ThePortForum.com

Posted: **13:09 Fri 29 Jun 2007**

if you type "The Port Forum" without the quotes we are number 3, with the quotes we are number 1, you can even do an "I'm feeling lucky" and get straight here. No idea what you put in.

We don't do so well on other searches, especially missing the '"The".

Posted: **15:08 Fri 29 Jun 2007**

I did it as a Port Enthusiast who doesn't know about us might do. Type Port as one word, then a gap then Forum. If anyone is just surfing with an interest in talking about Port, I'd like us to be in front of him as soon as possible. Understandably we have to fight the other type of Port, the one the ships dock in.

Alan

Posted: **18:35 Fri 29 Jun 2007**

I'll be looking at the keywords again to try and get the best shots at results.

Posted: **22:38 Sat 30 Jun 2007**

Googlebot crawlers have been on today.

Posted: **23:57 Sat 30 Jun 2007**

What are 'Crawlers' an what do they do? Are they human beings or automated programmes?

Posted: **00:07 Sun 01 Jul 2007**

Crawlers [or Spiders] are automated programs that scan through the content of websites looking for words, phrases and themes that they can add to their index.

When you search google you do not search the internet, you search googles index of what google thinks the internet contains base on its last scan of each of the websites visible to it.

If you actually managed to send out a search that scanned every page on every website in existence from the moment you initiated the search your great great grandchildren would be dead before the result was displayed on your screen

Derek

Posted: **00:10 Sun 01 Jul 2007**

Well lets hope they caught words like Port and Forum, and not Conkys Crap Jokes or Dereks ********!

Posted: **00:24 Sun 01 Jul 2007**

The funny thing is, we will now be in the top 5 hits on the search "Barry Manalow"

Her....name.....was.... lo.o.o.o.o.la, she was a showgirl

Posted: **00:26 Sun 01 Jul 2007**

But that was 30years ago....when they used to have a show!

Posted: **00:32 Sun 01 Jul 2007**

da, da ,da ,da ,da .....da, da, da ,da ,da
ya, da ,da, didi, didi, da.... da, da, da, da, da, da-da-da

Posted: **00:34 Sun 01 Jul 2007**

Thats some mean Port your drinking!

Posted: **00:43 Sun 01 Jul 2007**

Warres LBV 95

Posted: **00:45 Sun 01 Jul 2007**

Tisk! Kid in a bloody sweet shop. When its gone, its gone!!!

Posted: **00:51 Sun 01 Jul 2007**

I've sent 18 off to boarding school so will be able to drink them when both the wine and I are mature

Posted: **19:06 Wed 04 Jul 2007**

This appears to have caused a spam problem. I have dealt with this by adding an approval step to registration. This means we will get the odd extra name turning up shortly before I dump it but no dodgy links and iffy pictures of well-known blonde American ladies (for want of a better word).

Any seemingly legitimate ones will be allowed on unless they prove my naivete.

Posted: **19:23 Wed 04 Jul 2007**

Keep up the good work...and Border Controls!

Posted: **20:49 Wed 04 Jul 2007**

As a matter of interest, sticking a signature seems to be a good idea. Put in a good one that attracts attention and it shows up on Google.

Posted: **20:59 Wed 04 Jul 2007**

How's this.....

Posted: **21:07 Wed 04 Jul 2007**

Like it.

Posted: **21:14 Wed 04 Jul 2007**

Its not Port related, but what about...

Harry Potter stories are so far fetched. I mean, I can buy the fact that magic exists, maybe even unicorns, but have you ever seen a ginger kid with 2 mates???

I'll get me coat.

Posted: **21:28 Wed 04 Jul 2007**

KillerB,

Can you please clarify - is it other things from Portugal that are pretending ? If so, what are they pretending to be?

Derek

Posted: **22:02 Wed 04 Jul 2007**

Patently not, it is other things called 'Port' that are not from Portugal that are doing the pretence thing.

