SEO experiments - Google index of exact quotes

In these three preceding posts I demonstrated to my own satisfaction at least that Google indexes the ALT text contained within HTML IMG tags, but that Microsoft Bing does not.  Yahoo! search results are unavailable for the simple reason that Yahoo! has not indexed any of the posts on this blog more recent than a year ago.

1. Site Optimization - using img alt tags
2. Site optimization - additional test of img alt tag text
3. SEO - img ALT text on Bing and Yahoo! search

The unexpected discovery is the way Google returns a search using the unique ALT text phrase in quotation marks.

I used two unique phrase descriptions in the ALT text portion of the IMG tag for two different screenshots contained within two different posts.  I then included these exact text phrases in subsequent postings to this blog.

I will not repeat those two text phrases here in this post for fear of screwing things up even more.

Today when I do a Google search on those two phrases I still find confirmation that Google does indeed index ALT text, it also uses ALT text to return on an exact quote search.

The first search item returned in the second test example resulted from an index hit on the ALT text contained with an IMG tag.

The second SEO test example also shows how an RSS feed of this blog on another site can produce odd and unpredictable results with Google.  Why Google does what it does the way it does it is a continuing puzzle.  The only thing I'm sure of is when I repeat these two search experiments again tomorrow, the results will be different from today..

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SEO experiment - Example 1

SEO experiment - Example 2

Tom Fox
Louisville, Kentucky
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