Happy Halloween!
People come to this blog, and others like it, through many means. Some subscribe through an RSS service or bookmark the site and check every so often to see if it’s updated. (Hi, Mom!) Others follow announcement links that I or others place on various social media sites.
And others come here through search engines, primarily Google. Now here’s the thing about Google Search. Normally, when someone reaches a website through a search engine, the website owner can see the search terms used to find the site and adjust their postings accordingly. (For example, if I find that people reach my blog while searching “cute kittens”, I will tend to include more posts about books involving cute kittens.) It doesn’t reveal any identifying information about the person who viewed the site, like their name, IP address, or credit card number.
However, “to protect the user’s privacy” Google has decided to block websites from seeing the search terms used to find them…unless they are advertisers who have paid for AdSense. So, if you use Google Search, I can’t see what terms you used to find me, but someone who paid money can. Plus whatever other information they paid Google to collect on you.
So, my request to you is: If you used Google Search to find a posting on my or any other blog, and the posting doesn’t already have a comment, please comment to let the blogger know the search term you used. (Within reason, it’s okay not to tell someone you reached their G-Rated Disney Princess blog while searching for hardcore pornography.)
Your thoughts, comments, and how did you find this post?