Posted: **22:09 Wed 04 Jul 2007**

Just wanted to be sure, you never know with those pretending Portugues things, they turn up when you least expect them to

Posted: **10:19 Thu 05 Jul 2007**

Its an interesting question to ask how people find port sites using Google or one of the other search engines. Personally, I usually use "Vintage Port" including the quotes.

If I do that in Google then I start with the Symington's site (http://www.thevintageportsite.com), then Decanter magazine, Vintage Wine Gifts (the people who appear to be single-handedly responsible for driving up UK port auction prices) and then loads of other things. I have no idea where TPF shows up as I just didn't have the patience to find it in the list of 380,000 hits.

Even adding +forum to the search only reduces the number of hits down to 32,500 but still doesn't show TPF on the first two pages.

So what (if anything) should be done to try to make this site easier for people to find?

Alex

Posted: **16:50 Fri 06 Jul 2007**

Conky wrote:It must make you proud to think you have a son who will be able to communicate with Luc on his level!
Make sure he keeps up with his French lessons at school.

And while I'm on, something tells me the picture Luc posts of himself is not going to be as straight forward as we hoped!

Great news about Google.

Alan

Aaaaaa la langue de MoliÃƒÂ¨re !!
The anticipation , can't you just feel the tension .
I hope you are aware that I will have to decant my photo before It is seen

Posted: **17:21 Fri 06 Jul 2007**

The following search puts us in slot number 1 on google...........

"vintage port"+"meaningless drivel"

derek

Posted: **17:25 Fri 06 Jul 2007**

From small acorns...

Posted: **17:34 Fri 06 Jul 2007**

"do you know the Bishop of Norwich" port has TPF at #4.

As does "apostrophe crimes".

Posted: **17:37 Fri 06 Jul 2007**

So we'll catch all the surreal and unusual, but we could do with catching the masses. Suppose it'll be a long time before just 'Port' will do it.

Alan.

Posted: **17:40 Fri 06 Jul 2007**

Oi Bug-a-lugs gets #1

Posted: **17:46 Fri 06 Jul 2007**

I'm keeping this bloody Forum afloat!

Posted: **17:56 Fri 06 Jul 2007**

OK - serious question

The above examples prove that google is registering these commonly occuring phrases when it crawls over the site. Our objective is to ensure google picks up "Vintage Port" and/or other phrases as many times as it takes to bump us up the pecking order.

Does anyone know whether or not the crawler would make a distinction between a phrase that occurs many times in a single post against a phrase that is used once in many posts or threads?

What I'm asking is - do we create a single post that has 1000 instances of the following block of text or would we have to create 1000 posts or threads with 1 block in each?

Vintage Port
Colhieta
Quinta
Aged Tawny
Reserve Port
Ruby Port
Tawny Port
Port Forum

Derek

Posted: **17:59 Fri 06 Jul 2007**

Derek T. wrote:do we create a single post that has 1000 instances of the following block of text or would we have to create 1000 posts or threads with 1 block in each?

Vintage Port
Colhieta
Quinta
Aged Tawny
Reserve Port
Ruby Port
Tawny Port
Port Forum

No. Google detects for ‘natural language’ use of things. Anything that google thinks is written for the search engine, and not so tagged† , rather than being written for a human, is penalised hard.

But we should use “vintage port† in sentences rather than “VP†. Emphasis: in natural sentences, where one might otherwise write “VP†.

† Tagged? Start, say, at this page. View source, however you do that in your preferred browser. There is a line

Code: Select all

<meta name="description" content="Chapter 1 (Money Markets) of Pricing Money: A Beginner&rsquo;s Guide to Money, Bonds, Futures and Swaps.">

That line cannot be seen by an ordinary non-source-viewing user. Nonetheless, it is clearly tagged as being for the search engine: there is no deceit. Such content is not penalised (though is probably ignored).

Posted: **18:06 Fri 06 Jul 2007**

Great stuff, these are the things we need to know.

So, should everyone put Vintage Port in their signature to ensure it appears at least once in every post?

Another question is - do you get a premium "hit" if these key words or phrases are found on the home page? If so, perhaps we need to look at the descriptions against each of the Forum areas and see if we can shoe-horn Vintage Port into as many of them as possible.

