Why isn't the VDHA Website ALWAYS at the top of the Results List on Google Searches?

By Dave Broeker

Last Updated - 01/04/2009

Regretfully, I have no control over the priority of the listings in search engines, but this is the way that I believe it all pulls together.

If it was possible to simply buy a top position, then we'd be at the very bottom of the list because everyone who had any money at all, would simply buy their way to the top position.

Google is an excellent search engine, but only one out of hundreds, or possibly thousands! If you do not find what you want when you do your first search, then try other words and other search engines. There is no guarantee that the exact results you are looking for will pull up the first attempt you make. People often spend months looking for specific data, and many times, never do find what they are looking for.

We are the NEW VDHA and our address is VDHA.us. Try inputting that in a search engine... I did, and got 12,300 Results. We were the top listed and almost every result of the first 20 results, absolutely did list us correctly, as that specific link had referenced us. I did not have time to go any farther. I feel most people depend on the first 20 or so results found.

Then, I entered the following in Google:

vietnam +dog +handler +association

and got 45,100 results.

We are listed first!

I think the most common mistake made in reference to our organization is the adding of the letter "s" to the word "HANDLER".

I modified a sample search by removing the "S" and added a space in front of each +. Just by making those tiny two changes, the results plummeted from 141,000 to 45,100.

A great tip: When searching for multiple words, you MUST put a space in front of each + to get the best possible search results. Just the difference of nearly 100,000 less results, makes for a more accurate search and does away with a lot of false results. Remember, the better the search the fewer the results. Fewer results is often best, because they are more accurate.

Very often, website owners, will do anything they can to get their website and advertising looked at for free, and they spam many websites who are doing well on the search engines. Our website has been spammed this way. Here is how it works:

When any website is built, "META-Data" is entered to reference the general information on the page. When the page is published to the web, the meta-data is automatically shared with search engines, to assist bringing up information about that specific WebPage. This information as well as actually typed text on the WebPage, constitutes the data pool from which the information is pulled. An example would be this: A webpage might have been built about Mary, who had a little lamb, whose fleece was white as snow. The meta-data entered could be as little as one word, possibly being "Mary". So every time you entered "Mary" into a search engine, it will absolutely pull up that webpage, but it might be near the end of the results list. If, in the meta-data information, you entered other words to reference the subject, like little, lamb, fleece, white, and/or snow, the website would come up much more often when ever any of those words are entered into a search criteria.

Likewise, even though they have nothing to do with Mary and her little lamb, these following words, when added to the meta-data by the webmaster of the Mary had a little lamb website, will also bring up Mary's website. Words like dog, handler, Vietnam, military, USAF, Army, pickle, etc, etc. It should be against the law, but it isn't regulated because of freedom of speech, so many webmasters are stooping to this tactic in an effort to get their website pulled up more often during website searches. Often, unsuspecting people enter search criteria into a search engine and have no idea why certain results appear in the list. When they might have intended to search for pickles, for example, the search results might list a website about a little girl and her fleecy lamb, if the webmaster had entered "pickles" in the meta-data for that website. At this point, two things have been accomplished by the webmaster. First, his substandard ethics, has stolen precious time from the unsuspecting browser. Secondly, any advertising he has on his webpage, has unfortunately, caught the eye of the viewer, in a pitiful effort to sell merchandise. Remember that you can not "UN-SEE" advertising, after the fact, and it is a proven fact that a certain percentage of viewers will always buy the product. The intent is to get as many viewers to see the product, no matter how low the tactics are.

Websites should appeal to a targeted group of people and the majority does. When malicious meta-data is entered, (meaning search words that have nothing to do with the subject matter at hand), the person browsing the web becomes the unsuspecting victim. Meanwhile, the damage has been done and the offending webmaster has successfully reached at least two targeted groups, so he has doubled his audience. Many of these URL's become so prominent in the results lists, when you see their addresses continually being listed in the results when you know they have nothing to do with your intended search, you learn not to click on any link that has their identifying URL because you come to understand it as a ruse!

This is why so many of the results you search for, deliver total junk. They took perfectly good information that included text you searched for, and linked to it in a conscious effort to use and abuse the public.

Many links still exist in text form, that reference web pages that no longer exist, and typically bring up a "Page can not be displayed" message. Nothing can ever be done about this! Only when that referenced text is deleted or the web page is pulled, will the search engines no longer find that result. The larger the web gets, the more junk pages are out there floating around. It will get worse, I can promise you, because many websites are subscribed to for years in advance and are left unattended on a regular basis. Many websites consist of information pages and require no follow up, like a merchandise page might require to update merchandise or pricing.

So short and sweet, the results are what they are and it is up to you as an educated person, to sort through them in an attempt to find the exact information you are looking for. I give no excuses for bad results, but instead I encourage you to continue to use the search engines in an attempt to discover the world put before you, knowing that you are in command, and now have a little more information about how I understand it all works.

Respectfully,

Dave Broeker

VDHA Webmaster

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