Some words that you might search for at a search engine may have more than one meaning. For example, the word fencing can mean a sport involving swords, a man-made barrier enclosing an area, or activity to make a profit from illegally gained goods. Words or phrases that can have two or more are sometimes referred to as polysemous words.

That can pose challenges for:

• Search engines - trying to identify the intent behind searches.
• Searchers - seeing results unrelated to what they were trying to find.
• Site owners - finding their pages in search results surrounded by sites offering something very different from what they offer
• Advertisers - who may bid on certain words or phrases as sponsored results for searchers who may have absolutely no interest in those ads

If someone enters the word [fencing] into a search engine, the search results they see will likely be filled with pages related to all of the different meanings of the word such as, electric fences, local search maps for fencing companies, Olympic moments relived at the United States Fencing Association web site, the wikipedia entry on Fence (criminal), and others.

Chances are that the person searching was only interested finding information about either the sport, the barrier, or the criminal activity.

How would you solve this problem if you were creating the algorithms behind how a search engine worked?

The Problem with Query Refinement Suggestions

One solution might be for a search engine to show query suggestions along with search results, adding more words to the original query based upon previous queries from other searchers.

A search engine could look at its query logs to see how often searchers made changes to their queries, and associate those followup queries with the original ones. Many searchers, faced with a mix of results like those for fencing might change their original query to include an additional word or words to their search that might make it more likely that more of the search results will be relevant to what they intended to find.

So, someone searching for information about the sport of fencing might add a word like “epee” to the search. An epee is a kind of sword that a fencer would use when they compete against someone else. If enough people refine their searches in that way, then a search engine might start showing [fencing epee] as a link within search results for a search for [fencing].

So, what’s the problem? It could take months for a search engine to collect enough data to decide which additional query refinements to show. And it’s possible that a search engine might only show query refinements for one type of meaning for a word. For example, the suggested query refinements presently at Google on a search for [fencing] are all related to the barrier meaning except for the first one listed:

• history of fencing
• wire fencing
• aluminum fencing
• wood fence
• yard fence
• privacy fence
• chain link fence
• building a fence

Using Related Words to Understand Meaning

Another approach might be to look at documents on the Web where polysemous words appear, and look at the other words that appear near them to find words or phrases that might be related to the different meanings of those polysemous words.

For example, one meaning of the word “Saturn” is the name of a planet, and it may be possible for a search engine to figure out that is how the word is being used if it appears near words such as “Earth,” and “Mars,” and “Jupiter” and “Solar System.”

Another meaning for the word “Saturn” is the make of a car, and a search engine might glean that meaning if it sees words such as “Ford,” or “Lincoln,” or “Mercury,” or “automobile,” or “engine.”

Being able to distinquish between the different contexts of a word that has more than one meaning is a significant undertaking because a search for Saturn, the car, is a different search than one for Saturn, the planet.

A patent application from Yahoo describes a process that could be used to determine if a word or phrase has more than one meaning based upon the words that tend to co-occur in documents with that word.

Method and Apparatus for Discovering and Classifying Polysemous Word Instances in Web Documents
Invented by Richard Michael King
US Patent Application 20090157648
Assigned to Yahoo
Published June 18, 2009
Filed December 14, 2007

Abstract

A method and apparatus for discovering polysemous words and classifying polysemous words found in web documents. All document corpi in any natural language have words that have multiple usage contexts or words that have multiple meanings.

Semantic analysis is not feasible for classifying all word occurrences in all documents on the web, which contain trillions of words in total. In addition, semantic analysis typically cannot distinguish multiple usages of a given meaning of a given word.

In one embodiment of this invention, polysemous words in natural languages can be discovered by analyzing the co-occurrence of other words with the polysemous word in web documents. In one embodiment, the multiple meanings and usages of a polysemous word can be determined by analyzing the co-occurrences of other words with the polysemous word. In one embodiment, counting overcorrelations is achieved probabilistically to minimize use of network bandwidth.

The patent filing provides details on how they might count the frequency of words that appear in different documents on the Web, and how often those words appear with other words, and how infrequently they may appear with other words.

There are some interesting twists to this process. One of them involves breaking down the words found within documents into smaller blocks. An example given in the patent application is of blocks of 200 words. There are a few reasons for breaking down a document into smaller, overlapping blocks.

