Solstice Coil
SEO and Israeli Progressive Rock
What do SEO and Israeli Progressive Rock have to do with one another, you ask? Well, on the surface, nothing really. The only link between the two is that I play in Solstice Coil, an Israeli Progressive Rock band, and I also work at Daronet, a company that provides web development and SEO services.
I started working at Daronet about four months ago, and so far I've learned quite a bit. SEO, if you're not familiar with the term, is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization. But what does any of this have to do with Solstice Coil or Israeli Progressive Rock?
The Connection Between SEO and Israel Progressive Rock – After This Commercial Break!
One of my roles as a content writer at Daronet is to write articles for websites that promote certain keywords, which are relevant to the subject of said website. The principles of SEO writing dictate that an SEO article has to include a certain keyword density in order to make Google and other search engines realize that the page is relevant to the keywords and improve the page's search engine results.
There are different schools to this notion: some say that 3% is enough, others say that 6% is quite alright and some. Some say that an article should include approximately 250 words in order for it to be effective, and others say that it doesn't matter at all.
You May Fool a Robot, But you can't Fool Me!
Now let's say I want to associate this site, the official Solstice Coil website, with the key phrase Israeli Progressive Rock. That would mean I'd have to include the phrase Israeli Progressive rock in almost every paragraph (according to the more generous school of thought).
So what's the problem, really? How come everybody isn't doing it?
Because while scattering keywords in an article is quite easy, making the article readable and enjoyable for the users is something else entirely. For example, if I were to write an article that speaks about Solstice Coil and Israeli Progressive Rock and how Solstice Coil is a great Israeli Progressive Rock band that plays Progressive Rock from Israel… I think you get the point. It becomes tedious after a few sentences.
Links Make the Web Go Around
Another important principle of SEO is links. Google defines a website's relevance according to the number of links it receives from other websites, which makes the site more relevant. This principle sometimes even beats SEO writing, and here's one of the most famous examples:
When you search Google for Click Here, the first result is a page for downloading Adobe Reader. The phrase "Click Here" doesn't appear on the page even once, but because millions of sites link to Adobe when they want the users to download a PDF file, it makes Google think that Adobe Reader is the most relevant site for the phrase Click Here. Facebook, btw, appears second.
So if a great deal of websites had a hyperlink that said Israeli Progressive Rock and linked to the Solstice Coil website, like this: Israeli Progressive Rock, it would probably boost our search page ranking a great deal.
It is also important to link back to other pages in your own website. For example: read about Solstice Coil, listen to our music and check out our comic strip!
Does it actually Work?
We'll just have to wait and see. Search Google for Israeli Progressive rock in a few days from now and see where we pan out in the results.
Btw, we've had some unintentional SEO success in the past. For quite some time, Opher's post about unlocking maps on some mobile phone was the most popular page on our site. Which kind of pissed me off, actually, so I started a guerrilla campaign on Facebook to promoted this page: http://www.solstice.co.il/music instead.
Also, our site once crashed due to unsustainable rumors of a connection between us and Bar Refaeli. Though as far as rumors go, that one's pretty awesome.
New job!
Yes, it is true. After nearly two years of working at Ifat as a translator, I've ended this chapter in my life and moved on to the next. My new place of employment is called Shark, an information group that provides market research and content management services for enterprises in Israel.
I won't bore you with the details, but my position is defined as a "content manager", which means I write, rewrite and translate various materials. It's pretty fun, I'm learning a lot about the world of marketing content as well as the world of diamonds, how to maintain a washing machine (don't ask) and even some SEO.
I don't usually get official credit for my work, but I do get credit on the Israel Diamond Industry Portal. So if you happen to be looking for me on Google, don't be surprised when you find results like this.
Got a gig with my solo side project band on Saturday at the Mike's Place, free entrance if you're up to it. It's starting to pick up nicely, and I'm soon going to start recording again and finishing this god damn album already. Also make sure you save the date of September 10 – we're playing a very special concert with Behind the Sun!
Tomorrow is the big day!
After much delay, announcements and indecisions, tomorrow we'll be going into the studio to start recording our second album. We will be recording drum tracks for six songs at Bardo Studios, which will be followed by another drum session later in March. Naturally, the rest of the work will performed at the Domain Studios, similar to the previous album. We will of course keep you posted about our progress and share some of our experiences as well as photographs from the studio.
Meanwhile, today marks the sixth anniversary of my discharge from Israel Defense Force. Woohoo! Man, has it really been that long? I could say that this is all somehow symbolic, the come of full circle of sorts, but it's not, so I won't.
And that's when I bought the horse a prostitute
Things have been kinda slow at work lately. So slow that I can actually post on the blog from work! Well, it's also because the boss isn't here today.
Since we have a lot less material to get done, I've been trying my best to decrease my working rate. And let me tell you, it ain't easy!
With the boss constantly looking over my shoulder, I've started reading this webcomic called Least I Could Do. Since I've already read through the entire Sluggy, Rob and Elliot, Shortpacked and Afterstrife archives, I decided to focus on this new daily webcomic that I've found. Plus, I can't access Gmail or Facebook here, so there's pretty much nothing to do on the internets here.
LICD is a webcomic about a guy who likes to get laid a lot, disregard women and constantly degrade his friends. By now I've read through the whole things from 2003 to 2008, and I can't really explain why. It's not even that funny. The plotlines are semi-interesting and the art is pretty good (at least by current artist Lar Desouza. The guy before him drew all the characters exactly the same). I donno, there's something about this guy, Rayne Summers that... er... I donno, I just love this guy! He's rude, obnoxious, practically oblivious (except for times when his creator suddenly wishes otherwise), and nothing seems to really bother him, not even getting a full cavaty search by airport security.
Up until this point, I can't really tell if Rayne's extreme chauvinist behavior is condemed or condoned by his alter ego, creator Ryan Sohmer. Rayne seems to be able to get away with anything, and even gets Keira Knightley to itsawondefullife him and show him that his life choices are just fine and it's all going to turn out right in the future. Oh, and then she gets naked.
Since Sohmer obviously based the character on himself, one question comes to mind: Is he really such a ladykiller, or does the webcomic express his deepest desires? Since this comic is updated daily, I'd have to put my money on the latter.
You have to give it to this guy: this webcomic does in fact update daily, except for Sundays. As far as I've noticed, he hasn't missed a deadline yet. Then again, that probably has an affect on the quality of humor. Although there were some pretty clever strips that made me laugh very hard (on the inside), most punchlines are mundane, or simply nonexistent.
Anyway, since I finished reading the entire thing, now I need something else to help me sabotage my work efficiency. Any suggestions?
