Getting your blog noticed by Google Alerts

Having published a couple of posts about the Obama family's hopes of getting a dog, I subscribed to a Google Alert for "Obama dog" so I could follow the news. I expected that my own posts would appear in the Alerts but to date nada.

So I surfed around a little bit and found a number of bloggers talking about the same problem: how to get your blog posts noticed by Google Alerts.

Haley Lovett at All the Write Blogs compares Google Alerts to Pony Express.

Kathie Thomas at Soho Life notes that Google Alerts would be a useful tool to track mentions of their blogs or websites on other sites, if it worked better.

Anne Helmond at The Blog Herald thinks it's because the blogosphere is expanding too fast for the crawlers to keep up. She has a point. A Google Blog Search of "obama dog" comes up with 160,943 URLs.

If my posts are in that 160,000+, they're going to be totally buried. But if I search "obama dog" and my site's name "greatcitydogs.com", much to my relief there's one of my posts. But not the other post. Looking at the second one carefully I see that it doesn't actually have the word "Obama" in it. "Obamas" and "Obama's" yes, but "Obama", no.

So the question here isn't probably whether or not your blog is getting searched, but how your blog ranks, which is question as old as search engines, and whether your Alert search terms match the keywords in your blog post.

About blog ranking, we know that search engine algorithms place a lot of importance on links in to your site, i.e., not the links you make out to others, but when other people link to you. If other people think your site is important enough to link to, that's good enough for Google. But if no one, or very few people link to your blog, then your site or blog page or blog post is not going to rank very high and it's probably not hitting Google's threshold of alert-worthiness. Certainly there are thousands of posts now using the words "Obama" and "dog", hundreds of new ones being written every day. Google Alerts sends only three or five items in any daily alert, most likely the highest ranked/best linked.

What can you do about search engine ranking? Not very much. Building a link network means building a readership, which is challenging work for everyone who isn't already famous or otherwise hooked in, but Nick at Click for Nick has some useful ideas about how to use Google Alerts to help you build your network.

Also, in the btw department, Justin Smith at Searching Solutions doesn't address this question but has helpfully thought a lot about how else to get the most out of Google Alerts.

img src: I'm not sure whose image that is above, looks somewhat like a William Wegman Weimaraner, but I found it, through Google, here on Bruno Garschagen's blog.
[More about the Weimaraner by Sandy Moyer at Bella Online]

Obama Puppy Media Frenzy

This topic is growing like Topsy, demonstrating how a story that hits the mass media can generate spin offs like a sit com.

Peru is offering the Obamas a hairless. Good for them. Best publicity they've had in... a dog's age, though the dog, to be frank, looks like a bat and is often toothless, inappropriate for a new U.S. government.

Meanwhile vets have their stethoscopes in a knot over the idea of a "hypoallergenic" dog; no such thing they say, all dogs produce dander it's just that some breeds produce less and shed less, like poodles and poodle-crosses and many others.

Img src: The Book of the Shih Tzu (t.f.h. 1980).

We got our Shih Tzu partly because my son has allergies so we wanted a non-shedding breed and it's worked out great. Not only is the Shih Tzu a quiet, manageable companion but they look like Dr. Seuss characters, as my friend Dave Eddie observed today.

The Dog Channel reports on a survey to choose a name for the future Presidential pup. The top ten are disappointing:
1. Hope
2. Lucky
3. Change
4. Sarah
5. George
6. Maverick
7. Snoopy
8. Buddy
9. Champ
10. Dog

Dog? Are you kidding me? Far down the list is Nomad; I like the ring of that.

Tips for picking your dog's name:
two syllables max so it's easy to say, and
strong first consonant, a sound that carries well and your dog will recognize long before you've finished calling.
For more on this, Greg Marlett' blog Best Dog Name and his parallel Squidoo column have great advice and lots of examples.

Click here if you want to see the search for news on this topic: Google News search using the terms [Obama dog].

Here's a handy service that's great for researchers or anyone who wants to follow news on a particular topic: Use Google's "alert" function to get notifications for new stories about the Obama dog in your email inbox.

The Presidential Pup Debate - Homeless or Homefree?

Help the Obamas choose their first puppy here.
[Chicago Tribune poll - Shih Tzu is 9th currently with 7.6% of the vote, shelter dog way out front at 53%]

It may be not exactly be top of mind for politicians and business folk but for the nation, what kind of dog the Obamas choose is both emotionally engaging and deeply symbolic. According to a Google News search there have been over 200 articles published about the question since the Democratic candidate announced he was going to reward his daughters with a dog for their election perseverence. Gallons more ink has been devoted to the discussion since November 7th, when now President-elect Obama discussed his family's difficult choice: between a hypo-allergenic purebred like the Labradoodle, or a rescued shelter dog, "a mutt, like me," he said.