One is that some pages may be very long, and relating words found on those long pages may result in creating relationships between words that aren’t necessarily related.

Another is that a page from a blog may contain a number of different entries that aren’t related, and if a whole page of different blog entries was analyzed, that might provide results that aren’t very useful as well.

Conclusion

I’ve kept my look at the process behind the patent to a fairly simple overview, and the patent application does go into much more depth on how it might distinquish between different meanings of words based upon how frequently those words appear near related words on pages upon the Web.

Searchers, web publishers, and advertisers should keep in mind that there are many words that do have more than one meaning when they perform searches or create content for web pages, or choose keywords to advertise with.

It can be helpful to think about words that might be related to those multi-meaning, or polysemous words when searching or writing content for pages or using a keyword based advertising system. Yahoo shows us with this patent filing that they may start taking advantage of such relationships between words.

NEW YORK-(Business Wire)-April 7, 2009 - PhotoShelter, the leader in portfolio websites, photo sales and archiving tools for photographers, today released the first comprehensive, free guide to getting photography websites listed on search engines and achieving top results with search engine...
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The [WINDOWS KEY] usually found on your keyboard on either side of the space bar, or possibly on the outside of the [ALT] keys by pace-bar. If you don't have a [WINDOWS KEY] then this article can't help you, other then to have a general knowledge of the actions, but it seems to me that people are usually keyboard or mouse driven people, and if you don't use these commands on a regular basis, then you'll forget and never use them.

Most people use this key as a single keystroke to activate the start menu.

This key is actually used for more then your Start Menu and I use it a ton, especially when I'm using someone else's machine.

• [WINDOWS KEY] + [E] = Launch Windows Explorer
• [WINDOWS KEY] + [R] = Same as Start | Run
• [WINDOWS KEY] + [M] = Minimize all Windows
• [SHIFT] + [WINDOWS KEY] + [M] = Undo Minimize all Windows
• [WINDOWS KEY] + [D] = Toggle Desktop On|Off
  • This is the same as [M] but when you toggle all your applications are still in place, instead of being minimized.
• [WINDOWS KEY] + [U] = Launch Utility Manager
• [WINDOWS KEY] + [F] = Same as Start | Find
• [WINDOWS KEY] + [L] = Lock Computer - Same as [CTRL]+[ALT]+[DELETE] and then click or select "Lock Computer" 
• [WINDOWS KEY] + [CTRL] + [F] = Find Computers
• [WINDOWS KEY] + [TAB] = Start Bar Focus, on the application list
  • Then use [RIGHT] and [LEFT] arrow keys to move back and forth, press [ENTER] to activate application.
• [CTRL] + [WINDOWS KEY] + [TAB] = Ever wanted keyboard access to your system tray?
  • This is VERY helpful if you end up mouseless.
  • It's kinda weird, some systems make you [WINDOWS KEY] + [TAB] to set focus to the start bar application list, then [CTRL] + [WINDOWS KEY] + [TAB] will move over tot he System Tray.
• [WINDOWS KEY] + [BREAK] = Launch System Properties

If you know of more, send me an e-mail ( scottc@myKBPro.com ) and I'll get them posted.

Happy Coding

I've written many times about the intense dependency of social media on your SEO strategy. Since I probably sound like a broken record, I’ll let some other folks (very solid experts) say it for your benefit and better than I ever could.

The following articles were each published in the last few weeks and include commentary by Fast Company and other SEO experts. While optimizing specific product pages might have passed for a good SEO strategy three years ago, this is no longer the case. VC’s, CEO’s, CMO’s, IT groups and especially your prospects know this already.

Creating an SEO strategy without incorporating the “social media” term is nothing short of a flawed marketing strategy.

• You Can't Separate Social Media and SEO
• SEO & Social Media: The PB&J of Web Marketing
• Where Social Media Fits Into the SEO Equation
• Using SEO and Social Media Marketing Together
  

Well as you might have noticed, the site has changed a lot today. We have totally reorganized the layout of our site so that all the navigation is done on the right hand side. Why you ask? Well, aesthetically, we like how there is more room for the actual content of the site, which is why you have come here in the first place. But through some research, I discovered a great practical reason for doing this.

