Bossy Google: Chameleon Influences Search Results

Posted on Thursday, May 6th, 2010 at 8:38 am.

So many factors affect your rankings in the search results, and Google’s Chameleon is another ingredient in the rich soup that can push your website off the top page of the search engine results.

Chameleon is the Google internal codename for what we call “Bossy Google knows best.” It is different to just a simple spell checker. Chameleon will insert a section into the search results triggered by what Google has identified as a more appropriate or helpful phrase than what you originally typed in.

If we search for the keyword tenders – a reasonable seach for a business that is starting to investigate potential public sector tender work – we encounter a problem. It appears that Chameleon thinks it is a possibility that we were actually searching for eastenders:

This isn’t new to Google; the Chameleon effect was been reported in May 2009 by Matt Cutts, and the Eastenders glitch reported since the same time.

Aside from the spelling, the relationship between Tenders and Eastenders needs more than a leap of imagination to make the connection.

Chameleon can have a serious effect on your rankings in the search results. By introducing an additional three search results your own company listing can get knocked off the first page, or for high ranking sites your page could get pushed down “below the fold” so users would have to scroll down to see it.

More importantly, if you were originally ranking number four for the phrase ‘tenders’ you will now have dropped to number seven. Essentially you are now below the fold and this could have a negative impact on your business.

The Chameleon effect crops up in unexpected places.

Try searching for a Crane, and Google proposes Crane Valves. An utterly irrelevant proposal, whether it be for birds or building equipment.

The phrase bulldozer triggers the Chameleon suggestion for bulldozer game