“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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