Well, one week into my initial test, none of the search engines have indexed my secret word. Maybe I need to be more patient. But if my patience is in fact sufficient, I would venture to say that the first two test pages I built are unsatisfactory to Google, Yahoo, and MSN. So I added 2 more pages with some altered code. I’ll give it another week and see if the big 3 will be nicer to me. Speaking of being nice, maybe I was not being cordial enough to their spiders in my first post. Here’s another go:

Dear Google, Yahoo, and MSN,

I bid you good tidings. You are hereby invited to partake of the scrumptious content of Nate’s Testing Grounds for Search Engine Optimization for Flash Websites. Index as much as you please.

Your BFF,
Nate

I’m listening to U2 right now. They are really good. I would like to make a prediction: U2 is going to hit it big someday.

You heard it here first.

(As a side note, I think Adam Clayton looks like Bill Gates in this picture. You heard that here first, too.)

I am proud to announce that my past grieving over the loss of my faithful 4Runner has come to an end (but I will never forget you, dear one!) A month ago, we purchased a new Scion XB. My wife fell in love with it right away, but I was reluctant to show any excitement initially. I knew it was a great car SUV wagon box ride, but I wasn’t ready to be emotionally attached to another inanimate object quite yet.

I was impressed by the large list of standard options, the coolest being the iPod attachment which allows the stereo (and steering wheel) controls access to the playlists, etc. (As of yet, the iPhone is not supported). Also stock are 4-wheel disc brakes, a Camry engine, a buttload of airbags, and a surprising amount of interior space.

Although the XB continued to grow on me, it wasn’t till two weeks ago that I received the confirmation I needed to call the car my own. I have two friends from Hume who are, in fact, the earth’s official decision makers of what is cool and what isn’t (and I need to check with them to see if “cool” is still a cool word to use). Anyways, when Karley and Eric came down to see us, they seemed to be more excited to see our new car than our house. When I showed them the Scion, they used words like “sick” and “pimpin”, which I don’t know the definitions of, but the tone of their voices made it appear that my new mode of transportation was cool! Who knew?

My apologies to those of you who only check this site for the latest gossip on your favorite superhero. But, in an effort to further conceal my secret identity, here is some stuff that should reinforce my civilian-like career as a nerd.

I’m testing to see if the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, and MSN) will recognize and index different types of HTML markup. I’m am entering the realm of what other nerds call Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

So far, no search engines (that I’m aware of) recognize any text or content inside flash movies. Therefore, if I create a super-fancy, all-flash website, it won’t be ranked on the major search engines as high as an HTML site with the same content. Fortunately, Geoff Stearns’ SWFObject offers a great resolution to this issue, but there are still some things I would like to find out with respect to the different indexing algorithms used by the search engines at hand.

So, without further adieu, I would like to invite the spiders from Google, Yahoo, and MSN to get on your marks…get set…go!

I’ll be checking the ranking of a made-up word on each of those seach engines to see how they rank the test pages. If you’ve actually read this far, you will probably be interested in a fantastic test by Mike Davidson on Google’s ranking results.

Live long and prosper. And go pound another Mountain Dew…you deserve it.

Many of you know that I have recently moved from Hume Lake and taken a new job. What some of you may not know is that my “real” new job is top secret. As a token of gratitude to the millions of loyal fans who check this site daily, I will share this classified information, but you must promise to keep it on the down-low. (Well, you can tell other people ONLY if they promise not to tell anyone else.)

The truth of the matter is that a privately-funded organization has hired me as a superhero. In order to conceal my secret identity when I am in the public eye, I have to wear glasses as well as wear my underwear under my pants. I have also had to behave in a less-than macho way…pretending to not know how anything about cars, using a luffa in the shower, and not going to the gym. As you might guess, it has been a big adjustment for me. But, I understand the importance of anonymity in this line of work.

In order to save the lives of those who are dying to know what my supername and superpowers are, I can unfortunately only give you a few hints:

1. Although very super, the word “super” is not in my supername.
2. I work alone. (The Sidekick’s Union has been on strike since I’ve been on the job.)
3. I’m a human, raised by humans.

If you haven’t guessed it, just pay close attention to the evening news.

I hope this news will help each one of you rest in peace tonight.

Sweet dreams,

“Nate Sees”