iPad & Katy Perry: The Wonders of Internet Search Terms

One of my favourite things about blogging with WordPress is the Site Stats page they provide.  It tells me how many clicks were made on my blog each and every day, and on what pages.  It also tells me what other websites bring traffic, and how much, to my blog (Facebook, Twitter, other blogs, etc.), and also what external links people click while reading my blog.  There are lots of ways you can analyse your readership, whether by week, month, post, or what have you.

And while I do find these statistics endlessly interesting, I think my absolute favourite part of this service provided by WordPress is the Search Engine Terms function that tells me which phrases, when entered into a search engine, direct people to my blog.

I find the results in this category highly entertaining, very informative, and also an interesting reflection of what people are looking for on the internet.  And I don’t know if maybe it’s against some top secret Blogger Code to disclose these sorts of things, but I’m going to go ahead and share some of the interesting things I’ve discovered so far, in my short few months of experience.

For example, the search terms function has taught me that writing about Jake Gyllenhaal that one time was probably the best move I could’ve made for attracting unsuspecting blog guests.  It seems almost daily people are searching for “dogs of Jake Gyllenhaal”, “Jake Gyllenhaal, dog lover”, “Jake Gyllenhaal dogs”, “good pictures of Jake Gyllenhall” or some similar variation, and it is this very subject that has brought the most aimless surfers to my blog – much to their dismay, I’m assuming.

The next most popular is my article on bloat, which pleases me.  When I was looking for information on gastric torsion myself, I was frustrated with what I did and did not find, and, not to toot my own horn too much, I do believe I’ve put together a pretty good resource for inquiring dog owners.  So that’s good.  On the other hand, the people who searched for “xray sex” and “bloatness of tummy during period” and wound up at the Soapbox were probably more than just a little disappointed.

And then there are the miscellaneous, diverse search terms that cause me endless wonder and curiosity, and really provide quite the emotional rollercoaster.

“ban flexi leash”:  This one came up yesterday, and my immediate thought was ‘hooray!’  Someone agrees with my distain for these stupid things!  Then I thought, what if the searcher is actually worried about a possible ban because they love their flexi-leash too much?  Ick.

“back alley bitches”:  Ha! I’m guessing this isn’t actually intended to be dog related.  Sucker.

“learn how to talk like a Torontonian”:  Ummm… I think you pronounce it “Tranno”.

“chow chow Winnipeg Kijiji”:  My knee-jerk reaction here was frustration about people looking for dogs on Kijiji.

“outlawing puppy sales in stores”:  Yes, please!  Happily, quite a few similar search terms on this very subject have directed people in my direction.

“can I return opened dog food at petland”:  The person who wrote this and I would never be friends.

“backyardsoapbox”:  Geez.  Get it right.

“how to report possible puppy mill Calgary Alberta”:  I really, really hope this person found the information they needed (call Animal & Bylaw Control!) and reported their suspicions.

“steamy men and women”:  This lonely person was definitely let down.

“train him”:  Referring to a dog… ?

“dogs with guns”:  This one actually comes up a lot and is a little alarming.  Is someone out there arming a canine militia?  Should we be concerned?

“how to surrender my dog Richmond bc”: And this one just plain broke my heart.

Darn. Not in the Top 10… yet.