Google Knows You by Your Nickname!

A specific example for latent semantic indexing

[selomelo]

Well, I waited for months to post this message. Now, since most people here seem get bored discussing seemingly never ending updates, I thought it is time to bump up the LSI issue again.

I remember giving some specific examples that might be considered as evidence for latent semantic indexing by Google.

This time, I will give you a very striking example that I think that many cannot but arrive at the same conclusion!

I used a username at a support forum (wordpress) where I asked some help for fixing a potential duplication problem with wordpress. My profile page there includes my username, and a link to my website. (I use that username here too, and nowhere else).

Now, when you type in my username in Google search, you get mydomain as the first result! This is very significant, because that username never (and I say “never”) cited on any pages of my website, nor included in any anchor text referring to my site. The only two places I use it is webmasterwold and wordpress. You may see other entries, but they do not belong to me.

You cannot find any association between the username and my site other than my profile page at wordpress.

I double-checked Yahoo and MSN, and found no reference to my website.

So, how Google came to associate my username and my website? And did it correctly? Is this not a clear indication that Google is heading in the direction of “intelligent” indexing, and had already made some remarkable progress towards it?

[tedster]

My profile page there includes my username, and a link to my website.

When it comes to an influence from inbound links, there's more than straight anchor text that comes into play -- text in proximity to the actual link, as well as the linking page's title element also have influence.

While I agree that some kind of semantic intelligence is being folded into the Google recipe more and more, in this case I think other factors may explain what you see -- your nickname in the profile page's title, for instance.

<fixed spelling>

[edited by: tedster at 6:30 am (utc) on Jan. 9, 2006]

[caveman]

Is your username the title of your profile page?

Does your user name appear more than once on your profile page?

Is the link to your site from your profile page the only outbound link, or one of only a few outbound links (most of the others common to multiple pages from the linking site), from your profile page?

[Powdork]

You guys are right to bring up word proximity of course. But isn't that one of the primary indicators that the words may be related semantically? For instance swimming and pool often appear together so the SE can clearly see that they are related semantically. I tried to start a somewhat similar thread recently regarding Jack Girardi (who is ten feet tall) and Frankie Avalon. If you search for Jack Girardi you will get the "see results for: Frankie Avalon" section under the third result. The only place these two appear together is in a System of a Down song and several forums asking who Jack Girardi is. I was impressed that Google could figure this out, but I still didn't get the answer to who Jack girardi is.

[iProgram]

G considers the words (your name) which surround the link (your website) as description of that link. But in your case, G is failed.

[texasville]

Go to google and enter your nickname and your site name and it will give you sites that carry info on you along with your site. You might be surprised to find registration of your info on some site that gives both. Some place you forgot about.

[truezeta]

Hi everyone I am a newbie. Great forum, BTW. I just started a webpage and I noticed in Google that my site pulls up by my nickname. I wondered how they did that as well considering my name is nowhere on my site. Interesting...