I’m always curious to learn about how visitors find my blog. The one post on this blog that has earned the most views by a landslide is “What kind of tattoo should I get“, so it came as no surprise to find that “what kind of tattoo should i get” is currently one of the top search terms leading visitors to my site. When I dug in a little deeper, I found close to 100 different tattoo related search terms. Most of them can be categorized into a few distinct groups, so I decided to do just that. Starting out was very easy, but the lines started to blur after I grouped the obvious terms together. There is definitely some overlap between the groups, but I tried to put myself in the place of the person doing the searching. I wanted to get in their head and imagine what they were thinking while conducting their searches. Here is what I came up with.
“I want a tattoo, but need help choosing one”
The first group is exactly who my previous article was intended for, so I’m happy to see that they aren’t having trouble finding it. This person thinks they want a tattoo and feels like Google will be able to tell them exactly what kind to get. I use Google to gather information on just about everything, but you can read this post to find out how I really feel about this. Most searches here are very generic, but a few get into specific body parts. One person wants to taste their tattoo before getting one. I’m sure that particular search was lost in translation, but now I’m kind of curious to know what a tattoo tastes like.
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“I want to see examples of tattoos, good or bad”
The next group of searches is a little more specific. Maybe these people already have an idea in mind, and now want examples of a certain type of tattoo. The other half just want to find a funny tattoo that they saw somewhere else online. The now infamous cat asshole belly button tattoo is particularly popular. One person even searched the term “misspelled tatoo” and spelled the word tattoo wrong in the process. Oh the irony.
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“I want to know more about people with tattoos”
Next comes those seeking to learn more about people with tattoos. The reasons why they choose to get inked, and starting to dig into the characteristics of people with tattoos. Here is where we begin to cross the line between simple information gathering and venture into the land of the stereotypes.
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“I don’t like tattoos and there must be people out there that feel the same way”
Next up, we move into some of the more stereotypical and negative searches. Name calling, narcissism, and reading comprehension? That one just baffles me. What could reading comprehension have to do with tattoos? I’m sure that not everyone in this group hates tattoos, some are just curious as to why other people do.
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“Is there anyone out there with a positive view on tattoos?”
The number of searches in this group are dwarfed by the previous, but it is nice to see that there are at least some people out there seeking out the positive side of tattooing. I’m going to guess that these searchers either already have tattoos or are planning on getting one and need to justify their decision to friends or family who might not be so hot about the idea. They need evidence to counter every they hear from the overwhelming number of people in the anti-tattoo group above.
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“All this info is great, but I need to see some numbers”
The next group of searches are the people who have read the articles, and now want the numbers to back them up. They want hard data, real statistics.
I’m sure that the people that fall into this group are either engineers or writing some sort of research paper.
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“Do tattoos still carry a negative stigma?” “Will my tattoo hurt my ability to find a job?”
This last group probably consists of a pretty broad range of people. One person might be doing research before deciding to get a tattoo. Another may have experienced some form of discrimination because of their tattoos for the first time. Others are curious about their tattoos effect on employment and even dating. To me, these searches are phrased in a way that seems more curious, rather than condemning.
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That covers everything that I could fit into a specific category. There were also a number of searches related to tattoo photography, some people looking for tattoo shops and a few searches for random tattoo sayings I may have used in a post or two.
I sincerely hope that people finding my blog will leave with a little more knowledge about tattoos and the people who choose to get them. Deciding to get my first tattoo was a shock to most people that know me because they didn’t see me as “the type”. My goal is to convince more and more people that tattooed people can’t just be type-casted and lumped into one huge group. If just one person searching for “are people who get tattoos shallow”, lands on my site and is convinced otherwise, my time spent writing this blog has not been in vain.
Also, another search I have noticed is, “How to tattoo.” I would give it a try