SEOs, Patsy Ramsey and Meteors

There are many ways to receive news. You can tune into 24-hour news stations, listen to the radio, read your local newspaper, check out internet sites like the Huffington Post, or hashtags that trend on Twitter.

I’ve found another news indicator. SEOs. These are the search engine terms or words that link someone’s search on the internet to your blog or website. After blogging for almost 2 ½ years, I am just finding out the importance of SEOs. WordPress posted a series about them. Although much of their information flew over my head like a meteor shower, I understand that choosing key words in a post will bring readers to your blog.

Two weeks ago, I noticed a rise in hits on one of my articles, How Patsy Ramsey Ruined My Life. I usually get a few a week and didn’t think too much about it, until it jumped in views. I knew something was up.

The Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press demanded the release of the sealed indictment of the Ramseys. Bam! People are Googling Patsy Ramsey again and are clicking to my post. I’m sure they are not disappointed since she really did ruin my life.

Another SEO caught my attention. Meteor. What’s a meteor post doing on the Wild Ride? The near miss of Asteroid 2012 DA14 coincided with one of my Use Me and Abuse Me Days so I had some fun with a photo. That day, I got 600 views in an hour when an unpredicted meteor crashed in Russia. Whenever asteroids or meteors, (they still can’t decide on which is the correct term), are in the news, readers click to my blog. I’m not sure they’re overwhelmed by all the information on my post, but I bet they LOVE my joyriding stunt.

How do I get random searchers to click over and keep them reading once they arrive? I need to improve on my search engine words. I want them to feel ecstatic when they find the Wild Ride. Okay. I would settle for satisfied. I’ve written many posts about breast cancer, linked them to Wikipedia, Cancer.org, and have included tags. I have yet to have one websurfer that came to my post after Googling breast cancer. Instead, the Boob Report attracts a lot of horny people looking for boob photos. I’m sure they find everything they’re searching for when they come here. *Insert sarcastic eye roll here*

It’s never too late to slip in a few choice words or tags. I added the tag “inspiring breast cancer story,” to a couple of Boob Reports, to see if it helps draw the right readers. There’s no way I’ll add that phrase to my post. It would sound like I’m blogging from a pink throne.  Pink’s not my color.

Make sure that your website is verified so it can be searched for through Google, Bing and Pinterest. I verified mine today and my SEO hits went up. It is located in Available Tools on your dashboard.

I looked up the most expensive words optimized by Google Adwords. Guess what’s #1? Boobs? No….not even Justin Bieber. It’s insurance! Boring.

I checked out another site called Top Internet Keywords for 11/11/13 on Soovle. In this alphabetized list, Justin Bieber came in second behind JC Penney. Maybe you should consider writing about your trip to the mall instead of the Biebs latest antics next time. Kim Kardashian was in fourth place behind Kmart, Kayak and Kohls. After another exhibition of talent at the MTV EMA’s, Miley Cyrus has crept back up into fifth place behind Mapquest, maps, Minecraft, and MSN.

Since I doubt Susie Lindau’s Wild Ride will ever make the keyword list, I will continue to pay attention to what attracts websurfers. And the next time I see a sharp rise in “meteor” hits, I’ll put on a pith helmet before stepping outdoors.

What are some of your silly SEOs? 

I am trying an experiment. Check out my tags.

Related articles:

SEOs – Wikipedia

A Beginner’s Guide to SEO/Key Word Research

WordPress Webmaster Tools-How to verify your site