I got busy with clients last spring and was having trouble getting the time to make my best effort at posting here. Even though I wasn’t posting, I kept checking Google Analytics and the number of followers I had on Twitter.
Things seemed to be moving up, so I decided to do an experiment and wait a bit before posting again. Then things really got weird.
When I first created this particular iteration of this site a couple of years ago, I turned up on page 11 or 12 for my main keyword of “newspaper design.” I got to work, writing posts and creating content that would help my position in Google search.
Last year sometime, I celebrated because I had made the front page, eventually seeming to hover around No. 8 (of 10). Nothing that I did from that point on seemed to make any difference. I seemed to be stuck at No. 8.
Then I hit my busy season and I basically just stopped posting. I posted twice in April, once in May and once in June, but nothing since. I did tweet on occasion, mostly design-oriented quotes I got off the web.
Now I am getting ready to attend to the site again, and just for chuckles, I checked my position on Google. To my surprise, the main site was listed on the first results page at No. 3 and the blog at No. 6 for “newspaper design.” For “newspaper layout and design,” the main site was No. 3 again, and a post was No. 6. In fact, I have two front page positions for most of my important key words. (Does Google now use location as a factor? Could that be the reason? I have it set at “any region” in Advanced Search.) My page rank went to four from three.
At the same time my page views nearly doubled, according to Google Analytics (I know, I know: I never have gotten a lot of site visits anyway) and my Twitter feed gained followers. Who knows what is different now….
So I am not going to over-analyze this. I think (I hope!) I got the message: less is more. I can do that.
If you need some help with your publication design, contact (contact
newsdesignschool
com) me for more information.
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- Taking a break
- News Design School not being bought by Google
- Google Wonder Wheel
- Links to related stories as subheds
SEO, Google experiment
I got busy with clients last spring and was having trouble getting the time to make my best effort at posting here. Even though I wasn’t posting, I kept checking Google Analytics and the number of followers I had on Twitter.
Things seemed to be moving up, so I decided to do an experiment and wait a bit before posting again. Then things really got weird.
When I first created this particular iteration of this site a couple of years ago, I turned up on page 11 or 12 for my main keyword of “newspaper design.” I got to work, writing posts and creating content that would help my position in Google search.
Last year sometime, I celebrated because I had made the front page, eventually seeming to hover around No. 8 (of 10). Nothing that I did from that point on seemed to make any difference. I seemed to be stuck at No. 8.
Then I hit my busy season and I basically just stopped posting. I posted twice in April, once in May and once in June, but nothing since. I did tweet on occasion, mostly design-oriented quotes I got off the web.
Now I am getting ready to attend to the site again, and just for chuckles, I checked my position on Google. To my surprise, the main site was listed on the first results page at No. 3 and the blog at No. 6 for “newspaper design.” For “newspaper layout and design,” the main site was No. 3 again, and a post was No. 6. In fact, I have two front page positions for most of my important key words. (Does Google now use location as a factor? Could that be the reason? I have it set at “any region” in Advanced Search.) My page rank went to four from three.
At the same time my page views nearly doubled, according to Google Analytics (I know, I know: I never have gotten a lot of site visits anyway) and my Twitter feed gained followers. Who knows what is different now….
So I am not going to over-analyze this. I think (I hope!) I got the message: less is more. I can do that.
If you need some help with your publication design, contact (contact
newsdesignschool
com) me for more information.
Related posts:
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