It’s Not Only Poor Search Engine Optimization Habits – Some Misleading Search Results Arise From Google
posted in List Marketing |It is widely accepted that some search engine optimisation consultancies still persist in using plans that are considered to be bad practices to raise the organic search engine positioning of a business’s website. One favourite process is to fill a page with inappropriate keywords and thus gain a good listing for something that is unrelated to the actual search request being entered. However, inappropriate results may not always be the fault of bad search optimization practices – it may be that Google is trying too hard to be helpful.
The search facilities like to associate synonyms with keywords used in a search request. This has led to a change in the way that website content needs to be written, so that when optimizing the content of a page the keywords to be emphasised appear often enough to be meaningful without resorting to keyword stuffing. Using synonyms helps to highlight the importance of the keywords being promoted and adds to the quality of the page content. The area that Google appears to be falling down is when a search term has a logical abbreviation or acronym.
A typical search request may be for the shop chain, British Home Stores. This organisation is often called to as BHS, so Google considers that to be a synonym. However, many other organizations could be referred to with the same abbreviation – such as the British Horse Society. It would be understandable to return numerous apparently unrelated organizations if the search request was just for the abbreviation “BHS”, but a surprise when the request is so specifically for a company name. This is a weakness of the search engine algorithm, not unethical search optimization.
While there is this minor problem with the search facilities, it is obviously wise to ensure that all the simple technical enhancements that would normally be performed as part of the initial search optimization review are done. Anything that can be done to make your website more visible on the organic results listing. Good titles can also help the search facilities in cases where the request keywords are effectively a description, e.g. for a named celebrity’s official site. By including the words “official site” in the page title, the page will naturally attract a higher search engine positioning. search engine optimisation is not just about the most relevant keywords, but the selection and location of the most meaningful keywords and choice of pages with which they are associated can make a difference.
The snippets that the search facilities create from the web page’s content also give clarity to the results page. It should be immediately obvious when the search engine has returned an inappropriate result, but well written content on your website should make it more visible when it is accompanied by competitor sites.
There is still scope for the use of bad practices in search engine optimisation, even though the search facilities keep trying to discourage them. However, it is not safe to assume that inappropriate results are always the fault of bad practices. The good search engine positioning for an irrelevant site could result from a misinterpretation by a search engine.
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