Search and Picks

It is good for Search when people have a Pick of your shop in their Profile. A Pick normally has the name and the description of the land where the Pick was taken, for example your shop name and description.

Does a Pick still count for Search when people change the name of the Pick? And what about the description? What exactly is stored from the Pick that matters for Search?

Yes it's good because some people profile browse and will see it, so it's free advertising.



Two different issues here, in terms of relevancy then yes it still counts. The changing of the name and the description will mean that if someone searches for the keywords contained in that description, it will return that avatar's name if someone searches all.

Actually I mean this:

For example, the name of my land (where the shop is) is:
FANNY'S FANTASTIC FUDGE FESTIVAL FACTORY

But the avatar changes the name in his/her Picks to:
FANNY'S

Or even:
BAKERY SHOP

Because the names are different, does the new Pick still have a positive influence on Search listings, although it has another name? In other words: does it still count as a 'link' for Search?

Same goes for the description.

In theory yes, because the pick should be tied to the parcel itself not the name of the parcel. Sometimes you see a pick and it has a location of "No Parcel" my understanding is that this won't count, although I'm not 100% sure of that.

Yes it does. The parts that matter are the words in the Title and Description. If someone changes those to other words such as "my sweetheart", that Pick will cause your store to rank for those words instead of the original ones, but other people will still have the orginal words, so it's no big deal.

Those don't count, Ciaran. It occurs when a place moves. The Picks remain and count for the old parcel but not for the new one.

I've seen them for parcels that haven't moved Phil. I'm not sure how that happens, maybe joining land or changing something about the parcel?

It could have happened when joining land before they changed how joining works for search - remember that? Joining land before then caused it many times. It was just down to luck which of the two pieces was used for the new Title and Description - and Picks.

Now the largest piece is used for that, and it will happen with any picks for the smaller piece.

Yup I remember your name being cited in the blog about it.

hehe - yep. I lost all of my Picks by joining a piece of land to the main piece.

Thanks, so this means no Pick is 'safe' right?

You mean: probably other people didn't change the name, so there are still enough Picks around that do have the original words, yes?

I don't understand the first question, but the the answer to the second one is yes - that's what I mean.

Well, no pick is protected, which is what I think you mean. You can't force people to use the same keywords and description but if someone changes the words then that pick counts for those new words.

I think I now understand the first question. That's correct. There is nothing to prevent people from changing your words in their Picks.

Yes sorry Ciaran and Phil, English is not my native language.

But I understand what you mean. Thanks a lot!

Your English is excellent. I wish I could speak a second language that well.

Hehe, I write it, please don't hear me speak...

But anyway. I was thinking, isn't it strange that Search puts such high value on profile picks, when just one change of words can make it all undone? Because I can understand why people would want to change names of their Picks, if only to place them in a kind of order.

It's because they bought an off-the-shelf search system that is designed to use links in the rankings algorithm, and Picks are links that they came up with. The system wasn't designed for SL.

That high value is put on Profile Picks, is that something you heard, or something you know somehow?
The reason I ask this, is because in my experience, as well as others I know, found that Picks became a lot less important as they used to be. In fact I am even thinking about removing my Picks reward system, because at the moment I am paying a few thousand Linden for no purpose. Most of the picks for my store are not payed for anyway, so I doubt I would loose anything in search ranking.

I don't know it for sure Marcel, but I do know that Phil (Deakins) dived deep into the new search system to figure out how it works. If I'm correct, Picks are considered to be 'links'. The more links you have, the higher in search you get (amongst others).

Phil, I believe you mentioned this before: I did not change my parcels like you did, only gave a new name to my shop/land. I have the distinct feeling that I logically should be higher in Search with the new name and keywords I now use. After about 36 hours I now see my new name in Search (All), but my position with a specific keyword is still the same, although I have focused a lot more on that one keyword. Could it be that (for example) all criteria are somewhat 'reset' and I am starting at zero again, for example with traffic? In other words: does my new name have to 'settle' in into Search and does it need a few days or even longer?

No it doesn't have to 'settle'. They do an update every 12 hours, and the rankings are done according to what exists at the time, so you should see the effect of nay changes you make within 12 hours.