The Red Notebook

Since I relaunched the Friends of Charles Darwin website with a brand new design and a brand new web address in August last year, I’ve kept an occasional eye on the Google search results for the phrase “Charles Darwin” to see how the site ranks. As I type, the site has risen from 57th place shortly after the relaunch to 44th. Good, but no cigar. We are, after all, still only on page 5.

What does irk me slightly about the site’s Google ranking is that, if I were a neutral observer (which obviously I’m not), I like to think that I would still want a site which is totally dedicated to Charles Darwin, which contains the word ‘darwin’ in its URL, which has (as I type) 1852 members who have declared Charlie is my Darwin and filled in an actual enrolment form, and which has been on the web since 1995 to come considerably higher in a search for the name “Charles Darwin” than a measley 44th place. Especially as some of the so-called websites with higher rankings only contain single pages mentioning the great man.

But I suppose I’m biased.

Yes, I know Google ranking is based on how many other sites have linked to the site in question and not necessarily on actual content, but shouldn’t there be a place on the web for search engines with an element of (if you’ll forgive the expression) intelligent design?

Which is why I was so pleased to learn about Mahalo, which claims to be the world’s first human-powered search engine. That’s right: real, live, intelligent human beings compile the search results for Mahalo. And (get this), if you search Mahalo for the phrase “Charles Darwin”, there, in a section labelled ‘Charles Darwin Fan Sites’, on a page compiled by a real, live, intelligent human being named Sara, you will find a link to the one and only Friends of Charles Darwin website.

Thank you Sara.