--- title: Google searches that lead to my site date: "2006-09-16T12:00:00Z" categories: - how-i-do-things wp_id: 215 description: I analyzed raw server logs to track specific keywords leading to my site, finding that Excel tips and IRR formulas drive the highest quality traffic compared to broader searches for Calvin and Hobbes or Indian torrents. keywords: [search traffic, log analysis, keywords, excel, calvin and hobbes, site analytics, web stats] --- I stopped using [Google Analytics](http://www.google.com/analytics/) when I redesigned my site. I track my own statistics. This gives me access to raw data, and I can do my own analyses. I wanted to know the keywords on Google that led to my site. (Google Analytics only gives you phrases.) I also wanted **independent** words. If you search for "Calvin and Hobbes", I want to count only "Calvin", knowing that it's in the context of "Hobbes". So I did this analysis. Here are the keywords that lead to my site. (This is based on 3 weeks of data). 1. **excel** in the context of cell, formula, function, leading to my [Excel tips](/blog/category/excel-tips/). People mostly want to know how to remove errors like #N/A. 2. **calvin** in the context of hobbes, fight, club. (There was a great article on how [Fight Club is really Calvin and Hobbes](/blog/fight-club-is-really-calvin-and-hobbes/).) Most of these queries are searches for specific quotes, and I've typed out all the [Calvin and Hobbes quotes](/calvin/). 3. **indian** in the context of torrents, tv. One of my most popular posts is [Indian Torrents](/blog/indian-torrents/). I simply linked to a couple of Google searches, so it's popularity is unjustified. 4. **tamil** in the context of songs, lyrics, movie. This is mostly thanks to the recent tamil [quizzes](/blog/category/quizzes/) I've put up. 5. **mumbai** in the context of local, schedule, train. A shockingly large number of people search for [Mumbai bus and train schedule](/blog/mumbai-bus-and-train-schedule/), landing on my link to the IIT-B Mumbai Navigator. 6. **anand** in the context of s anand, bcg, infosys. This is people searching for me. 7. **irr** in the calculating, excel, formula. [Calculating IRR](/blog/calculating-irr/) turned out to be another unexpectedly popular post. 8. **interview** in the context of lehman brothers, bcg, landing at some of my [interview experiences](/blog/categories/interviews/). 9. **mckinsey** in the context of ppt, presentation. Most of these people are looking for presentations, while I have a link to the [McKinsey pre-placement talk at LBS](/blog/mckinsey-ppt/). Interesting that BCG is not on the top 10. 10. **google** in the context of engedu, types, authors@google. Though I have several posts about Google, the ones about Google video like [Meet the author](/blog/meet-the-author/) and on [Google TechTalks](/blog/informative-google-videos/) are the most popular. Having read the actual queries, I've concluded that only the keywords **excel**, **mumbai**, **anand**, **irr** and **interview** definitely lead to relevant hits. The rest are debatable. Maybe I should reduce the importance of the less relevant posts on my [sitemaps](http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=40318) file. --- ## Comments - **[The Calvin and Hobbes search Takedown | s-anand.net](http://www.s-anand.net/blog/the-calvin-and-hobbes-search-takedown/)** _21 May 2010 11:54 am_ _(pingback)_: [...] also increased traffic to my site, which was a bit disconcerting. I didn’t want to attract attention. In 2007, I removed [...]