Keywords and Search Results

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The Lessons of A New Blogger...

Learning Definitions

Keywords - Simply put, keywords are words in a post, blog, article, or website that causes the search engines to bring up that particular post, blog, article or website when someone searches for that word.

Long tail keywords are several words or a phrase people might use to refine their search. For example, if someone searches for "can I wash my vinyl shower curtain," my post Washing A Vinyl Shower Curtain Liner might show up in their results.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the tactic of using keywords, and/or long tail keywords in order to make your post, blog, article, or website show up in the top of the search results.
Most people only click on the results that are shown in the first page or two, so having your post, blog, article or website in the top results is important if you want to be found online.

Making Money

High paying keywords - High paying keywords are certain words found in advertisements. There are a lot of ads of various kinds on the internet and many of them are what's called "Pay Per Click" or "ppc." That means when someone clicks on the ad to view it, the website or blog author makes money. The words found in the highest paying ads are known as "high paying keywords."
Keywords pertaining to lawyers, insurance, mortgages, and certain diseases are usually listed in "high paying keyword" lists available at various sites online.

Many people are trying to make money online and with that comes the attempt to use high paying keywords in their post, blog, article or website in order to be found by search engines and in hopes someone will click on their ads so they can make money. For example: if someone reads a list that states "mesothelioma" is a high paying keyword, they would then use the keyword "mesothelioma,"  and long tail keywords like "mesothelioma symptoms," "mesothelioma settlements," etc.,  in order to be found by the search engines, and thus by someone searching for more information about mesothelioma, in hopes that someone would click the ads on their website.
If a website contains mostly links, ads and little or no content, it can be classified as "spam," but the use of keywords, high paying or otherwise, is also used by people who have great websites with useful content. If someone writes a terrific article about, for example: "window blinds" and someone finds the content useful, and then decides to click on an ad for a "window blind company" displayed on the site, then it is a win-win situation - the person who did the searching found a useful article, and also a link to a company with products that might interest them; the author of the article makes a little money, and the company finds a potential customer.

Interested In How It All Works

As I perused several "high paying keyword" lists, I had to smile and wonder about a couple of the suggested keywords - "breast augmentation San Diego", and "laser hair removal Washington, D.C.". I can only assume from those keywords that there are flat chested people in San Diego, and hairy people in Washington, D.C.  
As to why "Chicago lawyers" are popular, I can only speculate.

Keyword Searches And Odd Results

There are tactics to being "found" on the internet, but there is another whole science in the "searching." Sometimes people are directed to pages that have little or nothing to do with their "search." I just chalk it up to a non-thinking machine (the search engine) trying to help a thinking being.

A couple of examples - I had been doing a lot of Bible study online, and I'd also been doing a lot of genealogy research online. One day, when I searched for a "family tree" for one of my ancestors, "Ephraim Kinder," the top search result was a verse from a German Bible - "Und Joseph sah von Ephraim Kinder des dritten Gleides..." - translation:  "And Joseph saw Ephraim's children to the third generation... " (Genesis 50:23)

"Ephraim Kinder" is "Ephraim's children" in German!
The "helpful" search engine had combined my Bible study with my genealogy research!


Another time I'd been searching for languages spoken in India; a couple of days later, I searched for a totally unrelated subject. The helpful search engine brought up some results in English, and some results in Hindi!

And Your Keyword Results Are...

So, sometimes an internet search engine brings up odd results, and sometimes the website author or blogger shakes their head in wonder as to how their page got "found" for a particular phrase or keyword!

Have you had odd search results?

Have people found your blog or website by odd keywords or phrases?

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(Note- If you liked this post, you might also enjoy my post The Allure of Checking Stats)