Search Words

While I was away, this web-page had a continuous flow of traffic all the time. Initially, the increasing count on gostats made me think that I have a group of regular readers and I was really smug about it for a while. But as most of you might know or intuitively understand that such a constant stream of visitors is difficult to maintain if no updates are being made to the web-site. Unless the traffic is driven by a search engine.

And hence I started on this analysis of the visits in 2008, trying to figure out the drivers of this traffic. Search words/ Specific pages. Yes, I do such things inspite of the much avowed work-eating-any-free-time-that-I-have syndrome. As for the results, they were very interesting to say the least.

Some blogs were more popular than the others. And the posts that I like the most were hardly there. May be people do not want to hear what I'd really like to tell them.

Anyway, here goes the juice of my analysis.

Hate Hindu(s): This one was the most popular by far. Did not realize that so many people hate hindus. And this site was getting so much traffic because of this. I believe I need to put another post clarifying my position on these matters.

Cure for Drowsiness: It was a distant Second but very strong at being second. Guess a lot of people struggle with post lunch drowsiness.

Aaj Tak/ Surendra Pratap Singh/ Khabrein: SP did leave a strong impact on a certain generation. But what are they looking for?

Anupam Biswas: That fictitious guy from IITB figures in a lot of search results. Just reveals the power of chain mails.

Airtel Desh ki awaaz: I do not know why this is here. Do not remember writing about this ever. Guess it might be because I have ‘awaaz’ in the the name of the blog.

Mrig Trishna Meaning: I like this post. And like the word even more.

Pancham Songs (Various Songs at Various frequencies): This is because of the two listings of my favorite Pancham Da’s songs. But is totally unexpected because they should be totally buried in the thousands of results thrown by Google.

And all this got me interested in SEO (Search Engine Optimization). I think any organization that wants to be successful should get some understanding on SEO. Have enclosed a link on SEO. If you are as uninitiated as I was on this subject, this would be helpful.

Why I Hate Hindu

Have been wanting to write. But could not think of anything that was not threateningly personal to some people. And life has taught me that it makes sense to keep the bakar to myself. Finally, as I was reading this in the top stories section of a newspaper, something in me got as gleeful as it could have gotten.

I subscribe to The Hindu. The no-nonsense newspaper that reports only news worthy of "reporting". So there would be 2000 word articles on health legislation in US, decline of pluralist thought in France, hung parliament in Serbia and time based extrapolative effects of the bhootmange massacre. Heavy stuff, eh? Yes, I admit, I am the masochist of the newspaper world! But every once in a while you need to know if Jade Goody is in India or if Amitabh has a thing for Vidya Balan! It is for this noble reason that I go tap-tap today!

I have a confession to make. I am, for no evident reason, missing Delhi times (To a lesser extent, the Delhi edition of TOI too) today. Those insightful discussions on the glam world, the 3.5* rating for KANK and the delightful pictorial representation of all data. My favorite was the article just after the CSO (Central Statistical Organisation) had estimated that the GDP growth rate for a particular quarter was in excess of 9%. There was this accompanying graph interposed on photograph of a girl with a tantalizingly short skirt with the caption: "Rising Hemlines: GDP growth rates move northwards." I remember Dilip Padgaonkar (TOI, Editor in Chief) justifying this by "a newspaper needs to get the attention to the important news items. We encourage usage of visual aids, as research has proven their efficacy."

Alas! N Ram of Hindu never gets to see this research. The only photograph I cannot forget from last 3 years of uninterrupted Hindu subscription is that of a punctured skull of Veerappan! Sad sight it was. No wonder I prefer to borrow TOI from my neighbours for covering shelves etc. Hindu, the dork it is, never betrays the human penchant for chak-mak gossip. One of these days they would come-up with a small article on Shivaji. But that is about it. No stories on Rakhi Sawant (the one that got the puppy), Elizabeth Taylor-Arun Nayyar wedding, John Abraham being mistaken for Antonio Banderas etc. How can a self-respecting human being exist without all of these? TOI, HT and party have this wisdom and Hindu does not! Someone please tell the content team at Hindu about the embarrassing situation that I am in, when my more informed peer group gossips about the Akshay-Salman tiff over the over-friendliness of Akshay towards Katrina! One look, only one look at me, amidst that conversation would convince Ed. Ram to revamp the entire content management strategy! Remind me to photograph myself, next time it happens.

On a serious note, Hindu sucks at sports coverage. Wonder why they cannot get some of the sportstar people to write every once in a while. Baaki sab to thik hai!