Twelve is my lucky number (also in the Google realm)

Twelve has always been my favorite number. I don’t know why but I have loved the aesthetics of this number since I was a little girl. 12.

While checking my blog’s statistics I notice more and more people finding my blog through the search engines query “anne.” While “Anne Helmond” has always been a very commonly used keyword in my blog statistics just plain “anne” is quite new. It turns out that I am currently the number twelve Anne on Google.com and the number thirteen on Google.nl. Of course this number differs per person, per platform, per cookies set, per <insert any random Google variable.>

I admit it is a vain finding but I’ve always been extremely interested in my blog’s stats. They feed my daily portion of stat addiction and they inspire me to write blog posts such as ‘Get Your Post Inspiration from Referer Keywords‘ for the Blog Herald. My stat keywords often give me new ideas for posts and they show me how Google relates my posts to a combination of keywords used.

Here are some of my recent favorite search engine queries that directed people to my blog:

  • we are sorry we have been neglecting you lately &
    sorry i have to give up my blog
    These queries return the following post on my blog: I’m sorry blog excuses which deals with the common habit of apologizing to one’s blog readers but also to the blog itself for not posting. This interesting phenomenon led to a follow-up post on ‘dead blogs’ titled ‘Daily blogging routine and the perceived freshness fetish.’ The question why I feel the need to blog daily is grounded in the increasing focus on freshness and updating on the web. I explored the history of freshness on the web in the use of under construction signs, last updated scripts, pinging services, blog apologies and Twitter in an essay on ‘The Perceived Freshness Fetish.’
  • excellent photos
    I feel honored.

Search engine queries reveal quite interesting things and often quite personal things too. I only recently started documenting interesting findings but I remember queries such as ‘i’m sorry i left you.’ Your digital traces are not only stored in your browser history but also in my blog’s statistics.

5 thoughts on “Twelve is my lucky number (also in the Google realm)

  1. There seems to be something poetic about the search term ‘I’m sorry I left you’ being stored forever somewhere in your blogs’ statistics….

    I am off to read the article about the ‘freshness fetish’ as I feel guilty for not posting regular updates, and I’m hoping it will ease the guilt!

  2. I got this CSI-ish one yesterday:
    “fbi wanted for hacking”
    How about that!

    And: I seriously think people are born with a favourite number in mind. Mine has al-ways been 8. Don’t know why, couldn’t explain it, perhaps don’t even want to get started on trying to explain it :) But it’s good to hear I’m not the only one!

  3. Ja, dat is interessant, hoe mensen bij je terechtkomen… mij on-line cirkeltje overlapt ook nauwelijks met m’n off-line vriendengroep.

    En over je laatste “puntje”: wordt jij dan ook zo’n eeuwige studente? ;)

  4. @Neko: Who had every imagined that your statistic could contai poetic secrets? It reminds me of Postsecret except they are left unintentionallu.

    @Twan: Haha, that is funny! I like the aesthetics of 8 too, come to think of it all numbers are aesthetically beautiful except I can’t image having a favorite number higher than twenty.

    @Martine: Nee, ik ben nu docente aan de UvA. Aan de andere kant, mocht ik een phd gaan doen dan word ik weer student ja :)

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