“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” — Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
Back in my SEO newbie days, I used to wonder why the keyword “Clinton cabinet” had such a dismal click-through rate compared to my other pay-per-click keywords. Among many other things, my company sells cabinets made by a manufacturer named Clinton. It seemed like a perfect match.
Then one day, it dawned on me that people searching the phrase “Clinton cabinet” were most likely looking for Bill Clinton’s presidential cabinet. A quick search on Google confirmed my suspicion, and I dropped the keyword.
Since then, I’ve learned to keep an eye out for double meanings like this. Whenever I see a keyword performing way under the norm, I do a quick manual search to see what comes up.
I thought “power stretcher” was a good keyword for an electric hospital stretcher, but it turned out to be a carpet installation device. “Patrol pump” is a type of medical pump, but “pump patrol” is a way to check for cheap gas prices.
My personal favorite: “green medical stool“. Yikes. It seemed like a good idea at the time …
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Power stretcher makes me think of Yoga, too… Yikes!
That’s something to think about, yeah. Imagine how many meanings the single word “bush” would have… prez, rock group, shrubbery, etc
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There is so much slang in our language, (no wonder people from abroad have such a hard time learning the language), that you need to be alert to double-meanings. Green medical stool – I’m trying to get the image out of my mind. Thanks for the post – I don’t mean fence, mail, job, cereal.
This reminds me of a friend of mine who owned a bakery that was locally famous for selling just the “Muffin Tops,” and “Muffin Top” Cake – needless to say that trademark trait didn’t translate online. (Muffin Top is a really popular slang term for when a woman’s belly hangs over the top of her low-cut jeans).