I am starting to realize how important SEO (Search Engine Optimization) really is in this business. We still have very little traffic, and this is because we only get rare hits from search engines. Sure, we are on the front page of certain searches, but only with very specific or obscure terms at best. Keywords, as I mentioned before, are of utmost importance. They define your site.

Now, this doesn't really answer the question of what the practicality of switching the site all around is, but it plays a key part. To generate the best search results, search engines routinely "crawl" every site listed in their databases to process their relevance for certain key terms. Of course, deciding which web pages are most relevant to search terms involves a very complex algorithm, but most people agree that keywords play a huge roll. So, when the search engine crawls a site, it reads in a very particular manner. It begins with the title and headers, and then proceeds from the left side to the right, top to bottom. This means that if all of your navigation links other features are on the left side, a crawler will see these first and make erroneous judgments about your site. This is not something you want; you want a crawler to see your keyword rich content first!

So, if we ever do restore a left sidebar, it would contain keyword rich material, something that you want crawlers to see as soon as possible. Our tag cloud would be a good example of this. Right now, we are doing a lot of research about SEO, keywords, and getting your site at the top of search results, and we should have some valuable information in the weeks to come. I have created a new forum for discussion on this topic, so come in and discuss it with us!

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Suitable for all kinds of media productions, especially science fiction film, experimental film, science and technology documentaries, web development and video game production.

Composed by Martin Thompson. Other music by this composer.

This is Royalty Free Music from White Beetle Ltd and is subject to our Royalty Free Music License.

Preview as MP3 (80kbps)

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Posted by rebecca

Stories, news, and other notable items from the past week:

• Stephen Tallamy did an interview with the SEO team at Distilled. I love the Mod Squad-esque snapshots of each employee. They're so posh.
• Joost de Valk wrote up a new guide to Magento SEO. Since the platform keeps evolving, he'll keep it nice and up-to-date for all you nerds.
• Maybe I need to implement this strategy in order to shave my swim time down a bit...
• Here's an amusing story about how the Internet community saved Alf by helping decipher a series of clues. Just in time for that DaVinci Code sequel!
• The Web Design Schools Guide came up with a list of 50 social sites for web designers. Hey, YOUmoz made the list! Wahoo! They also presented 100 web design cheat sheets (cough, one of our blog posts made the list, cough).
• For the four of you who aren't aware, Digg launched a toolbar/URL shortener/life ruiner, and there have been quite a few articles about its negative SEO impact.
• Leapfish is bringing sexy back! (And by "sexy," I of course mean their popular free domain name appraisal service.)
• It's every young person's nightmare conveniently packaged on one website.

• In case you're still bummed that the NCAA tourney is over (way to get your ass kicked, MSU), you can take solace in ESPN's meat bracket. SPOILER ALERT: Bacon loses in the finals!
• Speaking of tourney brackets, SEOmoz won the EngineWorks blog bracket. Queue up "One Shining Moment," cuz it's time for us to cut the net...
• We were also fortunate enough to be listed as the 15th best Seattle startup. *shakes fist at Zillow*
• Further Online talks about how to calculate keyword selection value. I want them to calculate the "deliciousness of bacon" value. I bet that's tough to calculate. (Wait, apparently it's a chemical reaction. Mmm, science...)
• "Coming Soon" pages don't have to be lame--here are 25 examples of cool Coming Soon page designs.
• Ian Lurie reviewed some competitive link research tools (including Linkscape, thankyouverymuch).

• Smashing Magazine shares 15 essential checks before launching your website. Regarding cross browser checks, I bet the process goes something like this.
• Jeff Sliger, beloved SEOmoz member, came up with a free charity fundraising tool. Spread the word to any charities, non-profites, colleges, etc. that you know!
• Wondering how to nail that interview? This website should help give you some pointers. (By the way, Rand and I can attest to the "Do not wear perfume" suggestion. I bet our old office still reeks of that applicant's au de toilette.)

