This link has been bookmarked by 64 people . It was first bookmarked on 28 Aug 2006, by Anita Rissler.
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Summary:
Familiar words spring to mind when users create their search queries. If your writing favors made-up terms over legacy words, users won't find your site. -
Speak the user's language" has been a primary usability guideline for more than 20 years. The fact that the Web is a linguistic environment further increases the importance of using the right vocabulary.
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here are many elements to search engine optimization, but SEO guideline #1 is our old friend, "speak the user's language." Or, more precisely, when you write, use keywords that match users' search queries.
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Old words rule because people know them intimately. Familiar words spring to mind unbidden. Thus, users are likely to employ old words when they boil down their problem to a search query, which is typically only 2-3 words long.
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- Supplement made-up words with known words. It's tempting to coin new terms because you can own the positioning if the term catches on. But, more likely, people will continue to use their old terminology. It's long been a usability guideline to avoid made-up words in navigation menus, because users scan them for words they know. In full-text content, you can include new words for effect, but make sure to supplement them with legacy words -- that is, words that your customers know and use in everyday business practice.
- Play down marketese and internal vocabulary. Call a spade a spade, not a digging implement. Certainly not an excavation solution. Many marketers like to embellish products to make them seem grander than traditional fare. But customers define their needs in known terms, so be sure to use them, even if you don't think they're exciting. The very fact that a word is unexciting indicates that it's frequently used. People search for terms like "cheap airline tickets," not "value-priced travel experience." Often, a boring keyword is a known keyword.
- Supplement brand names with generic terms. If people know and already like your brand enough to search for it, wonderful: you're halfway home. This is particularly true if you're a B2B site, where a main goal is to simply survive the sales funnel's initial discovery and research stages and make it to the shortlist. You should of course include your brand name when describing your products so that fans can find you. But don't abandon the other 95% of prospects who are searching for their problem and don't know the name of your solution. In the funnel's early stages, people tend to use non-branded search terms, because they haven't yet decided which companies to put on the shortlist. This is exactly the time when you have the potential to influence them.
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Avoid "politically correct" terminology. When writing about accessibility, for example, talk about blind users or low-vision users, not visually challenged users. First, nobody searches for a made-up phrase like "visually challenged." Second, "blind" and "low-vision" are more precise: they refer to two separate groups of people. Each group uses different assistive technologies and has a different experience of your website. They therefore have distinct usability needs.
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19 Jul 10
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18 Apr 10
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"Speak the user's language" has been a primary usability guideline for more than 20 years.
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use keywords that match users' search queries
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Winston Churchill said that "short words are best and the old words when short are best of all."
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In full-text content, you can include new words for effect, but make sure to supplement them with legacy words
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95% of prospects who are searching for their problem and don't know the name of your solution
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In the funnel's early stages, people tend to use non-branded search terms, because they haven't yet decided which companies to put on the shortlist. This is exactly the time when you have the potential to influence them.
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Avoid "politically correct" terminology. When writing about accessibility, for example, talk about blind users or low-vision users, not visually challenged users. First, nobody searches for a made-up phrase like "visually challenged." Second, "blind" and "low-vision" are more precise: they refer to two separate groups of people.
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21 Oct 09
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03 Sep 09
ken .Old familiar, not new peculier - From 2006, use invented-vocabulary and it can't be found, no intersections, no value - "Familiar words spring to mind when users create their search queries. If your writing favors made-up terms over legacy words, users wo
analogy communication design information memory mind principles search simplicity value web writing
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28 May 09
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Play down marketese and internal vocabulary. Call a spade a spade, not a digging implement. Certainly not an excavation solution. Many marketers like to embellish products to make them seem grander than traditional fare. But customers define their needs in known terms, so be sure to use them, even if you don't think they're exciting. The very fact that a word is unexciting indicates that it's frequently used. People search for terms like "cheap airline tickets," not "value-priced travel experience." Often, a boring keyword is a known keyword.
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If you fill your pages with fancy new words, you'll lose the most powerful tool in Internet marketing: the ability for users to find you in search.
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And we know from hundreds of usability studies that users abandon websites with product pages that are confusing or fail to answer their questions.
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05 Mar 09
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25 Feb 08
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21 Feb 08
Arne van ElkOver de termen die je als tags bij een internetartikel plaatst (of als woorden in de titel etc.)
tags tagging findability webdesign user experience SEO usability zoekmachineoptimalisatie SEA
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27 Dec 07
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17 Dec 07
Emily BolesFamiliar words spring to mind when users create their search queries. If your writing favors made-up terms over legacy words, users won't find your site.
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11 Sep 07
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14 Aug 07
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23 Jul 07
Simone Economo"Familiar words spring to mind when users create their search queries. If your writing favors made-up terms over legacy words, users won't find your site."
usability seo search keywords business ranking webwriting copywriting
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14 Jun 07
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13 May 07
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Winston Churchill said that > "short words are best and the old words when short are best of all." >
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Old words rule because people know them intimately. Familiar words spring to mind unbidden. Thus, users are likely to employ old words when they boil down their problem to a search query, which is typically only 2-3 words long.
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Many marketers like to embellish products to make them seem grander than traditional fare. But customers define their needs in known terms, so be sure to use them, even if you don't think they're exciting. The very fact that a word is unexciting indicates that it's frequently used.
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21 Feb 07
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06 Jan 07
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24 Sep 06
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01 Sep 06
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31 Aug 06
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29 Aug 06
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28 Aug 06
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Familiar words spring to mind when users create their search queries. If your writing favors made-up terms over legacy words, users won't find your site.
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