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Stick around and you may decide that you are just as obsessed as the rest of us (Not me, I can give up anytime I like)
Shak
Me too, Shak. I'm down to checking for the update once an hour and only checking *Fresh* pages twice a day. I think I've finally kicked it.
But, there is a lot of reality to the concern also. Depending on the competition for a keyword, sometimes no matter what you do the first time around, you have to revisit what you have done when you aren't found.
Shouldn't that be a Googlaholic?
After the last update I got top10 on many competitive keywords (1.5-2.5MM). My SE traffic increased by about 7 times. That's a good reason for a prolonged celebration. If this stays - I might just become an alcoholic and not care about it :)
It is like a total obsession for most of us for the simple reason that, if our google traffic was to dissapear then so will 90 percent of total traffic. Just the thought of a PR0 is enough to give most webmasters a heart attack.
Googles market share is so huge that a site not getting good google traffic is really a lost cause. We also have to think along the lines of the hundreds of Google partners. When you loose out on google you loose out on a massive number of other engines.
Without Google we would get lost in the crowd.
Ann
Obsessive? who's obsessive...tic..tic...twitch...Not me...tic..twitch..
:)
By the way, I place #1 on Google, including Yahoo and AskJeeves for several major (related) topics, so I would be the last to complain, but what's important here folks is being able to have the visitor come back.
"UPDATE UPDATE!"
haven't done that for at least a week now :)
I agree totaly that getting a user to come back is what counts, but they cant come back if they cant find you in the first place :)
there are also certain circumstances where repeat visitors are not possible such as large purchases , or long term purchases for example a sales site for mortgages.
Mt brother is visiting at the moment and he is content to quietly watch tv while I "obsess" with the update. :)
He doesn't understand it but hey, he probably thinks his sister is a little "off" and is being indulgent.
Ann
Wow, we have a lot in common. Are you married? Want to go out? :D (Doesn't my asking violate #56 section B of this board's rules?)
Ann
I'm just a tiny webmaster with maybe 8,000 uniques per day. Maybe 15% - 20% of these come from Google but an equal amount come from Googlets like AOL and Yahoo. I'd like to get to 20,000 uniques and the only way I'm gonna get there is to run a bunch of Google and Googlet visitors through my site to see which ones might stick.
So, yes, I obsess about the update.
How many webmasters would it take to fill up 17 pages? 200? Geez that's like what 50% of all webmasters? That's like practically every single person who visits this forum?
(That's just a touch of Sarcasm)
But, here is why.........
I have numerous clients who spend $20K+ per month on "traditional" advertising. They generate less than 10% of their website visitors from these sources. Google & partners generate 75%+ visitors at a fraction of the cost to my clients. Google is a relatively cheap form of advertising.
If you're in the business of maximizing profits from web site promotion you will be obsessed with Google "true" results........it is simply the cheapest way to achieve a sale!
I agree with you about Google. Next to Yahoo (as a whole), Google is the top referrer for my main website. And it's free! I stopped advertising a long time ago. My focus however is to develop my site to being the best site in my category, so even if my title or meta tags are not optimized, it'd still be found due to all the links and word of mouth. In fact, a good third of my sales are due to word of mouth.
I agree with you on the content part, but that is about it.
I never count on anything to happen by itself or "fall into place." Miracles just don't come to you, you have to make them happen.
After getting knocked down in the Serps from late Sept until this last update, I rebuilt my 8 page site into 35 with new quality content (I'm a former journalist so it wasn't difficult), made it SEF, and most importantly, worked my tail off for high quality link exchanges.
The link exchange process was a time consuming nightmare. I worked 6-12 hours a day on it for weeks. I didn't wait for them to come to me.
All of this has paid off big time with super high ranking and Google hasn't even caught up to my best backlinks yet. I am expecting an even better Christmas present.
Now that I am high in the Serps, I expect my link exchange requests to come to me.
I didn't wait for miracles to happen, I made them happen.
And my Google obsession disappears after the update migrates to www. Then, it's back to work. It's natural for folks to obsess over the update to see if their hard work is going to be rewarded or not.
The passive approach to ranking high might work well for NeoSys, but for most others, it doesn't. I can't afford to hope things will "fall into place." Wishful thinking doesn't make it so.
PS 35 page site? In my dreams! For me its more like many thousands of pages..ugh!
Actually, I don't think anyone here is ignoring design and content. This is just a natural extension of our desire to have the most complete, usable and findable sites on the web. I am a designer in my heart, so I would never ignore that or the copy. But I want people to find my customer's sites also, and it takes a bit of time for word of mouth to bring the traffic in.
I guess the dance is like Christmas morning when I was a kid and would get up at 3 AM to see what Santa brought.
Well, that's just one site. I have about 5. All told, 150 pages and growing.
"Next to Yahoo (as a whole), Google is the top referrer for my main website"
you are missing out on a ton of (probably high quality) traffic. I'm gonna guess that you are getting traffic from the Yahoo directory since Yahoo results are largely Google (Yahoogle). But my Google referrals outstrip yahoo by a factor of at least 2:1. That is true for three of my sites and all of my various partners sites. Actually everybody I know personally who has a site typically gets Google over Yahoo referrals by an average factor of closer to 3 to 1.
So, now, have we made a dance addict of you? ;>
Maybe. :) Don't know why Yahoo! now put Google results first instead of their directory. That was the previous setting. I'm still a big Yahoo! fan, probably because they've given me so much business in the last four years since I was listed with them. Lots of hard work, but it's all worth it.