YOUmoz entries:

• An Idiot's Attempt to Explain Term Vector Theory, Term Weight, and a Slight Argument for Keyword Density. ASHen gave a very scholarly approach about term weight models and other smart sounding stuff that made me go "Derrrr."
• Let's Talk About Changes. Archshrk brought up our recent comment design changes and asked the community when a website should announce site changes.
• How to Choose a URL. Mardek ran a test to see if dashless vs dashed URLs perform better in the SERPs.
• The Small Business Link Building Guide: Get Your Own House in Order First. Ken Lyons created a link exchange analysis checklist for small business owners.
• Does Wordtracker Provide Valuable Local Keyword Data? MikeTek questioned the accuracy of Wordtracker's free keyword tool when it comes to local data. 
• Social Media and Ethics for Small Businesses. AnnLuck shared an outline of social media campaign goals she and her business use regarding rules and ethics.
• Die, Digg-Bar, Die, Die! PBHJ outlined the pros and cons of the new Digg toolbar.
• Abstract Link Building Ideas: Desktop Customization Sites. Elbrian suggested a few desktop customization websites for dofollow link building.

Best of YOUmoz:

• Twitter Impacts Relevance Like I Impact Gravity. Darren Slatten has a little fun with the community and comes up with new ranking signals...
• Are You Leaking Juice? CharlotteSEO encourages an interesting discussion/debate by talking about potential link juice leakage areas on websites.

New additions to the SEOmoz Marketplace:

Featured job postings:

• SEO manager for Logitech in Fremont, CA
• SEO business analyst for SEO Works in Sydney, Australia
• Director of SEO for PEAK6 Online in Seattle, WA
• SEO strategist/analyst for Position2 Marketing
• Contracted SEO expert for Optimise Internet in the UK
• Contracted SEO specialist and PPC specialist for Sitewire in Tempe, AZ
  

Featured companies:

United States/North America:

• element-e in the US
• New Edge Media in Dallas, TX
• Toro Search in Massachusetts
• SEO Google Guru in Minnetonka, MN
• Del Sur SEO in San Diego, CA
• PlattForm Advertising in Olathe, KS
• Vizergy in Jacksonville, FL
• The Outsourcing Company in Aspen, CO
• SEOsean.com in Pittsburgh, PA
• OrangeSoda.com in American Fork, UT
• Wasabi Marketing Elements in Hawaii
• Chempetitive Group in San Diego, CA
• Kettlewell Enterprises in Grand Junction, CO
• Crowley Webb in Buffalo, NY
• Loud Dog Corporation in San Francisco, CA
• HiveMind Marketing in San Jose, CA
• WG Studios in Miami, FL
• Adapt Marketing in Cary, NC
• SEOP in Santa Ana, CA
• Quantum Web Studios in Missouri
• YMedia Labs in San Francisco, CA
• InnoVision in Memphis, TN, as well as Russia and Uzbekistan
• Blueprint Design Studio in Chicago, IL
• Fathom SEO in Ohio
• SEOteric in Georgia
• Rand Media Group in Illinois
• nFusion from Austin, TX
• Radium in Boston, MA
• Gatesix Inc. in Phoenix, AZ
• Lead Maverick in Dallas, TX
• Eclipse Web Media in Atlanta, GA
• Groundwork Professional Business Services in Burbank, CA
• SynchSmart in the US
• Authority Domains in Nevada
• Overdrive Interactive in Boston, MA
• Alternative Web Media in Scottsdale, AZ
• Vivid Web Graphics in Carlsbad, CA
• 3dB Creative in Bellevue, WA
• Phoenix Designs in Baltimore, MD
• Global Results in Baltimore, MD
• Sales & Marketing Technologies in Florida
• ITN Marketing Consultants in Delray Beach, FL
• Disc in Massachusetts
• Jtree.net in Boise, ID
• Corporate Performance Artists in New York, NY
• Carlyle Inc. in Colorado
• Moose Logic in Bothell, WA
• Key Relevance in Dallas, TX (SEOmoz Recommended Company)
• Logitech in Fremont, CA
• Hudson Horizons in New Jersey
• Newport SEO in California
• Customer Magnetism in Virginia Beach, VA
• Flyte New Media in Portland, ME
• Designworks in San Jose, CA
• eCopywriters in San Diego, CA
• CreativeMind Search Marketing in the US
• Local Business Videos Online in Markham, ON, Canada

Central/South America:

• Zeemp in Belem, Brazil
• Web Copywriting Services in Ecuador

UK / Europe:

• Cimex Media in London, UK 
• DesignsOnline in Essex, London, UK
• Amplified Media in London, UK
• Totally Webwise in Swansea, UK
• Totally Communications in London, UK
• Mojo Media in London, UK
• Flipside Digital in the UK
• Schux in Brighton, UK
• Roxbourne in Birmingham, UK
• Optimise Internet in the UK
• Codehouse in the UK and Denmark
• 11 Internet in Nijmegen, Netherlands
• Mindworks Interactive in Thessaloniki, Athens, Greece
• Enterso in Poland
• Sherpatec in Munich, Germany
• Antezeta Web Marketing in Italy
• Metronet Norge in Norway

Asia:

• IndiaBook SEO in Chd, India
• India SEO Consultants in Bangalore, India
• Position2 Marketing in India
• Cloud360 in New Delhi, India
• Green Fin Technologies in Pakistan
• Promotion King in Lahore, Pakistan
• 2Aware in Tel-Aviv, Israel
• Bdhire.com in Chittagong, Bangladesh
• SinoTech Group in Beijing, China

Australia:

• TrainSEM in Australia
• Metis Internet Partners in Australia
• Design Junction in Melbourne, Australia
• First Rate in Australia and New Zealand

Miscellaneous:

• Online 365 located somewhere on the interwebs
• Social Juice located in the tubes
  

Featured resumes:

Currently looking:

• Marshall England is the online marketing manager for IP Commerce in Denver, CO. He oversees all SEO, SEM, SMM, online PR and email campaigns, as well as tracking and web analytics reporting. Marshall would like a new role in Internet marketing to advance his career and take on new and different challenges.
• Angel Singh is looking for SEO, SEM and SMO positions in Seattle, WA. Angel has experience with SEO, SEM, UI, web architecture and design, and enjoys working on detaild projects.
• Amy Reis is an SEM living in Aurora, CO. She has over 8 years of web design and marketing experience and 5 years of Internet marketing skills, including organic SEO, PPC management, and social media marketing. She's looking for a position that allows her to focus on online marketing goals as a whole and would also like to be part of a team that's forward-thinking and moving.
• Eric Burgess is looking for an online marketing position. He has experience with building brands and managing web content, as well as project coordination, art direction, online social networking and web research, advertising and more.
• Christie Wang from Austin, TX, is a paid search analyst who has managed multiple campaigns, performed bid management, edited ad copy, and tested tracking methods. She's also experienced with generating Internet marketing strategy and keyword research reports.
• Lawrence Ladomery has over 10 years of experience in new media and has worked for large organizations doing web management and consulting. He's offering his design skills for hire and works primarily with text-heavy sites.
• Ed Youngs is a directory advertising sales professional who is seeking an opportunity to leverage his skills and experience within the SEM industry.
• Joel Goldstein is an independent consultant in Orlando, FL, who's available for hourly consulting and creating online marketing campaigns.
• John Sisler is looking for an SEO architect/online marketing director position. He's well versed in implementing organic white-hat SEO, PPC, and link acquisition and building strategies.
• Kimberly Wolfson is looking for a client services role or an analytical role within the digital/interactive marketing area.
• Michael McAnally is a senior marketing major at the University of Northern Iowa, and he's focused the majority of his studies on aspects of Internet marketing and SEO. He'd love to start his career in the SEO field and has experience with the fundamentals of SEO, link building, content development, web hosting services, and PPC.
• Rich Grosskettler is an experienced online media, product development and marketing executive. He has strong operations, product management and product marketing skills.
• Kevin M. Rose is an Internet marketer who is looking for full-time positions in the Los Angeles area, as well as contracted work.

Happily Employed:

• Trevor Ginn is an ecommerce consultant and entrepreneur with experience in launching online businesses.
• Justin Britt is a link builder and SEM who works for Wasabi Marketing Elements.
• BHaskar is an IT enthusiast from India. He's been in the IT industry for the past 10 years.
• Annapurna K S works for GoodBazaar.com and has been doing web design and SEO since 1999.
• Gunakesh Parmar is an SEO expert who specializes in both on and off-page optimization.
• Ben Rush is the SEM for Premier Farnell PLC and is responsible for the search engine marketing activities of more than 35 global locations across Europe and Asia Pacific.
• Peter Uzzi is a web designer and front-end developer who loves content, evangelizing web standards, and designing great user experiences.
• Carmelo Jose Diaz is an online marketing analyst with over 5 years of professional work experience in the paid and organic search market sector.

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