Derek

Posted: **18:08 Fri 06 Jul 2007**

Derek T. wrote:see if we can shoe-horn Vintage Port into as many of them as possible

Overdo it, and Mr. Google’s cunning algorithm asks itself what we are doing. That wouldn’t be good. Keep usage natural.

Posted: **18:11 Fri 06 Jul 2007**

OK - but Mr Google seems to think Oi Bug-a-lugs is natural useage, so should we all have Vintage Port in signatures?

Posted: **18:13 Fri 06 Jul 2007**

Well, there’s no harm in it being mentioned from time to time in posts.

Posted: **09:46 Sat 07 Jul 2007**

I've put vintage port into my signature line to try and increase the number of times that Google spots the phrase (Vintage Port) on TPF.

I guess it won't do any harm for as many of us as possible to have Vintage Port in our signatures.

So, come on everyone, make sure Vintage Port appears at least once in your posts.

Alex

Posted: **12:51 Sat 07 Jul 2007**

Google’s algorithm is secret. But it does attempt to spot over saturation: see, amongst many possibilities, this page.

Posted: **06:55 Fri 13 Jul 2007**

I just did another search on (Yahoo this time) for "Vintage Port" and for +"Vintage Port" +forum.

Sad to say, The Port Forum did not feature in the first 100 hits. It wasn't until I did a search for "The Port Forum" that I got a hit for this site.

Alex

Posted: **12:27 Fri 13 Jul 2007**

TPF is new. Allow google to parse it a few times. Its algorithm surely recognises phpBB, and will—over time—realise that this is an active forum.

Posted: **07:00 Sat 28 Jul 2007**

I've just done a search on Google, searching the entire web, using as my search string

+"Vintage Port" +forum

and the site now appears on page 2 of the results at number 17. The link that was thrown up was this one:

The Port Forum.com :: View topic - 2003 Quinta do Crasto Vintage PortMy first Vintage Port in the Douro, EVER Cool Not decanted. ... You cannot post new topics in this forum ... You cannot delete your posts in this forum ...
viewtopic.php?t=232&sid=d2a05c8ff1be02e ... ab2042cb37 - 16k - Cached - Similar pages

A similar search on Yahoo does not yet get the Port Forum high enough up the list for my limited patience to find it.

Alex

Posted: **21:25 Fri 03 Aug 2007**

Using the words The, Port and Forum on Google. We come up as the second link. Thats good.

Using just Port and Forum, we again are the 2nd link.

So we are now Officially out there for anyone who wants to talk Port. Lets keep it going.

Alan

Posted: **22:15 Fri 03 Aug 2007**

Using Port and Forum I got us in at third - some little upstart place called Ellesmere Port gets in the way...

..that's near you isn't it Conky?

- go sort 'em out - arrest them for something - would you??

Tom

Posted: **23:42 Fri 03 Aug 2007**

Typing "Port Forum" with or without quotes got us second on Google. This is utterly brilliant. We also now have a Google rank of 0/10. OK, not so good, but it is a rank, which we didn't have before.

All in all, pretty good.

Posted: **23:46 Fri 03 Aug 2007**

Very Good - how do we get the rank up?

Posted: **23:48 Fri 03 Aug 2007**

Derek T. wrote:Very Good - how do we get the rank up?

Keep posting and wait. There are a few things but an active site is better than most.

Posted: **23:58 Fri 03 Aug 2007**

OK - will do

How do you see the rank on google?

Posted: **00:24 Sat 04 Aug 2007**

Now, that's asking. I saw it as 0/10 and when I went back to look it had gone. You need to download Google Toolbar and it will be there. Just sometimes it shows as "No page rank information available".

Such is life.

Posted: **11:02 Sat 04 Aug 2007**

Changed my signature, too, given the Lugs success.

ThePortForum.com

We're on Google!

Google: TPF at #4

Keep usage natural.

Well, there’s no harm in it being mentioned

Google’s algorithm is secret

Allow google to parse it a few times