The Hypothesis is Wrong, Jeff

To follow-up on last week’s “Google Buys Arizona and Southern Idaho” post hypothesizing on a shocking title leading to the most popular post ever, um, it was wrong.

In my defense, the version that didn’t make it through RM editorial had a much more enticing title involving one starlet from “Herbie Fully Loaded” that just may have toppled the current winner. Who knows, with my natural search keyword prowess, it may be too early to declare defeat. Special thanks to Google attorneys who have ignored my outright false statement. (They aren’t allowed to do something evil like send me a cease & desist anyway, right?)

With the not-so-popular post appearing on 4/8, let’s look at the tape:

Daily Visits Report:


Top Content Report:


Ouch, not even close. I knew the A/B testing instructions from mid-January was the post to beat, but I didn’t even crack the top-25. I did have several comments such as “Your title totally made me read the post in my iGoogle today.” Unfortunately, reading our blog in a RSS feed reader doesn’t show up in our Google Analytics KPIs. Consider this hypothesis…BUSTED!

Posted by: Jeff Campbell, VP Product Development & Innovation