I ask because I’ve noted on several content sites that they reject articles on poker, horse betting etc. But accept articles about spread betting. And yet when I speak to my friends who earn a living spread betting, they tell me that it is gambling. Certainly when compared to other forms of investment, but the risk can be reduced by increasing your skill in the activity.
Categorisation is important in seo.
As is the semantic meaning of words and phrases.
Spread betting is one of those terms that can have one foot in gambling and one foot in investment.
Why is this important?
Many phrases are what’s called polysemic, meaning they have a number of meanings, read Clustering of Polysemic Words for an interesting look into the the subject with regards to categorisation. The Wikipedia entry for Polysemy is a good place to look for a further understanding of the term.
It is important if you are building a keyword list, sorting keywords into categorisations. Categorising keywords as you well know is an essential part of SEO and so an understanding of the nature of the term, polysemic, may help you in this task.
Context is crucial when deciding which category to put a term which has multiple meanings in. But, there are many forms of context. Most importantly the viewer has a context which if you have done your research correctly you already are aware of and have prepared for.
Our brains like to order things, it’s why lists are so popular. If you confuse the brain over the meaning of a term your message will be lost. Context happens because of the meaning around keyword we are targeting. Context is what happens before, during, around and after the keyword has been digested by the brain.
Many things affect context, and maybe that’s for another blog post.
All this folds into useability and how effective your website is at reaching its objective, be it sales, links, subscribers etc.
Further reading on the subject can be found at:
Don’t Make Me Think, Steve Krug
When Search Meets Web Usability, Nick Musica and Shari Thurow
Neuro Web Design, Dr. Susan M. Weinschenk. Ph.D.
For a more in depth understanding of the workings of spread betting please go to financial-spread-betting.com