Googled

About a month ago, I installed a more sophisticated site meter to this blog in order to track how many people were visiting the site and more importantly when, how and why. I had never been aware up until now of the fingerprint that users of the net leave behind when they surf it. It's particularly worrying given the frequency with which I google old schoolfriends to make sure they're not doing better than me (most of them are - Ed.).

The majority of visitors come to the site via the excellent Forever Charlton news and blog aggregator. I'm always touched meanwhile when a sudden rush of hits from NetAddicks for example tells me someone must have linked to my blog, leaving me searching eagerly for the hopefully flattering mention. The most curious visits arise however from those instances where a completely random Google search somehow ends up suggesting my blog as an appropriate match.

Don't get me wrong, Google is an extraordinary company. To put it in context, its current equity market capitalisation is $127.1bn. In other words, you could either buy Google today or for the same price have received all of the goods and services produced by the Czech Republic in 2005; that's an awful lot of Budvar and strip shows. And moreover, I think what we have seen so far from Google is merely the tip of the iceberg. Once Google search capability interacts more seamlessly with mobile phone technology and GPS, the current valuation may one day seem like a bargain.

However when a lovestruck ice skating fan recently searched for 'Jayne Torvill divorce' I am reasonably confident he did not intend to find my blog as his 19th most likely match. Likewise when a lexicographer was looking for inspiration and searched for '"set our stall out" dictionary', I trust he or she found the definition they sought on the 3rd most likely match suggested.

I have never tended to use the 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button on Google unless I'm searching for something extremely obvious like 'Sheraton' or 'British Airways'. However when I do use it, I naturally fully expect to be sent straight to the most appropriate site, regardless of my sense of good fortune that day. Hence imagine the surprise of the amateur meteorologist when they searched for 'graph of average sunny days in New York', clicked the lucky button and ended up on a blog ostensibly about Charlton.

Now finally, I thought I bowed to no-one when it came to being personally affronted by the audacity of Frank Lampard publishing his memoirs after such a shameful World Cup. No-one that was until I realised as ever that our man Frankie Valley had got there before me. Nonetheless, I feel that our twin offensive may be bearing fruit because a quick Google search for 'Totally Frank' (in the footsteps of one of my visitors) finds me lying 10th in Google's suggested links.

Now I'm not advocating 'click fraud' but if I could just ask you all to spare a minute or two to do the search then click my link, we have a chance of creating that precious moment when Frank, in a rare moment of reflection and solitude decides to Google his book (hopefully whilst feeling lucky).