Moving up (in Google search)
In this ‘long tail’ world where being visible to the audience who is interested in you is more important than being visible to everyone, Internet search engines have made all the difference. With a few keystrokes and search terms, just about anyone anywhere can find out anything anytime. Even the most obscure web site can be brought to light via the two industry-standard search engine giants, Yahoo! and Google. So, showing up on page ten of a Google search is disappointing at best (and completely annoying when the other nine pages of results have little or nothing to do with your site).
When I launched maxpictures.com in 2003 to promote Train Life, I assumed ’Net users hungry for train-related documentary info would beat a path to my virtual door. Instead, Max Pictures’ low ranking on Yahoo! and Google guaranteed a very real, non-virtual non-reaction. And, both Max Pictures and Train Life have remained distressingly absent from Google’s first page search results for such focused searches as “Max Pictures” and “Train Life” since maxpictures.com’s inception.
That is, until now.
Google search results for train life
Google search results for max pictures
So what has brought Max Pictures and Train Life to such prominence (Googlewise, at least)? Bribery? Wheedling? Begging, pleading, bargaining, cajoling? Offerings of rum and chickens to voodoo gods? Google bombing? Nope. What has made all the difference is a little thing called the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
More later.
