Tuesday, August 19, 2008

How'd You Find Me?

One of the more unusual pleasures of running a blog or website is that you can pull down all sorts of interesting and oddball statistics on how readers are finding you. Sure, you can see where your visitors are coming from (hello there, My Regular But Shy Reader in Berlin!), and even what browsers they're using to read you -- but that's the easy stuff. More fascinating is the ability to see what search words are being typed into search engines and steering folks your way.

Just for fun, then, let's look at some of the more interesting search terms that have driven people here over the past four weeks.

Damnboo: Oddly, this is one of the most frequent search terms, guiding readers toward this entry from May. I can only imagine it's typed into a Google search box with the same pounding keystrokes that I used years ago when I started searching for ways to get rid of the stuff.

Thwip!: The Sound-Effects Savvy are obviously searching for their favorite webslinger -- but only manage to make it to this entry on the Library of Congress' acquisition of the original Lee/Ditko pages from Amazing Fantasy 15. Dare I say . . . SNIKT!? (and let's see how many Wolverine fans that particular term pulls to this page in the coming weeks...)

Crows of Pearblossom: This one's a sleeper that continues to draw numerous hits each week. I like to imagine there are Aldous Huxley completists out there, searching for this obscure children's book to fill the one remaining gap in their Huxley collection.

Jack Kamen: The early August death of the EC Comics' artist drove more than a few casual browswers this way.

And finally, my two favorites, straight from the Stream-of-Consciousness Department:

English murderers Jay Jones and Roger: Type it into Google and see what shows up. I don't know what they might have been looking for, either.

Is Sir Walter Gilbert remembered today?: Answer: Doubtful.