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Google, Hoops and Hat Tricks
July 19, 2006
In doing some keyword research this morning, I was checking to see what Google considers to be synonyms of various sports-related keywords.
I frequently use the tilde (~) character in such searches to find ways to vary text but still keep the pages relevant for specific terms and concepts. Google has this to say about the tilde search on its search refinement page:
If you want to search not only for your search term but also for its synonyms, place the tilde sign ("~") immediately in front of your search term.
So I was a little surprised when I did a tilde search for [~nhl] to see that Google considers NBA synonymous with NHL:
I expected to see National Hockey League, and Sports didn't surprise me. But NBA? That's a stretch. (Strangely, searching for [~nba] doesn't return NHL as a synonym, as you might expect.)
I did more tilde searches for abbreviated sports leagues, such as [~mlb], [~wnba], [~nfl], and a few others. In all cases, Google typically returned as synonyms the full name of the league or another related term - but no surprises.
So who knows more about hockey than Canada? Logic would then suggest that google.ca would fix this American error - right? Almost. While google.ca still shows NBA in its results for [~nhl], NBA.com appears at number 2 instead of number 1, where google.com puts it.
All posts by Erik Dafforn
posted by Erik Dafforn at July 19, 2006 2:50 PM
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Comments
This is somewhat unrelated but it is in your post. What are the links that show up under the Google input box in the screen shoot you included. They say:
KW Research | View Bids | AW Sandbox | Traffic Estimator
Are those tools anyone can get?
Posted by: Tchei at July 19, 2006 7:38 PM
Hi Tchei,
Sorry - I meant to add that in a post script, because I thought some readers might wonder about that.
The tools you see (both under the search box and under each site listed) come from Aaron Wall's "SEO for Firefox" extension. It's been out only a week or two, and it's been very helpful so far. Read more about it here.
Posted by: Erik Dafforn at July 19, 2006 7:55 PM
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