Fast track to #1 in the All search

LL has been fiddling with the All search. Marcel was the first to point out a change to me, about a week ago, but we didn't figure out why the change. Then it changed back a couple of days later. After that, I saw something during a discussion in a thread, but took no notice of it at the time. Now I see that it's become the norm, and it gives people a sure-fire way of ranking #1 for their main searchterm.

Buy and island and name it according to your main search term, and move your business to it. Or, if you have an island already, have it renamed to your main searchterm.

Regions that are named to exactly match the searchterm are ranked #1. Examples: low prim furniture, furniture, skins, etc. The case doesn't matter.

As well as ranking #1, the results page has a teleport button that takes you straight there, without needing to go to the parcel's page first.

Unfortunately, it looks like the main searchterms are taken already, but it's there to be done if it's suitable. Of course, there's no way of knowing whether or not the new super-ranks will stay. LL may just be fiddling with it to see how it goes. It could even be a test of a 'prefered or sponsored listing' type of system, similar to web search engines.

Uhm... regions have always ranked first, or have for months already anyway *confuzzled*.

Yes, I agree, there is a region with the same name as my business and it has allways been ranked #1 since the new search came along. I am number 2 and nothing I do will get me to #1 on that that particular word.

Think this is old news Phil

I saw it first less than a week ago. Today I saw it for the first time in searches that affect me, and I look at those quite often. I would have seen it before if it had been normal for a while. The region listing is quite distinctive.

As a matter of fact, you were part of the discussion when I first saw it. You said you saw a place at #1, and I said I see it at #5 or #6 (I forget which) - I even forget what the discussion was about. The region was at #1 for me, but I didn't take any notice of it. And you said you saw the place at #1. If the region was #1, the place would have been #2.

In view of those replies, what may be happening is that LL is tweaking something, so that regions are coming up more. What Marcel pointed out to me looked like a tweak too, so it may all be to do with tweaking. But I assure you, the region has not been at #1 for low prim furniture before - not even on the first page. It's come from nowhere.

Ohhh it's been noticed alright. I've seen some otherwise themed places start naming their regions some truly billboardy things... ugh! I'll not give in to that.

But in a way, it's not that big a deal. "Caledon" ... well... where else were you going to go on that search term? Zero impact for me, and if it took people anywhere else, then... that would be stupid, wouldn't it?

Region's been booked solid since early 2006 anyway and the parcels around the telehub there have been called "licences to print $L" by some - and watching the financial trajectories of a few people it was true to some extent. One time there was an offer of $L 125,000 for a 2048m parcel by it, which was *refused* (that's $L 61/m folks).

Know what's there now?

1) a park that an oldbie won't give up, ever - relax and talk! He doesn't care about making $L much.

2) a welcome center, 110% nonprofit, run by the Caledon Library

3) some examples of Jess Patton's architecture (not sure if he put a shop back up, just a really cool example of colonial Victorian structure there now)

4) a Radio Riel building that I think is meant for welcoming people and classes too.

Before anyone says "Ur doing it Wrong" - realise that there are merchant barons handily clearing 1000 USD/month and up throughout Caledon, and deservedly so. I keep telling people that I was able to make $L 200k/month when I was three mainland regions away from the nearest mainland telehub back in the day.

Imagine having to escape a telehub 'mall' and cross 3 region borders to get somewhere about 1/2 a kilometer away. If people want your stuff, they'll find you. If you don't make stuff people want, you can be in their face all day and they will still push you aside.

Okay!!

So if I start making and selling Eldfells... I'll clean up!!!!

Anybody wanna buy a high-quality low-prim Eldfell??
C'mon...

Or could I interest anybody in some Nebos?

/me wonders how many mainland sim names would be "valuable".
It's a new gold rush!!

Sling, I have always wanted Eldfells!!! But - it has to match the Nebo in case they get used together. I like lime green- can I get polka-dots and contrasting trim?

Well search all is built for finding places rather than business so I'm not surprised to see this is how it works.

I think you may just be missing the obvious which is that someone just recently ordered a sim named "Low Prim Furniture" (or renamed an existing one to that)?

