There was an unusual post on Techmeme friday that caught my attention. It was one of the few that was on the main page for a very short time. Following it, I discovered Google Webmaster. It is stunning.
When you search in Google and then click on a link it is recorded by Google. In addition, Google makes a copy of your website every so often. Google Webmaster makes this information available to you. To see it, logon or make an account. Enter your website address, then follow the instructions to verify your website. This consists of modify the main website by adding a specifically names 0 length file or adding a hidden meta tag. That will confirm that you have write access to the website. For example, there’s no way I could see the entries for Ars Technica.
The information you will see describes how people are finding your website, the links other websites have to you, links your website has to itself, and any problems Google has with reading your website. I did this for StephenSite.net and StephensGarden.Wordpress.com. Though, the latter requires a bit of a hack; adding a page with the name Google specifies, instead of a file.
So, what does it show?
For months, I’ve been getting comments about the post I made concerning the Swedish Grandmother getting super high speed Internet. These are from people I’m not familiar with. Sometimes I let the comment go on, but sometimes I think it’s spam. After all, once I allow one of person’s comments to go on, they can post again without require me to explicitly allow it. It turns out there’s not spam. A weird aspect of the Google algorithm has pushed my blog post high on the search results. This really gives me hope that this blog will find a broader audience besides Suzie, Christopher, and Anthony.
Sure. Leave us “little” people behind. (Sniff)