How did they find you? The translation blogger and SEO.

8 Nov 2012 | 6 Comments | posted by Megan Onions | in The Business of Translation

During a very well-earned coffee (and cake!) break recently, I went through a few of the posts in the hallowed archives of There’s Something About Translation. I know have talked about Sarah Dillon’s blog before, but it’s well worth reiterating for those of you who haven’t discovered it yet. It was one of the first translation blogs that I came across and there really is no end to the usefulness of her posts, whether you’re looking for advice or just some entertaining writing from a fellow linguist.

The post that caught my eye on this particular occasion was a breakdown of some of the search phrases that visitors to the blog had used in order to find it. This made me want to do my own little experiment, so here are the results for this little blog (data taken on 07/11/2012):

freelance translation blog – really chuffed to see this!
speech marks translation blogroll
one linguist three questions – catch up with the series here
client scouting – corresponding post here
your most used words on twitter
“chris durban”
“guest blog” translation
email signature freelance translator – corresponding post here
french speech marks
words translation
“english course for translators”
“i am a translator and proud”
“the business of translation”
advice on setting up as a translator institute of linguists
blog with guest post in translation
cost translation 2000 words
cpd for russian translators
factors to consider for quoting a translation
getting advice from other translators
if your friends had to describe you in 3 words – corresponding post here
language show live 2012 – corresponding post here
linguist branding – corresponding post here
mark twain german language quote end of the sentence – corresponding post here
speech mark pocket colour cards
tips for translators how do you decide whether to accept job or not? – corresponding post here
translation advice
translation reading list – corresponding posts here and here
translator career
use your language use your english – corresponding post here
volunteering in translation – corresponding post here

There are a few weird ones here (where did the pocket cards come from?) but, on the plus side, the vast majority of search terms line up with what I want to be recognised for, and I’m delighted to see myself on the first few pages of results for “freelance translation blog” after only a relatively short period of blogging (7 months and counting).

Have you looked at your stats lately? Care to share? 😉