%^$(#)!_!_@)@) search engines!

[alfreda89]

Does anyone else hate the way the search engines have been changed? I am wading through PAGES of crap that is only peripherally related to what I want to find (for example, I had to go to #21 to find the first real massage therapist doing business in Austin, TX northwest...)

I knew some fine-tuning would be necessary after the big change went through, but this is ridiculous. I dislike the extra work right now for my clients--but I detest this as a consumer.

We're going to lose sales (we being anything smaller than land's end, perhaps) on this...

Comments

[oliana0.livejournal.com]

try local.google.com It searches by location.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Still comes up crap. Crap with maps.

[oliana0.livejournal.com]

try "massage therapist -spa" since it sounds like you are looking for an independent.

The way google works is that it lends credence to sites that are linked to by other sites (meaning the more people that link to your site, the higher up on the list you'll be) as well as click through rates, etc.

I like the map because you know right away where it is, and do not have to click on a link to find that out.

Theoretically it provides more "relevant" information, but trying to find really specific stuff, you have to work with it more (like -spa, -porn, etc)

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

The problem is, a "spa" is about the exact opposite of what I'm looking for--where my clients, who used to be in the top 3 for all their keywords, are now falling.

I suspect there's little I can do about this--they will need to establish links with others. I have a bunch of links going out, but they need to get the ones coming in. (They don't have the money to pay me to hunt down in-links for them.)

Very inconvenient. I need to work on the book, among other things, but this will interfere.

[oliana0.livejournal.com]

the "-" in front of spa eliminates all sites with "spa" in it.

There a several massage networks:
http://massagenetwork.com/texas.html
http://www.massageoil.net/

And yellow pages:
http://www.helloaustin.com
http://superpages.com
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/yp/yp-09.html

Have your person spend an afternoon getting their website listed in as many places as possible; many are free and just take entering information.

There are also sites out there dedicated to increasing page rank:
http://www.webrankinfo.com/english/pagerank/increase.php

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I knew about some of these, thanks for suggestions. I was just having a tantrum because so many people will not type in the boolean or +/-. They put in what they want, and if it's not there, they will fall back on word of mouth or the Yellow pages. And for two of my massage therapy clients, they can't afford a YP ad.

But I can't change it, just manipulate it as others do!

Thank you, oh speed daemon searcher. You must be related somewhere to W--typing is really hard today, so everything is an effort. Dragon time again....