Why Do People Come Here?
Monday, 15th October 2012, 15:47

One day, the lovely folks over at Piwik, an open source alternative to Google Analytics, will see the light and dump running it on PHP and make it work with Node.js, a platform far more suited to network applications than the awful alternative to ASP. One can dream anyway...

I do like Piwik, I'm convinced it offers advantages for tracking over Google's offering, if for no other reason than many privacy blockers do their best to stop Analytics tracking you, where as something on your own domain is more likely to get accurate stats.

One of the most important features when it comes to looking at your traffic, is where it came from. When it comes to search engines, knowing what keywords people are finding your content with is useful, it tells you something about what your audience is and if it's the one you are looking for.

Without this, all you have to go on is bounce rates, sometimes people really did find exactly what they were looking for on the first page they hit, but how can you tell that from those who didn't?

Top Twenty Five Common Searches

For the last month, here are the most common keywords in order, which resulted in hits to this site:

1. Keyword not defined
2. disney nasties
3. tinymce typekit
4. diary of a hamster
5. install node.js 0.8 on centos
6. centos 5.8 nodejs
7. centos install nodejs
8. centos node 'debug' if options.debug else 'release...
9. centos reinstall nodejs
10. collectd libxml compile error centos
11. create your own "zx spectrum" loading screen
12. debug' if options.debug else 'release' nodejs
13. disney orgies
14. guy chat room
15. hamster "glass jar"
16. hamster diary
17. html5 contest 2012
18. html5 game contest 2012
19. javascript zx loading
20. jquery plugin alert to much capitals
21. jurnalul unui hamster de citit online
22. little chat room
23. match point zx spectrum source code
24. node.js centos 5.8
25. node.js isobject

Unfortunately, the top one is no-keywords-at-all, because Google protects the privacy of many users by hiding this data from the referral URL. So you know it came from Google's search engine but beyond that you are in the dark.

Still, Webmaster Tools does offer a way to get an idea as to what these might be, since it shows you much more search engine data and fills in many of the blanks. Here are the top 25 from Google:

1. doggie position
2. doggy position
3. köpek pozisyonu
4. o['default_configuration'] = 'debug' if options.debug else 'release'
5. fluffiest dog in the world
6. mame marquee
7. diary of a hamster
8. wooden brackets
9. ashley judd ass
10. mame raspberry pi
11. guychat
12. gp32
13. zx spectrum loading screen
14. sexual edging
15. the fluffiest dog in the world
16. arcade monitor
17. install nodejs centos
18. zx spectrum loading
19. mame control panel
20. hamster diary
21. centos install nodejs
22. html5 loading screen
23. little chat room
24. node.js centos
25. chunk loader block

A fair bit of cross-over, but also quite a few things which Piwik could never pick up.

Conclusion

There is much that can be learned from this data, but perhaps the most useful thing is writing about Node.js and CentOS is one of my more valuable contributions to the internet, whilst the Disney Nasties are probably the most misleading. :)