Analysis

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Bing has been live in for a few weeks now, and it is time to look back and see what has changed. In short, not much. I have noticed a small dip followed by a spike in traffic on a mature site I work with. The dip in traffic was matched by a drop in terms for which the site was visible. I can only assume that the increase in traffic is due to both the increased attention Microsoft has drawn to their new search engine, and an increase in the terms that the site has appeared for.

Interest in Bing

On another domain I have noticed that terms related to Bing and Bing.com.au have produced a little traffic. This is only to be expected due to the increased interest in the search engine.

SERP reshuffle

One thing that I noticed that is worth watching are changes in the order of sites on the Search Engine Results Pages. For a few of the terms that I have been watching, the top three or four results have remained fairly fixed since lauch. However there has been a bit of movement amoungst the mid-page results. This was even evident on terms where the level of SEO activity can be assumed to be low, and with static sites.

Bing and the Search takeaway

It is simple; there is a lot to be learned right now in how the Search Engine Results Pages have been changing for low competition terms. For now, the changes on these kinds of SERPs are more likely the result of spider and algorithmic activity rather than general updates or targeted optimisation.

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A vegan recently tried to convince me of the health merits of his lifestyle over mine by quoting a study.  The main point was that when comparing a certain set of markers associated with good health between a population of vegans and the general population, the vegans scored better.  Obviously, this meant that being a vegan was better than eating meat.

I remain unconvinced.  At first glance the figures seem very convincing, in a way, but they do not stand up to scrutiny.  The biggest flaw is that the study is comparing a population with a high awareness of what they eat to a general population that range from meat eating health fanatics to sedentary fast food consumers.  It is not a focused study, and all it really says is that people who follow a consistent diet without most junk food do better than a sample that doesn’t.  For the study to be convincing it needs to start by comparing two like groups where one eats animal protein and one doesn’t.

Unfortunately, the use and abuse of statistics might as well be regarded as best practice. When it comes to influencing decisions or creating a story it is painfully effective, and unfortunately most people do not have the knowledge needed to call bullshit. What is frustrating is that often the data used is obviously poorly selected, gathered with little thought and misrepresented to produce the most bizarre insights.

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