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My preferred search phrase is "keyword1 keyword2". I don't rank so well on this, but you can't win 'em all.
However, I get a front-page ranking for "keyword1keyword2" if I eliminate the space. The crazy thing is, that search term without the spaces doesn't appear anywhere on my page!
I don't think it's anchor text that's doing it; I looked through backlinks and couldn't find any such anchor text.
And here's the clincher: If I search for "site:domain.com keyword1keyword2" then Google shows that same page that doesn't have the combined phrase anywhere on it (not even in the HTML, I checked).
BTW, this page that's ranking well is a frameset with ZERO content (outside of the <TITLE>, which is "keyword1 keyword2", with the space intact)!
Okay, maybe Google is actually searching for "keyword1 keyword2" (it DOES ask, "Did you mean <keyword1 keyword2>?"), but in that case, why doesn't it return the same results as for a search on "keyword1 keyword 2"?
At the very least, in addition to targeting misspellings, it looks as though maybe we should target collapsed search phrases without spaces.
Did I discover something new or unusual about Google? Do I get a prize?
-MBJ-
>>I don't think it's anchor text that's doing it; I looked through backlinks and couldn't find any such anchor text.
It's almost certainly in some anchor text somewhere. Remember that Google only shows you links of a certain PR, and so there are links counted that are not listed in a search.
If you click on Google's cache of the page in the search results, does it say "These terms only appear in links pointing to this page:" or "These search terms have been highlighted:"?
>>Do I get a prize?
Can I have one too? :)
zeus
So I think you were right, and I accept your answer, it's probably anchor text somewhere.
Thanks for the quick response, you guys know your stuff.
Just search allinachor:keyword1 keyword2 and you will surely see his site pop up #1.
Isn't that more easy?! :)
Thanks for the allinanchor tip! Using that and searching for "allinanchor:keyword1keyword2" (without the spaces) returns MY SITE, the SAME page that I get for doing a plain search for "keyword1keyword2".
The page in question is just a frameset, it has "keyword1 keyword2" (with the spaces) in the <TITLE> but it does NOT have "keyword1keyword2" (without the spaces).
Why is Google seeing the anchor phrase on that page when it's not there?
I bet this is a mystery that no one can solve.
The mystery is solved already ;) - the words are in anchor text pointing at the page.
As I said in the 2nd message in this thread, if you click the cache of your site in the results page, google will tell you whether it found the word on the page or whether it's in incoming links. Which does it say?
One other point is that Google is currently using relatively old backlink data, so the link might not even exist now, and it would still account for your ranking on the phrase.
Regarding the allinanchor search, I'd like to know if it shows the TARGET page of teh anchor, or the page on which the anchor text apears?
I think that's the point he was trying to make... that allinanchor should bring up the page where the link is.
Have you tried an alltheweb search which brings up more potential backlinks?
Good luck solving this mystery, and always keep in mind, google has been known to screw up in little details, so keep your minds open.
SN
I thought allinanchor meant 'find pages that are linked to with this search term,' not the page doing the linking.
>>It will ALWAYS claim it's in anchor text pointing to the page if it can't find it on the page. You'll not find Google admitting it's gubby
Granted, but if it's not on the page, how else would it be returned in a search? It has to be one or the other.
I've worked with large datasets (tiny comapred to google) and trust me, 10-20% of gibberish and rubbish is good for a set that size... and mine is small enough for human review. Just pick up your local white pages or yellow pages and you'll see what I mean.
No biggy, just pointing out that there might simply be NO LOGICAL explanation.
SN
First, I did a check on another site, and "allinanchor" most definitely returns the target page, not the page where the anchor text appears. I had a misunderstanding about allinanchor.
I missed that part of pixel juice's post about checking the cache, sorry.
Looking in the cache, Google does tell me that it found the page through anchor text.
Since this thread might be wrapping up let me try to summarize what I've learned:
1. "allinanchor" returns the TARGET page for anchor links.
2. Looking in Google's cache tells you whether it found the terms on the page, or whether the terms were only in anchor text.
3. If the terms were only in anchor text, that anchor text might no longer be around, since Google's backlink data is old.
4. Here's how I think I could find the offending page that uses the misspelled anchor text: Search for "link:domain.com", then search within results for "keyword1keyword2" (no spaces). Unfortunately in my case that returns no matches on either Google or AllTheWeb, which I'll assume is because the anchor text has been fixed on whatever page it appeared on.
Am I missing anything?
One final addition is that Google doesn't show all the links in a link: search (only those with a high enough PR), so this could also explain why you are unable to find the site searching Google, although the link might exist.
A different way of parsing queries and a few other things happening, I hope they keep it!
Stop looking at links and look at results & cache.
As Google itself says the the result is due to incoming links, I don't think this would be very useful (see msg #12).
try it with such simple things as:
time-line
web sites
go for this.. internetmarketing
look at the results and what is in the cache and tell me that is not new! :)
woo hoo.
I have been watching this all day and was going to post to this thread earlier because I thought the changes might have been an answer to consider for the original poster.
there are a lot of changes with other factors as well, like parsing apostophy etc. and it's worth looking at.. ya gotta love em
no sign of any sort of plurals / not plural as yet though.