Obama's ability to finesse the dog issue revealed an empathic side to the disciplined leader he showed himself to be during the election, giving even conservatives a new appreciation for the man. William Kristol in the NYTimes says Obama's natural gifts are "putting him in the ranks of Franklin Roosevelt (with his Scottish terrier Fala) and Ronald Reagan (with his Cavalier King Charles spaniel Rex)". The Chicago Tribune has started a modest photo gallery of previous presidential pets.

That there is still a question how the Obamas will decide must be causing consternation over at Best Friends Network, which gathered 50,000 signatures favoring adoption at http://www.obamafamilydog.com/ and thought the whole thing had been decided with Michelle Obama's announcement on Entertainment Tonight back in October.

With the acquisition of a dog, the Obamas will join the ranks of a huge constituency. There are 1.26 x's as many pets as people in the U.S. according to this source, which notes that pets are a $43 billion industry in the U.S.

The President-elect is right. It is a hard decision to make. A rescued mutt would send a strong message about charity and resourcefulness, whereas a purebred would send an equally strong message about discipline and leadership.

My friend Patricia Pearson has weighed in on the particular joys and trials of the retrieving obsessed 'doodle on her blog Good News About the Coming Apocalypse.

Meanwhile the shock-doctrine-of-economic-crisis continues to scare the beejeezus out of everyone; people start thinking the unthinkable, like about homelessness.

Companionship can become hugely important for people who don't have two nickels to rub together, but then again pets can also become obstacles to getting into shelters according to this article in the Vancouver Sun.

The Reno Gazette-Journal reports that the economic downturn is already having impact on pets, adoptions are down and more pets are being found on the streets. They also note usefully that there are agencies that provide pet food for people having trouble making ends meet.

My vote is for a rescue dog. It's an appropriate metaphor for America and for the President. A rescued purebred is an option, but I'd vote they go whole hog, as it were, and adopt a true mongrel.

Whichever they choose, a dog is a powerful symbol well-harnessed at this critical time in American history. Loyalty, intelligence, perseverance, self-sacrifice are qualities we all value. Like millions of others, I grew up with the stories of Rin Tin Tin (a German Shepherd) and Lassie (a Collie), and in Canada The Littlest Hobo (another Shepherd).

If you are in the D.C. area on November 22nd, walk your pooch on the Mall with Arlington Dogs, in support of A-Span, a non-profit that helps the homeless.
http://www.sungazette.net/articles/2008/11/11/arlington/news/nw855.txt

Images in this post are from:
puppydogweb.com
dogtime.com

And if you've read this far, here's a bonus link:)
povertyspets.org

Obama Family Pet - Advice

Barack Obama promised his kids a puppy if he won. And he did. Now the challenge will be to pick the perfect White House pooch. Apparently Joe Biden also promised his wife they could get a dog. Is anybody blogging about this, giving them advice? In fact they are:


Amy Althouse mentions that the Obama's are being pressured to adopt a rescue.

Sue Nelson thinks they should get a lab.

Amelia Glynn thinks a pit bull would send a good vibe about discrimination, pit bulls having been given a pretty bad rap.

Celebrity gossip Perez Hilton would like them to get a goldendoodle like his.

Somebody on CBC radio said the cat lobby won't be happy unless they also get a feline friend.

Eight-year-old Fil-Am Karina Encarnacion sent the President-elect a two-page handwritten letter in September suggesting a Coton de Tulear and got a letter back. I have to say I like her idea, but then I'm biased, having a hypo-allergenic, if somewhat taciturn relative to the Bichon-type Coton, a Shih Tzu. The White House would be awesome with a little pack of ultra-vigilant "temple" dogs.

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) advises the first family to devote the same care in picking a new family pet that the President-elect will in selecting his cabinet. [Story here] Dr. James Cook, president of the AVMA, says that Obamas' unique lifestyle will be a consideration and recommended a brochure, What You Should Know About Selecting a Dog.

The American Kennel Club held a survey that resulted in the recommendation of a poodle.

Personally, I like the rescue idea too, which would be fitting in the current economic situation, especially if it's a mixed breed, which would be also very "melting pot." Most people agree purebreds can be troubled with health issues like hip dysplasia, and they also can be ranked pretty accurately in terms of intelligence. Mixes are reputed to be both healthier and smarter.

They'll never please everyone of course, even if they tried a hybrid approach like getting a purebred rescue, e.g. at Shih Tzu Rescue.

However it works out, here's good wishes to the Obamas and Bidens. We all know the enormous benefits to having animals in your household and workplace.

We don't see a "pets" or "animal rights" policy on the President-elect's brilliant new website Change.gov, but without doubt they're working on it.

Edward Tufte, the information visualization guru, is definitely into dog (and generally animal) friendly work environments.

Meanwhile, the outgoing President's puppy, Barney, is feeling grumpy. Yesterday he bit Reuter's reporter John Decker's finger. What's up with that? His master may be moving but it's not like there's going to be any shortage of biscuits. Bush and his cronies have no doubt tucked away billions to tide them through the economic disaster they've saddled America and the rest of world with.

And finally in the visual nonsense department BoingBoing featured this video of a dog named Herpe who can say "Obama": Video link.