Google's Banned Words for SEO

Well, it seems Google has a list of terms and words they'll disallow for searching in Google Shopping. Most I don't mind at all, they're not terms I use and often find annoying when searching myself - alternating capital letters the @ symbol in place of an o. I don't really even mind the drug and explosives terms being banned. While I do understand the alcohol references, there are a number of colors that use the same terminology and that's going to make things a little difficult.

They're also banning text and twitter speak, the shortening of a word to a single letter or number. Here's where it gets a little tricky for me personally. The screen name I've used for close to a decade contains 4U2, That screen name has meaning to me, it fits me, it holds dear memories of my children. I'm well known by it, and now it's banned. While I don't use that screen name for my shops I do have several profiles where do I use it, and link back here and to my shops. Link backs, we've all been told, are crucial to building an on-line presence and now it can penalize me.

I suppose I could change my screen name, create a more unified brand for my shops, but that means I'll be starting over in creating my presence and the 1000's of posts will still be there, penalizing me in search rankings. I googled, I have over 11,000 posts in combined forums and message boards - but Google will only allow me to actually look at three pages. I've already been truncated.

On a brighter note, I've been quite productive this week taking pics, writing descriptions, pricing, and even managed to get several items listed in both shops. I have a couple projects nearly finished, several planned out for Art with Heart, the Christmas swap on the jewelry forum and of course gifts to friends and family.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are inching ever closer and I suddenly feel an urgent need to get MOVING! I'm hoping to make a piece a day, but I'm sure there will be days where I won't make it. I did ask for my Master Bath to be finished for Christmas and that means I have taping, texturing, tiling and grouting in my very near future. On top of rocking the basement!

Not much has happened on that front this last month. Alan has been busy working and the backhoe/sand transporter has not been available for grout mixing and I have discovered I don't have the upper body strength to tip a full mixer of grout. At least not at the height it is set to allow for dumping into the wheelbarrow. I just don't have enough leverage. But the trim is up around the windows, stained and varnished, the rocks are stacked up to the trim, and it sure is looking pretty!

Well, I have some pictures to take, an e-mail to send, a Peacock to get finished, a bracelet the needs a clasp, a couple necklaces that need chains revamped and several projects to get started and mortar to mix. So I had better get moving!

'Til next time!
Dana

I really do think I should l have posts (at least topics to expand on) on stand by for this poor neglected blog. I really don't mean to neglect it, there are just only so many hours in a day and I find myself wishing for more hours on a regular basis.

Well, except for this last weekend, the thought of more hours in a day was a terrifying thought. That's how busy I was and how exhausted I was by it all! Thankfully it seems the fast forward pace I was running at is returning to normal play. Whew! I don't think I could keep up the pace for very much longer either.

The good news is, I finally got some of my garden planted up in pots and moved up here. They're waiting patiently to be tucked into their new home! I still have a lot of work ahead of me but it just warms my heart to look out my door and see my roses. I really didn't realize how much I missed puttering in the garden.

Pulled out my landscaping plans - really just an informal sketch - circles with numbers that remind me where I wanted to put what plant, and now I can get to work.

So now that you have an idea of what's been going on in my personal life and why I've been absent (sort of) I can update you on my jewelry goings on.

Beads n Blessings, Art With Heart Cycle 3 is under way! My kit arrived and I'm really excited to get started!

I joined a Color Challenge group and that is turning into so much fun. The group votes on a color scheme for the week and then creates something using those colors. It's a very diverse group of artists so their offerings are always fun to see, from web site graphics, to business cards, to custom aprons, to lamp worked beads, to jewelry, it's just a blast!

I've also joined a treasury team and have had the honor of being included in some very nice treasuries. I belong to other groups, but have never been chosen for theirs, so this is really quite exciting for me! It's even given me the pleasure of discovering some new shops I'd not seen before and also provided me with some inspiration.

Coupled with the Color group I will have a new piece to share with you in another blog post very soon I hope. And with Etsy's newly remodeled profile pages I hope to be able to use it to help tell the story of how I create the pieces I do. Should be interesting, and yup more work!!

Until next time!
Dana