Some of my favorite search terms of 2014

Instead of writing a “Year in Review” blog post, there are enough of those out there, I thought I’d take a different approach and look at some of the more interesting search terms that were used to find my blog this year.

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My site analytics are pretty basic, mostly what blog posts have been viewed for the day, basic tracking and search terms used to find the site. The majority of search terms aren’t available to me, search engines protect their users that are logged in by blocking the search terms but I do see some and sometimes they are funny other times they are very specific to something I’ve written and sometimes I just don’t understand how they found my site. I do benefit from seeing search terms, it’s not uncommon to have a very specific search come through that doesn’t exactly fit what the person was looking for, for instance “How are growlers made?” would find my site because I’ve written about growlers on numerous occasions but not how they are made, however it’s still an interesting question and maybe thats a future topic.

This year people were searching out knowledge and sometimes I could help, other times I could not.

“History of beer in Portland, Maine” was a common search term, I assume they were looking for my friend Josh Christie and his book Maine Beer: Brewing in Vacationland.

One person’s very specific search “The topic of my talk is sorghum” must have found one of my gluten free beer reviews, I’m not an expert on sorghum so I probably didn’t help their talk very much.

What kind of alchoal is in beer” is not something I’ve written about, to my knowledge alchoal isn’t even a thing but there is alcohol in beer and as for what kind, it’s ethanol.

“How much alcohol is in beer” is a good question and it varies beer to beer, I assume they didn’t get their answer and more likely than not found my post on this years ABV controversy.

“How to start a beer club” I’m not entirely sure if this person was trying to start a beer drinking club or join a beer of the month club but if it’s the former I’d like to join their club, the first rule of beer club, you don’t talk about beer club.

Dirty glassware was a hot topic this year with some pretty serious search terms “can you catch something drinking out of a dirty glass?” and “I think I got sick from the sanitizer in my bar glass” while others just seemed confused “Do you not want bubbles in your glass from beer? does that indicate a dirty glass” So first off, how dirty a glass are you drinking from that you wonder if you can catch something? If it’s that bad send it back, if every glass is that bad find a new bar where you don’t have to worry. Next, unless you’ve been served a full glass of sanitizer I’m going to say no, this person did not get sick from the sanitizer, more likely they drank too much beer, ate something that didn’t agree with them or someone else made them sick, but sweet new excuse for a hangover, it wasn’t the beer it was the sanitizer. Lastly, yes you want bubbles in your beer, sliding from the bottom to the top to support the head, you do not want bubbles clinging to the side of the glass, that is an indication of a dirty glass.

It’s pretty common to get a search looking for pub crawls, Bangor and Portland are the most common places but this one is the most interesting of the year “Non-beer pub crawl Portland Oregon” which I can’t help with, I’ve written about a Portland, Maine pub crawl but it involved beer, It’s never a bad idea to have a designated driver along though, maybe that’s what they were looking for.

Then there was the random product searches, “craft beer bottle openers” is popular, are they looking for branded bottle openers? I’ve never known bottle openers to be very specific, honestly the beer tastes as good popped with a bottle opener as it does with a lighter or dollar bill or whatever other trick you know to pop a bottle. I haven’t reviewed a “Lawnmower drink holder” but I did write about lawnmower beers. Other people just wanted to find a song, “Jerry Lee Louis beer barrel polka” would have found a guest post from WHSN Station Manager and Program Coordinator, Mark Nason who wrote about beer and music.

Some of the more vague search terms this year included “bearded brewmaster” and “If you drink green beer”. There are a lot of bearded brewers, so take your pick and I expressed my thoughts on green beer this year but have never done any research about what happens to you if you drink it.

Some people, and it’s not surprising, were drunk when they searched for the page, “If yhese coasterds could talk” that’ll happen when you write a beer blog.

The last search term I’m including here is by far the shadiest thing to find my blog this year, “how to sell beer to someone who does not take alcohol”  I’m not sure what post it hit but I know they didn’t find the answer on my site but if they had it would have been simply, you don’t.

That wraps things up for If My Coaster Could Talk for 2014, I’d like to thank everyone who read the blog this year, it’s been fun and I look forward to what 2015 brings.

Happy New Year

Chaddah

Chad Lothian

About Chad Lothian

Chad Lothian lives in Old Town, Maine. He is a craft beer enthusiast and homebrewer. Chad has travelled to brewpubs, breweries and brewfests all over New England.