does keyword grabbing have merit?

hello -
I created a php program that parses the HTTP_REFERER. This program logs what search engine the user came from, and what keywords they used to get there.
EX:


That being said, I've been running it for close to a month on one of my higher volume sites. There are about 10 keyword combinations (for all the Search Engines) that are generating most of the hits.

two questions:
1: Does my program have any novelty? That is, are there alot of other programs that do the same thing and what I've done is actually "old hat"? Would anyone want this program?

and
2: How might I use the results detailed above to better formulate my SEO strategy? That is, is this data kind of moot?

Thanks in advance,
Taylor

I have heard of people using something like that to dynamically generate pages with the content.. but that stands on the side of 'black hat'.

Here is my thoughts on it:

In the last month I have been doing a test with a system that searches the net for top stories in the news, then scrapes a fraction of the article, and create a page on that story and provides a link to the original article. In no way is the system ‘black hat’, In a since its creating a web based RSS feed to the real thing.

With my system I have to create categories, which in a since are keywords. Then the system goes out and finds what I asked it to look for. If I would add something like your using to the system then I could just let is add extra categories to the system when it finds a keyword that it can not find data in its database about.

But its not something I would be jumping up and down about as it would only bring a small percent of new articles to the system. What I really would like to figure out is how to find out what are the top news, and let the system auto create categories as the news gets hot. That way I don’t have to do it. ;p

Of course it has merit. That is one of the most important components of log analysis, for example. Yes, good log analyzers (or stats programs) give this information, so in that sense, it is nothing new. Still, many of those programs don't give good enough information, and therefore, your program could be of use in that case. It is very important to know which search engines are sending you traffic, and which keywords on those search engines are working for you. You may discover that many people are looking for a specific thing, coming to your site, and then not finding what they were looking for. So, what do you do? Give them what they were looking for, of course! Those people will now stay at your site, and perhaps you'll make a sale.

Donna,

What I could do is track the behavior of a user that came in using a specific search term (what do they search for on my site, how long do they stay, how many clicks, etc.) - then I could use that data to determine which search terms are generating the best user experience and which are not. I could use sessions with this - right on.

Thanks for the insight.

-Taylor

one more thing:


Could you tell me what specific features you would want to have from a program like this? Which are most important and which are just great bells/whistles?

thanks again.

Drop the sessions when bots come around or you site wont get in the SERPS

Knowing what keywords people searched to come to a site is very useful.

L3vi:

How do i know whether or not a bot has come to the site. I can certainly put a conditional in my session_start(); - that is, if there is a concrete way of determining the diff. b/t a bot and an average user.

ALso - is there any reason the bots don't like sessions?

Thanks again,

Taylor