Did You Mean This? Stop Second Guessing Me Google!

11 replies
  • SEO
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Currently working on setting up our website. When you search for "dynalitix" in google, regardless of how you phrase it:

"Dynalitix Marketing Firm"

"Dynalitix SEO"

"Dynalitix Internet Marketing"

It always asks me "did you mean dynalite?"

No, I did not mean dynalite, i meant dynalitix.

Has anyone come across this problem before, and have you found a way to solve or get around this?

Google has cached the site multiple times, once it is in their directory I would think this issue would solve itself, but its been going on for months and its start to really bother me.
#google #guessing #stop
  • Profile picture of the author thobbs31
    Dynalitix is all over the front page of search results, so I'm not sure what you're getting at. Google suggests the other term because it is obviously popular. But it doesn't have any impact on search results for Dynalitix as far as I can tell.

    Tom
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    • Profile picture of the author James English
      Right, I understand that.

      The problem is...to me at least...that when Google asks "did you mean this term" it makes the site look less established and professional as a whole.

      Sort of like "are you sure you meant to search for that, its not very good...try this instead".
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      HandRaise.co Performance Driven B2B Prospecting and Appointment Setting
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      • Profile picture of the author thobbs31
        You're in a tough spot then, IMO. Until the name of your company gets hundreds of searches a day or becomes a household name, you're going to have to deal with it, I think.

        Tom
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        • Profile picture of the author James English
          Fair enough, thanks for taking the time to check it out.
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          HandRaise.co Performance Driven B2B Prospecting and Appointment Setting
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  • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
    Your site isn't that established yet - only a couple of months old. Once you build a presence for the term Dynalitix I am sure Google will drop the confusion. Dynalite is well established brand and the number of people searching for Dynalite over Dynalit(ix) will be so small that they assume it is a spelling mistake. Just give your site some more time and get some people searching for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author -Jericho-
    You need to get the name all over the place until Google realizes that people looking for that term mean that term. Until then Google will think that it's a misspelled word. Start pumping out articles and hit up a bunch of web 2.0 sites with the term.
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  • Profile picture of the author awtprod
    What if the keyword is an alternate spelling to a common word? I'm going after a keyword that no one else is going after but google has a "do you mean this?" on the top of the page. I'm afraid this will drive people towards the other spelling. Will this go away if I target this keyword?
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    • Profile picture of the author jodie k
      hey there,
      i just saw this thread... this is so annoying that Google does it.
      I agree that it makes people's own URL sound inferior when it keeps telling users, did you mean blah blah , like it is much better..

      You can never contact big sites like google to tell them how damaging it is to your business.

      If anyone else has this problem, as I do, at the moment , I would be happy to set up a group of people who can help each other out by doing say, 50 + internet searches for our own companies every day for a week or so to try and over-ride the irritating Google suggestions that come up when we put in our own url..

      What do you think?

      Jodie
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    • Profile picture of the author ARVolund
      Originally Posted by awtprod View Post

      What if the keyword is an alternate spelling to a common word? I'm going after a keyword that no one else is going after but google has a "do you mean this?" on the top of the page. I'm afraid this will drive people towards the other spelling. Will this go away if I target this keyword?

      Personally I would not bother. if you are trying to catch the traffic from a common misspelling. There is no way any amount of targeting is going to beat out the number of people clicking yes I did mean that and switching pages. In fact Google is in some instances passing over the "did you mean this instead" and taking people directly to the correct spelling search.

      Targeting misspelled words is much harder than it used to be.
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      • Profile picture of the author paulgl
        Thing is, as in all these what-if cases, who is going to be searching
        for "Dynalitix Marketing Firm" ?

        Only people who know what and who you are. That's not the same
        as someone just searching for something.

        Funny thing, as usually happens, I did a search for
        "Dynalitix Marketing Firm" and the only site found was this thread.

        Take off the quotes and this thread is still top 5.

        Me thinks you should have done some research on what to go
        for. Too close to Dynalite Marketing Firm.

        Google wonders too, who would be searching for Dynalitix. To
        them, it makes no sense.

        You have your work cut out that's for sure.

        Paul
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        If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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        • Profile picture of the author jodie k
          personally, i wasn't thinking of when google suggests things for the wrong spelling but when it comes up with names of companies similar to your own...
          that is what is so annoying..

          my company has 4 words in the title, but there is another company who as 3 words in their title - the same as the 1st 3 of mine.

          So when people type in my company name, because it is newer, google says: did you mean... and puts the name of the other company.

          I need to get rid of this, because if people click on their suggestion it ain't gonna help me...

          I've been told by 3 people i just need to get as many clicks on my company name as i can to eventually get Google to stop putting up the other one as an alternative.

          i'm sure google would hate it, if everytime people put it in a search engine, the search engine said: did you mean goggle.... etc etc
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