outlets got their headlines updated pretty quickly, and by today they’re leading with the fake-out. But Telegraph bloggerBrendan O’Neill caught a Reuters alert, now apparently deleted from the news agency’s site, that confirmed “Texas Authorities Find up to 30 Bodies.” The headline still shows up in a Google search.

    http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/13/6849978-how-twitter-found-up-to-30-dismembered-bodies-

    http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2011/06/psychics-tip-touches-off-mass-murder-media-frenzy/38618/

  • Why and What Do I Blog?

    I started Blogging in August 2009.

    My knowledge of Computer and Internet was and still is sketchy.( In fact my son who is a Product Manager in an IT multinational tried to teach me;well I could not understand any thing!)

    I just waned to write.

    There are two types of people around me,one that states my opinions/advice is good and they welcome it, they are a minority)

    Majority felt/feel that I offer my opinions on every thing under the Sun whether it is Right or Wrong,Correct or Incorrect.

    In Life, I have found that  offering opinions is unwelcome whether it sought for or otherwise.

    The opinion seeker wants his/her opinion/views confirmed.

    If your opinion is different unnecessary argument ensues.

    I wanted to deal with the problem my way.

    Start Blogging.

    Nobody can hurt you, for they are not near  you for one and for another people tend to accept views /opinions of others who are not close to them.

    (For abusive comments,I keep quiet).

    Some times I am surprised that people accept my views and do ask my opinions.

    Secondly I wanted to be heard.

    Whether some one likes or not doesn’t matter.

    Gregariousness and being heard is a basic instinct.

    Many a Relationship breaks for want of hearing and listening.

    What do I blog?

    It comes under three categories.

    Information I feel is useful to others.They are linked straightaway to the information,possibly with a couple of reputed links.

    Second,I blog   on a Story on any subject about which I have some  idea, with my comments.

    Thirdly I write on a subject/topic I feel I am proficient( for example Time,Health issues,parenting,Relationships,Indian Philosophy,Hinduism,Christianity,Religion) .

    ( even this post has Links)

    Another point is that I do not know what I am going to write.

    I write as the subject appeals to me.

    I also contribute comments to Standard Magazines/Newspapers/Journals.

    Some times I Blog them with the original story.

    The purpose is to share what I feel.

    In fact I do not prepare a draft, edit and publish.

    I just write  and publish,  at times forget to spell check

    My  brother’s daughter tells me that my writing is forceful and language bordering on violence in expressing my opinions( she should know ,she was a Professor of Sociology):yet she likes it.

    And my copy is raw.the same view was expressed my by son and many of my friends.

    One of my Readers  suggested I that my comments  must be longer.

    Well,I am what I am .

    I want to thank Readers and Subscribers and Commenters  on the day of my reaching One lakh Hits.

    To top it all,I enjoy blogging .

    That’s enough for me.

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