Forum OpenACS Q&A: More on Google & page rank
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Excuse me for chiming in late, but I agree that this is a hugely important topic which is worthy of continued discussion. More and more, it is important that we making sure that OpenACS doesn't piss off the googlebots.
First -- go to google and search:
higher on google
You should still get my article on scoring higher in google (depending on your preferences, but in America as of this date, I'm still #1 and #2). Here's what I have learned:
* To get a bot to dig deeper, put the content in an index file in it's own directory. Even the name of the directory matters, for instance, if you search google for:
film gear
You will get my site as #1. The fact that the page lives at http://wolfram.org/film/gear/index.html is not a coincidence. I wrote a section when I discovered this behavior on another page. Check out the bottom of this article (the section is titled "Strange google behavior -- The Directory Mystery")
http://wolfram.org/writing/howto/3_1.html
* Of course, what is in the title tag is HIGHLY important -- it's hard to overstate this. I think all apps should allow an admin to alter the defaults, but I also think that the default title tags should be created with care and it should reflect the content of the page specifically, and still mention the parent directories too plus the name of the site, ie, openACssite : Film : Gear : lens : wide lens
* Most importantly, I've been watching how google indexes my new OpenACS site http://mytlc.com and I am disappointed because my ranking went down from a 5 to a 0. I am looking at why this might have happened and I have a few theories (some of which are not ACS's fault.)
On a good note, Google seams to index the openACS.org site very well, and it's ranked very high, so that gives me hope. Plus, my 3.2.5 site is ranked fairly high so that also is a good thing -- however -- I have always been disappointed with the number of pages that google would index on that site. I'm watching how google indexes my new site closely and I'll make sure I report back if I find anything unusual related to OpenACS.
I also placed them on each group page of that site: For instance, /film/, /writers/, /directors/
Furthermore, I placed them on each of the pages of my Howto section:
http://wolfram.org/writing/howto/
When you look at those pages you will notice how the ads are relevant to the content of the page. In fact, in some cases, it really does look like content. Anyway, here's my revenue, and I'm averaging about $.80 a click. I don't get much traffic at all, but the revenue is going to be enough to pay our monthly rackspace bill (~$100/month). I'm set to actually profit. It looks like content is king again.
Anyway, it's open for everyone -- and this is why it's important that google likes OpenACS sites -- go check out Google's new thing and sign up if you want...
https://www.google.com/adsense/
Here's data on my earnings. My lowest payment per click that I noticed was $.03, but my highest payment per click that I noticed was $2.83. Apparently, for the right topics, you can make a good part of $50 PER click! (I think "Helicopter Parts" is one of the highest paid search phrases...)
Date Impressions Clicks Clickthrough rate Your earnings
Monday, June 2, 2003 49 3 6.1% $1.35
Tuesday, June 3, 2003 150 2 1.3% $0.90
Wednesday, June 4, 2003 111 2 1.8% $1.31
Thursday, June 5, 2003 220 8 3.6% $5.94
Friday, June 6, 2003 238 5 2.1% $2.83
Saturday, June 7, 2003 230 12 5.2% $13.17
Sunday, June 8, 2003 216 2 0.9% $1.41
Monday, June 9, 2003 350 13 3.7% $14.33
Tuesday, June 10, 2003 340 15 4.4% $10.61
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 572 16 2.8% $9.19
Thursday, June 12, 2003 429 8 1.9% $10.71
Friday, June 13, 2003 314 9 2.9% $7.68
Saturday, June 14, 2003 162 4 2.5% $1.77
Sunday, June 15, 2003 244 3 1.2% $7.98
Monday, June 16, 2003 511 13 2.5% $4.69
Tuesday, June 17, 2003 763 21 2.8% $8.61
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 93 1 1.1% $0.63
Totals 4,992 137 2.7% $103.13
Have a wonderful day.
Eric Wolfram
