Thanks and a Favor to Ask from Fellow Bloggers
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Hey folks. Allow me a non-poker moment to offer my thanks to a former blogger/current friend for helping me with a little blogger project. Basically, folks, if all goes well, I'll be leaving my old blogspot address behind, and hopefully lighting a match on the way out. But the only way for this to go smoothly is with the help of my bud, Kipper, and hopefully a little favor from some of you.
Here's the lowdown. Google screwed a bunch of bloggers several months (or maybe a year) ago when Google realized that some blogger.com users were selling advertising on their blogs. This was a problem for Google because (a) Google wants blogger.com user sites to be limited to Google AdSense for advertising, and (b) the Terms & Conditions actually prohibited the practice of selling ads.
So what did Google do? It destroyed a bunch of blogs' Page Ranks. Page Rank is basically a number that Google's search algorithm assigns to each site, based on incoming links and other factors. In the past, if you searched for "High on Poker" on Google, my site would come up first or near first, mostly because I had a decent amount of incoming links AND my site is called High on Poker. So, when I'd meet people at the tables or in AC and I wanted to tell them about the blog, I'd tell them to search High on Poker to find the site. The other benefit is that when people searched topics I had written about, HoP's decent Page Rank meant that my site would pop up in the searches. By destroying my Page Rank, though, I am pretty much unfindable via search engine. Go to Google right now and try it. High on Poker will result in pages of "High Stakes Poker". The first reference to the actual HoP site appears on Page 2, but even that is not for HoP, but for a blog compendium site that references my posts. HoP doesn't show up until the very last link on Page 4. Now that's just fucked up. After all, if people know of HoP and want to find HoP, shouldn't they be able to do so? Google doesn't think so.
A bit of a disclaimer. By now, some of you are thinking, "Is that all you care about Jordan? Page rank, search engines and advertising?" The simple answer is No. I continued blogging here after this BS went down and did not fight it with Google, since I know its pointless. And I probably would've gone on posting here, since this has always been about having an outlet for my poker thoughts. However, since I purchased HighOnPoker.com, I figured it was time for me to escape my Google overlords and move HoP to a place that people can actually find it. It's not about the search engines or the ads, it's about being accessible, because what's the point of a blog if no one can find it.
So, that's where Kipper came in. He offered to help me escape Google, and I accepted his help. In the next few weeks, hopefully I'll be moving to a new permanent home where I can be free of the shackles of corporate governance.
But this is where I need your help, fellow bloggers. If you can take the time to update your links from highonpoker.blogspot.com or highonpoker.net to highonpoker.com, it would be greatly appreciated. Only through your help can I escape the tyrrany of Google and be seen once again by the public who only know HoP by name or may be interested in poker but do not know about poker blogs or HoP.
Won't you help me...friend?
Until next time, make mine poker!
posted by Jordan @ 9:37 AM,
11 Comments:
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At 11:35 AM,
Riverrun said...
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Will do once your up and running!!
Good luck with the transition. -
At 11:40 AM,
Jordan said...
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Thanks RiverRun. Feel free to do it even sooner. No matter what, the HighOnPoker.com site will exist, in one form or another. It's even operational now, although its just a mask of this site. Regardless, thanks.
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At 11:57 AM,
ASG said...
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I can't get your blog to pop up on my google reader unless I use the blogspot address.
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At 12:09 PM,
Jordan said...
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ASG, that's a different issue altogether. Once I move, I will find a way to preserve the RSS feed so you won't have to do anything and you'll still get your HoP content delivered to your door.
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At 12:29 PM,
Littleacornman said...
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Updated your link now mate and looking forward to reading more Tuna Club adventures!
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At 7:37 PM,
BWoP said...
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Link updated. Woo hooooo!
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At 8:35 PM,
Riggstad said...
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Is kip for hire? updated shortly.
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At 9:41 PM,
kipper said...
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HoP,
Glad I could help. Since you use feedburner I am thinking we should be able to keeps everyones RSS feeds intact. I hope!!
Kipper -
At 8:46 AM,
said...
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done! good luck w/ the transition.
fidobuster -- long time reader -
At 11:32 PM,
OhCaptain said...
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My links get automatically updated when update your RSS feed. As soon as you have something new for me to subscribe to, consider it updated.
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At 11:58 AM,
Riverrun said...
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Officially updated to new link!
Good luck with your transition!!
