Case Study: Mysterious Google Search [Fave]

CASE STUDY
The Mystery of a Simple Google Query

@dan_shure // evolvingseo.com 1

<english accent>
Hey Dan! The other day I accidently
typed “fave” instead of “facebook”
and got this weird result. You should
write a post about it!.
</english accent>


OK
[SUCKER]


The Results.


Wait. What!?

Did [fave] just return some weird
facebook page?


Yup…


Let’s Dive In!!!


First - Think in questions:

Why Does What Should What Could
This Rank? Rank Instead? Rank?

How Can I What’s Search
Is This Unique
learn from Volume for
To Facebook?
this? “fave”?


ORGANIZE INTO THREE PARTS

1. Is this worth researching?

2. WHY do things rank like that for “fave”?

3. What can we learn from this?


Part 1 - Does It
Matter?

•Volume
•Intent
•Competition

Search Volume for [fave]

12,100 EXACT MATCH
United States Searches per Month!!


Why do I say United States?!


THIS.
Fave means Beans in Italian.


Nothing else substantial for “fave”


Intent.
What are all the reasons someone
would search for [fave]?

• Is it a REAL word?
• Is it a brand name?
• Is it a word in another language?
• Is it a misspelling?


Misspellings happen for three reasons.


Common Misspelling culprit #1

• Thought it was correct (stupidity)



• Know its incorrect but just lets spell correct get it (lazy)



• Finger slipped (user error)


Proving Misspellings
More mobile searches for “fave”
=
fingers slipping.


Yup.


[Aside] You may have noticed I found
some other weird search terms…


faceno


daxevooj
(all consonants one letter to left)


Yiut
(instead of youtube)


Ok… back to work… 


Google Suggest - spell corrects “fave”


Google suggests [facebook] from
[fave] even in Italian


More Proving Spelling Errors:

[Fave] vs. [Facebook] Historic
SearchVolume


I’m confident there’s no other
compelling reasons people would
search for [fave].


Part 1 - Does It
Matter?

Volume
Intent
Is there Competition?


2,770,000
pages
indexed
from
facebook
with the
word “fave”


42,000
pages
with
“fave”
in title
and
URL!!

“Competition” seems pretty high…


High Search Volume
+
SingularIntent
+
High Competition

Justifies Part TWO…


Part 2 - WHY Do
Things Rank The Way
They Do?


SEOmoz SERP Analysis Tool

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-best-kept-secret-in-the-seomoz-
toolset


The Anomaly.


Look Deeper.


-->Export to CSV


Remove identical metrics…


Could four Google plus shares make it
rank highest??


Let’s find out.


I asked for plus 1’s of the page which
was ranked 2nd

All I needed was 5


Got 7, Nice.


And… 36+ hours later?


No change.


Arrrrggg…


DON’T.
GIVE.
UP.


Something is causing it to rank higher.


We can all learn a lesson from this guy.


Keep. Looking.


“facr” is behaving.


Facebook
does not
rank the
same page
for “fave”.


Still
nothing
for “fave
the
band”.


Still nothing!!!


Finally!!


Nothing special about the page its self.


So, let’s recap.

The Fave page doesn’t rank
well within Facebook.


It doesn’t have an exceptional amount
of activity (likes, discussion, content)


I feel ya.


Even BING is ranking this page!!!


Then, I remembered something…


The 2nd result is a Canadian Magazine.


Does Google.com favor US pages?


Does Google.ca rank things
differently?


Nope.


Same results in Google.ca


But…


For some reason my SEOquake SERP
overlay started working…


Look closely…


ONE LINK


I click the #1… and…


SEMrush Link Data


ONE link from nj.com domain.


Page is indexed


Link is followed


That ONE link is enough to push it to #1


Thus:
•Slightly better on page optimization – URL and Title Tag

•Being on the Facebook domain

•Having at least one external link

•Being a band (closest thing to an “entity” for “fave”)


#1 Ranking


Part 3 – What can we
LEARN from this?


1. Set Up Clean URLs on your facebook page


Its called a “username” in facebook
Log in to business page and go to “edit info”


Remember:
Update existing Facebook link URLs


2. Obtain links to your facebook profile page.


Do you want this? #FAIL


Or this? #WIN


Is Zappos just lucky?


Nope.


Linking Domains to Facebook Page

facebook.com/zappos - 213

facebook.com/endless - 4


3. Obtain links to other social profiles


4. Be Relentlessly Persistent


I have yet to find an unsolvable
ranking/indexation anomaly.


Keep a wide variety of SEO tools


Don’t be paranoid.


Check your data.


I don’t even usually USE that
SEOquake SERP overlay (but should!).


Didn’t even know SEMrush
had link data.


5. When it really counts, don’t depend
on just one source of link data.


Use this search if you have to…


Sometimes it takes only ONE LINK


Contact Us Me


@HOUSEonFOX

Saving Lives

@dan_shure

Saving Websites

Wait Don’t Go!


Actually, this is more fitting…


A BONUS TIP


With this kind of search volume


Start a business with the word “Fave”


You could be rich like this guy.


@dan_shure


Case Study: Mysterious Google Search [Fave]

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Case Study: Mysterious Google Search [Fave]