Category: Dog News

Beating out a Wikipedia Page in Google is Damn Hard

wikipedia pageSome of you that follow Singing Dogs closely might remember we posted that we had a 1 SERP Ranking in Google.  (I should clarify we rank first for a text links to a website and webpage.  Videos technically have the 1 number spot.)  We were all pretty happy about this SEO development for our website… until I noticed a week later we dropped down to the 2nd spot in Google for the search phrase “Singing Dogs.”

I'll admit to everyone that I've been in a battle with a Wikipedia page for the number 1 position ever since.  (If you are curios to know that page is about New Guinea Singing Dogs.  I wonder if Cody and Sierra are related?)  For now and as of this writing we have the number 1 spot again but it was a lot of work trying to reclaim the SERP (search engine result pages) position in Google.

While I always knew that trying to outrank a Wikipedia page is damn hard, I didn't realize it was going to be this hard.  Especially considering the search term “Singing Dogs” doesn't get as many monthly search queries as you would expect.  Also it annoys me that Google changes it's algorithm so readily and it still doesn't take down spammy and crappy pages, even if you report them.

I'm curios to know if any pet bloggers, other types of bloggers, search marketers, etc. have also had a similarly difficult experience of trying to outrank a Wikipedia page in Google?  What about for non-competitive keywords and search phrases?  Was it still hard to dethrone the monster that is Wikipedia?

1 SERP ranking in Google for “Singing Dogs”

Thought I would let everyone in on some good news for the Singing Dogs.  We now have a number 1 search engine results page (SERP) ranking for the term “Singing Dogs.”  See the screenshot I took below;

singing dogs serp

This makes me pretty excited since I've been working on getting our website to the number 1 Google spot for quite a long time.  It feels good to finally outrank everyone else for the term even if it is not highly searched for.

I wish we had a video in the first two spots, but hey, you can't win ever single battle.

Handbrake Video Compression Software

Instead of doing a post about Cody or Sierra today or anything dog related, I thought we'd share a cool tool we use called HandBrake which is video compression software.

handbrake

Some of you might be wondering “Why do I need Handbrake?”  Well, do you ever get annoyed with how long it takes to upload videos online?  Handbrake helps compress videos down so they are smaller and more manageable to upload and share with the world.  It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the larger something is the longer it takes to move, even in the digital landscape known as the internet.

What's great about Handbrake is that it is 100% free open source software.  It's available on several different desktop operating systems which includes Macs, Windows, and Linux Ubuntu which is pretty cool.

For all of the Singing Dogs videos we use Handbrake to compress large high definition 1080p (HD) video files for uploading onto our Youtube channel.  (Subscribe if you haven't already!)  Typically Handbrake will cut the video file in half, sometimes less, and the dogs and I don't notice any difference in quality from the compressed Handbrake video and the original.  It saves a lot of time and bandwidth when are uploading videos, which is good because Verizon sucks in Baltimore.  (They refused to bring Verizon FiOS here but for some reason they keep advertising it on TV in the area!)  A normal video file for us that might take 1 hour to upload, once we compress it with Handbrake, might only take 20-30 minutes.  Cutting down that much for uploading is a huge benefit for us!

We are not sure how Handbrake's video compression works, but it is totally awesome.  Also it's cool that is it open source and free since we use it all the time.  I would post a link to page to donate to the Handbrake project but I don't see anywhere on the website to do so.  They do have ads on the website which any users of Hanbrake, like ourselves, should be clicking on to support the project. 🙂

In addition to video compression Handbrake is really useful for converting video files into MP4s which we do a lot for the Singing Dogs.  Most of the time we need to convert from other video formats and Handbrake does it at the same time when it compresses the Singing Dogs videos.  Handbrake can be used just for as a video converter tool if that is all you need it for.

Anyway, if you are interested in downloading Handbrake and giving it a test drive, download it here: http://handbrake.fr/

Cody’s 6th Birthday

Today is Cody's 6th Birthday. Happy Birthday Cody!

For celebrating Cody's 6th birthday we decided that we get him a some special treats and a few new toys.  This included a Pup Pie, a new Frisbee, and a bouncy ball.  Since Sierra would be jealous if we just go Cody toys and not her we decided to get her a Frisbee and bouncy ball too.  Today is Sierra's Un-Birthday I guess.

To have fun some fun we got out some SpongeBob SquarePants party hats and put them on us and the dogs for some fun pictures.  Cody and Sierra didn't seem to mind too much.   At least I hope we are not being bad dog parents. What do you think?

happy birthday codyAfter hat pictures we thought we give Cody his Pup Pie.  (Sierra got some too.)  We also got small cupcakes for ourselves and put a candle in it.  Not sure if this was the best idea on our part.

dog birthday cakeAs you can see from the picture Cody and Sierra couldn't wait to eat the Pup Pie and they loved it.  I didn't think it looked that appetizing but I am not a dog, so whatever.  

To make Cody's birthday really special I decided to play the “Happy Birthday Song” just for him.  Sierra sang him a great version of the song which was sounded a lot louder than usual.  I think she knew it was Cody's Birthday.   He joined in a little too but he doesn't always want to sing.

We are so glad that we have had Cody in our lives for so many years.  Even though he is considered a middle aged dog now (42 years old according to dog years) he still seems so young to us.  Cody will be in our family for years to come.

We’re Going to BarkWorld 2013!

barkworld 2013

We're headed to BarkWorld 2013 in Atlanta!  Ohhhh yeah!

Well technically only I am going and not the Singing Dogs.  Sorry Cody and Sierra but it is a bit stressful to bring you guys to a pet blogging conference.  Although we would like to hear their singing they will be at the BarkWorld 2013 in spirit.

Originally I thought we were not going to be able to attend since we didn't win the BarkWorld Blogging Challenge.  Even though I thought my “9 Reasons I Need to Attend BarkWorld” post was pretty amazing, Rebecca and Garth Riley won the ticket.  I was happy someone else was going but upset we didn't get the ticket.

Fortunately The World According to Garth Riley ran a contest for another BarkWorld ticket.  I thought I would at least give it a shot since hey, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take right?  I followed the rules and shared the post and left a comment.  Well… to my surprise we actually won the ticket.

While the ticket does not included airfare and a hotel, it only includes admission to BarkWorld 2013, we still feel lucky.  I was looking for a BarkWorld Sponsor but I wasn't able to find any company that wanted to sponsor us.  Not cool!

We are excited to be going as this is our first time attending BarkWorld.  Also we will get to meet people from the pet blogosphere which we didn't have time to meet-up with at BlogPaws.  Some people who didn't go to BlogPaws we also will be happy to see.

If you are going to BarkWorld 2013 and would like to talk, please send me an email – adam AT singingdogs.net – and let me know.  You can also Tweet us @DogsSing or my handle @AdamYamada to let us know that you are going.  I'd love to meet people in person we haven't gotten to meet up with.

If you wished you could be going to BarkWorld but couldn't due to time or money restrictions we hope to be able to sponsor other pet bloggers and pet rescues next year.   That is if Cody and Sierra become huge pet superstars from a deal we make at BarkWorld 2013 and we can all retired in Hawaii.  🙂