Searching for products and services on the Internet doesn’t have to be an exercise in obscurity. The bottom line is this. Search engines have to balance how much information they stuff into their databases with the speed at which they deliver those results to you. Obviously the greater the amount of information they have to sift through to get you your answer, the longer it will take. Quick and accurate responses are of great importance to search engines as their goal is to quickly respond to your request in an almost psychic way.
One method that is used by them is to ignore common words like, “where, how, is, and & in”. One way to get the search engine to include a word that you think is essential in your search phrase is by adding a plus sign next to that word or by enclosing the entire phrase in quotes. Google uses a good example for a search on Star Wars Episode I. If you absolutely wanted the search engine to include the last character in the search phrase you would simply type “Star Wars Episode I” or Star Wars Episode +I. In the first case the phrase was enclosed in quotes and in the latter case the plus sign was placed next to the I. One item to note here is that search engines see everything in lower case so there is no need to use capitalization. It’s a wasted keystroke.
Something else you might find interesting is known as “Stemming” or word variations. Google defines this as the ability to search, not only for YOUR search phrase, but also for words that are similar to some or all of the words in your phrase. In another of Google’s search examples, they use the phrase – pet lemur dietary needs. Google will not only find relevant content on that particular phrase, it will also yield results such as – pet lemur diet needs.
Of course there are times when you are using a word or phrase that can be found in many unrelated situations such as the word “bass”. In yet another of Google’s examples, bass could be related to fish as well as music (as in bass guitar). One way to deal with that situation is to use what is referred to as negative terms. Simply put, you would enter the search phrase and place a minus sign ‘-‘ next to the word or words you want to avoid as in, bass –music -guitar. The negative sign next to the words “music” and “guitar” will stop the search engine from delivering results related to bass music and bass guitar.
In a nutshell, eliminate those pesky common words from your search terms and get more targeted results by using quotes(“), plus signs (+) and minus signs (-) where necessary. Also, don’t waste time with capitalization as “Orlando SEO Experts” and “orlando seo experts” yield the same exact results. Searching the Internet for products and services can be a challenge sometimes so why not help the search engine help you.
Naturally at On Target Web Solutions, we keep these items in mind when performing our Search Engine Optimization magic for our clients. If you need help being found on the Internet, why not give us a call at 407.830.8550 now or click to your Search Engine Optimization Experts website? We will be happy to discuss your situation and potential needs with a free consultation. Happy searching!
