This is not a porn site: My review of referring keywords
Ian Lurie Jan 11 2010
Seriously, this is not, and never has been, an ‘adult’ site. K?
You’re wondering why I even have to say that? Well, today I innocently took a glance at my Google Analytics referring keyword report, and look at my #1 keyword for the last 30 days:
I thought maybe that was some kind of organization that helps abused teenagers. I did a quick Google search, and got this:
…
I didn’t click any of the non-Conversation Marketing-related SERPs, by the way. Nor will I.
Now, I came by my Buy a Wife At Target ranking very honestly.
So how’d this one happen?
How it happened
Google ignores some very commonly-used words like ‘and’, ‘the’ and ‘is’.
My educated guess: Google decided that ’18 and abused’ is equivalent to ’18 abused’ and then matched that up to my article, which was titled ’18 most abused phrases of 2009′.
Fail
This ranking is a Google fail of epic proportions. Graywolf would have a field day.
Just remember folks: Check your referring keyword reports. For the comedic value, if nothing else.
Anyone have rated PG ideas for capitalizing on this? I’m kidding. I think. Yeah I am. No, wait…
Ian Lurie
CEO
Ian Lurie is CEO and founder of Portent Inc. He's recorded training for Lynda.com, writes regularly for the Portent Blog and has been published on AllThingsD, Forbes.com and TechCrunch. Ian speaks at conferences around the world, including SearchLove, MozCon, SIC and ad:Tech. Follow him on Twitter at portentint. He also just published a book about strategy for services businesses: One Trick Ponies Get Shot, available on Kindle. Read More
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I wrote a perfectly nice fairy tale about usability once (rip-off of the Princess And The Pea story) and started ranking for “father sleeps with daughter stories”. Made me a little ill.
This reminds me of a time I registered a vanity domain name for myself, stopped paying for it, and the next thing I knew it turned into a porn site..