Regions only appear as the first result if they're an exact match for the search term, otherwise they're just subject to regular ranking.

I think the reason you're just seeing it more and more now is because more and more people are catching on and (re)naming their sims to fit search.

---

For this particular sim: http://sim-patico.blogspot.com/ has an SLurl to the store currently inhabiting the "Low Prim Furniture" region and on September 6th it was still located on a different sim.

No, I saw the region ranking first, but since regions *always* rank first for an exact match for the keyword it's hardly regular ranking so #1 for me is the result below the region result.

Now we just wait for someone to make a new themed continent named in parts: "casino sex gambling ageplay free bling VIP campbot adfarm escort sleaze"

It would act as a sort of drainhole.

All that stuff would go swirling down into its maw, and we could watch from afar as it filled.

After that the floodwaters would recede and flowers would sprout all over the mainland...

That's what it could be - and it probably is.

It's safe to say that LL have organised it that way, because I don't see any way for at least one of the regions I saw to be ranked that well by the Google appliance.

That is what I assumed when I saw the sim in question appear at the top of the list. I am pretty sure that there was no sim with that name until recently, but I could be wrong. I thought I had seen other sims that matched a search term exactly at the top of the list all along (the "Clothes" and "Furniture" sims for example), but I have to admit I never documented it in any way, so I can't be sure.

I have a little nagging voice in my head that says the region result used to appear a bit different though.

I *think* it used to be nearer to the top, more distinct from the "actual" results and that could have changed recently-ish and explain why more people notice it now since it now actually looks as part of the results.

---

Finally found an old screenshot including a region .



Contrast that with the same search now (pick Places from the drop down) and the region result is a lot more "obvious" now than it used to be, especially in-world with the alternate row colouring.

(And if you actually count the number of results on the first page of a search that has a region result you'll count 11 of them. The region listing isn't a true result and it never was)

Yep. I agree that the reason I haven't noticed it before is because there was no sim called 'low prim furniture' before - I agree with Nimue.

To me, it doesn't make any sense to list them first, other than giving an unmerited bonus to private sim owners, which, imo, isn't a good thing, but then I'm only looking at it from my own perspective, which isn't necessarily the right one.

Even though it's not new, it's still a fast-track way of getting the #1 ranking.

Does this work every day of the week? I swear they fiddle with the ranking order during the week.

I haven't noticed the rankings change with days. What does happen is that there is more than one datacenter, for want of a better word. So I can get different results for the same search simultaneously, by using different avatars, and each avatar's results are repeatable. I've seen 3 different results sets like that.

Phil, honestly, it's a matter of trusting these ranked businesses:



1. AAAAAAAAAAAAA Plumber. A. AAA. AAA-AA. I am teh First. plumber sexy gambling casino britneyspears xxx free VIP.

2. Plumber. Licenced, contracted, tons of stuff, been here for ages.

3. Plumber guy. I try real hard.

4. Desperate Noob Plumbing. Pleeeeaaze I am dying here.

5. Plumbing under construction. Opening soon. Faucets, sinks.

6. Plumbing and llama's. Chinchillas too, pets or meat.

7. Plum bing cherries peaches casaba melons


So... who do you think people really pick?

If the meaning of #7 is the same as my understanding of "melons", that one

The search confuses me. It is almost like i stopped listing entirely. I used to be #1 under "Tattoos" now I can not even find my shop in any ofthe first 10 pages. I didn`t search any further than that, Just figured I was not listing any longer. Ans if I am, very strange I would go from #1 to #who-knows-what overnight.

5 sounds more like me because I am always under construction cause
I am always making something new or distracted with whatever new idea.
I don't know about search, I figure if people really wanted what I make
they would know where to find me or friends would tell them where
to buy my stuff.
I am sorry I can't and won't spend close to 5000 usd for island just to be
on top of the search.
If you got it to spend great, I don't and I don't know about anyone else
but buying island just be in the top section of search seems to go against
what I know about islands.
I would only get island because I can afford to do it and want it, or after I've
already developed a successful business, a large consumer base that will follow me there plus I would earning earning over 2000 usd a month and don't need to cash out, have tons of cash credit to pay for islands for years in the future not just to just get into the search in my opinion.