Understanding search engine optimization

Reposting this article after a (very) long time just so that people get to know my style and variety in writing.

Ever been frustrated that in spite of your best efforts, your site simply does not rank well in Google results? You have tried every trick in the trade but have failed to catch on to that one thing you need to come up in Google results. What is that one thing which your competitor has but you don't? Is it technology, money or something else?

Not at all. It is nothing but Google's trust.

You need to understand clearly that Google tries to replicate human behavior in ranking a website.

It will rank a website well for quite the same reasons as a human being would who thinks a particular product or topic is of importance or of high quality. Whatever reasoning makes a human being think that a site or topic is of importance is the same reasoning that will be used by Google to judge you.

So think about why you would buy a certain shoe or car in day to day life and you will come to know Google's point of view.

Would you buy a car just because a majority of people in one block or locality said it was good? (Local presence)

Would you not like to get a recommendation from people in other areas also?

What would you think about a car dealer if he sets up shop in a grocery store? (Wrong category)

Would you think that a particular car is top of the line if it is located somewhere at the back of 50 cars and not on the front line of display? (50th page)

Would you think that a particular car is good without smashing looks? (Bold and right at the top)

What would you do if you found out that your car dealer told you that Tom Hanks bought the latest model from him but you find out that it wasn’t Tom Hanks but some milk vendor who bought it? (Not true facts)

Would you buy a car from a dealer who has a display sign that he is selling imported cars but in actuality he is just selling pre-owned local cars? (Title)

Would you buy it if somebody recommended it to you through somebody else without having first hand info? (Redirects)

Would you say a salesman has knowledge about top of the line cars if he recommends you buy them from local garages? (Outbound links)

Would you buy a car if it is recommended by a bunch of cobblers? (Inbound links)

Or a street side mechanic who has just started out? (Page Rank)

Can an actor get an Oscar without their jury considering nominations from every country? (No follow)

Would you buy a car just because it has been given a greater shine than a new car with a good engine? (Graphics without content)

Would you buy it if the dealer refused to give his phone number and address? (Authenticity)

Would you buy it if the dealer has been in the business for only a few days? (Domain age)

Would you not like to wait for some time before you get recommendation from some people that the dealer is indeed good and can be trusted? (Sandbox and aging delay)

And finally would you buy the car if you walk into a complex and you find the cobbler recommends the grocery store and the car dealer, the grocery store recommends the cobbler and the car dealer and the car dealer recommends the cobbler and the grocery stores ? (Link farms)

Successful search engine optimization depends a lot not on trying every trick in the trade but understanding why a product sells well in real life.  It has more to do with looking at things from the people's point of view than useless code.

If your site has great content, it will automatically draw people. On the other hand, even if its a 5 star hotel but the food is really awful, not even the greatest businessman will visit it.

It is not for nothing that people say "Content is King"!

Cheers and all the best.

Train search blues !

Tired of waiting in those never ending queues for getting a train ticket? If you ever thought booking tickets on the net was a snap, you better think again. Let me relate my experience.

Firstly let me start off by saying that I simply admire the programming that has gone in to the railway reservation booking system. As a person who knows programming, I can just imagine the amount of work - read coding - that has gone into it. To remember everyone's queries and assign you in the queue for the same journey without ever duplicating and messing things up is tremendous to say the least. It is one huge and overwhelming task. Hats off to the people who created it. Mind blowing !

But somewhere along the line the creators of the 'official railway reservation website' overlooked a few things which makes it difficult to use. Let us take a simple case of looking up train timings. Say I want to travel from Bangalore to New Delhi. These are the steps that I would undertake assuming I don't know the train number or name.

Southern railway website

1. Click on Train Timings - Don't know the train name or number - 2. Come back to home page - 3. Click on Trains between Stations - Don't know the code - 4. Click on ' If you Don't Know the Station Code? Click Here' - 5. Enter the few characters of originating stations - 6. Choose Class and date and press 'Get it' - 7. Once you get the suggestion, choose the correct source and destination and press 'Get it' - Atlast you get which trains run on the selected date and their arrival and departure timings.

Erail.in

Compared to the above laborious procedure, it is very easy to obtain the same information on Erail.in

1. Just select your stations either in the main or all stations drop down box - 2. Select date - 3. Now click on 'trains Bangalore >> New Delhi' next to the drop down box and hey presto, you get all the trains that run between the two stations along with their timings and availability in each class !

Cleartrip

This website makes it even more simple.

1. Click on train search - 2. Fill in the starting and ending stations ( it will automatically suggest them) - 3. Fill in the date and class and press 'Search' and whoa, you have information on all the trains, fare, timings, duration etc.

Wasn't that absolutely great? There are some other features like a map for the route of any train on Erail and Cleartrip that makes them a delight to use. I just wish that the authorities or whoever designs a 'public' website takes note of these features and makes the common man's life much simpler. If you found these sites to be useful, refer them to others so that they too can benefit from them.

'Mungaru Male' the film

Man, what a film ! Fantastic to say the least. It has become the biggest hit of Kannada cinema in the recent times and has introduced a new actor Ganesh, who for a change in a long time, is universally liked by one and all !

Ganesh acts well and is very much lovable as a chocolate as well as a macho hero. There is a certain honesty in his acting that is missing in a lot of others who have established themselves firmly in the land of 'make believe' ! You like him when he smiles and you like him when he cries - on screen. Isn't that what is supposed to make stars ?

That is one thing a bit common in most stars. Whether it is Amitabh Bacchan or Shah Rukh Khan, they are not very handsome or beautiful but have a certain 'next door boy' aura which combined with their vulnerable looks makes people fall in love with them.

Well Ganesh is certainly one lovable hero and looks like he is here to stay for a very long time ! I am looking forward to see his future releases. Cheers.

Read more >> Options >>

David Blaine Levitates !

Amazing! Simply out of this world !

The latest Wagon R from Maruti

An ' all in one ' flight booker

A ' travel solutions company ' has just started its online booking service on the web for passenger flights of all carriers, so says this site.

The site flightraja.com says it will help you find the cheapest fares. It has about 8 carriers in its list starting from Air Deccan to Paramount Airways. It has some international holiday packages as well.

Dont know, could be the first to have all carriers in its list although I saw one more carrier by the name of Indigo on the net which is not available at this site.

But there is a difference in that it offers booking through SMS, Kiosks and travel agents also.

Of course there are other travel agents as well by the dozen and you could visit a travel agent who books all these flights, physically in person. Whichever suits you best.

Dream service !

How often did you wonder about the bus route number you have to take to go to your destination? Do you want to know which is the latest movie in town ? How about information on departure time of trains and aircraft or telephone numbers of cab services ? etc, etc. A new service has been started in Bangalore by a company called Bangalore Dreamz. What is outstanding about this service is that you just have to make a call to 4016 4016 and hang up. They will call you back as soon as an operator is free. So you dont have to spend a dime ! That is simply great and it is bound to become a hit with the Bangalore people.

I only wish they will follow up the information service with some delivery service as well. Currently if you want a movie ticket to be delivered to your home it is not possible. They do respond promptly but there was a perceptible delay on the first day of the service between morning & evening. The response in the morning was swift. But by evening, the waiting time had come to nearly 12 minutes. Understandable since they will be receiving a number of calls. So if you are going to try the service be prepared to wait !

But I did get the information I wanted.