How'd they do that??

I research background on the lighthouses we visit and enter that into the files I'm keeping. I wasn't sure what the order was for the Fresnel lens that used to be in the Hilton Head (Leamington) Range Rear Light and Googled Leamington Lighthouse Fresnel lens a few minutes ago. Imagine my surprise to find the thread I posted following our recent trip to GA and SC is included in the web sites Google suggests to visit to find the information I'm looking for. Does everything we do on CF get posted to Google? What a trip!
Sandy

A LOT of stuff does. I've come across several searches where it's happened. If you search Cape2Cape, which was the name of my MA trip last year, my posts are near the top. Even searching "Land Rover Tree" brings up my thread on the tree that hit the Rover (this doesn't really help me when I'm trying to research repair or conversion alternatives). I've even had it pop up on some completely-non-lighthouse-related search (can't remember), where it was the second result.

I think Grace mentioned this happening a few days ago, too. It's really annoying to search for the answer to your question and find...well, your question!

Yup! I had emailed some of my friends in the Chinese community about Chinese lighthouses which Margret wanted to identify. My friend Bobby had no answers so he decided to go to Google one night. Next day, he emailed me that he had read my posts on the subject. Pretty annoying, like Greg said, to find your question when you are searching for the answer. On the other hand, what would we do without Google?

Google has a way to search sites and then index on key words. When you post something unique, like the Chinese lighthouse or using the alternate name of a light it picks up on that. When someone else searches for those words Google pulls it from its index files and shows it to you as a result.

I won't guarantee this is exactly how it happens, but it is pretty much right. Perhaps if Saint Timothy reads this he can provide a dissertation on the actual chain of events.