Palindromic SEO makes SEO palindromic

I’ve mentioned in the past that you should be able to optimize your page titles (and URls) forwards and backwords. Palindromes are words, expressions, or numbers that — when read forward or backward — have the same meaning. Palindromes may be composed in one of several ways, as long as the palindrome’s meaning is clear regardless of which direction in which it is read.

Palindromic SEO is the art of creating search optimum expressions that incorporate reverse order into the expression, ala classic palindromes. You don’t have to make a technically correct palindrome expression in order for it to be palindromically optimized.

For example, let’s say you create a Web site for “Michael Martinez”. You can title the site as “Michael Martinez - Martinez, Michael”, thus capturing both traditional forms of my name. A more useful title, however, might be “Michael Martinez SEO Theory - SEO Theory by Michael Martinez”.

The “by” is optional but helps the title read better. In this example, I’ve captured two expressions that people actually search on: “michael martinez seo theory” and “seo theory michael martinez”. Do I have an exact palindrome? No, but it’s palindromic in form and covers two expressions that complement each other.

These types of query pairs are palindromic twin queries; the core terms are reversed, rather than the words themselves. That is, “michael martinez” is a core term that appears in both expressions and “seo theory” is a core term that occurs in both expressions. Hence, the combined expressions are palindromic in form.

You want to optimize for palindromic twin queries because you know people are searching for them both. If you simply take an expression and combine it with its natural reverse order, if no one is searching for the reverse expression, all you’ve done is create a palindromic mirrored query.

Unless you’re planning to build a query space around a new brand, there is probably no reason to optimize for a palindromic mirrored query.

Of course, you can incorporate palindromic forms into your main body copy. Again, you don’t need to create formally correct palindromes; you’re just reversing word order in your body copy to cover a variation on your targeted query. This helps you establish relevance for congested query spaces where people mix the terms up.

• SEO theory michael martinez
• michael martinez seo theory
• michael “seo theory” martinez

The more core terms in the query, the more possible variations there are. People looking for a person associated with a business in a particular city (say “John Smith” in “Los Angeles” who works for “Some Strange Company”) may use 6 different queries to find the right person. In normal Web copywriting, you’re most likely to optimize for only 1 or 2 variants.

In people search, that’s usually not a problem. But if you’re optimizing for multiple concepts, multiple brands and products, or multiple similar names in a competitive space, you won’t benefit from mere occurrence as much as in a non-competitive space.

Mere occurrence excludes proximity and word order, which generally don’t matter much in thin populated query spaces. As a query space becomes more competitive, proximity and word order become more important to satisfying the searcher’s query. Providing the search engines with both proximity and word order for multiple variations on a query improves your optimization and magnifies the benefit of relying upon mere occurrence to establish relevance.

Palindromic SEO is very useful when you’re just building a query space. If you don’t really know how people will search for a concept, the more variations on your branded expression you include in your content the less likely your brand site is to be buried for queries you did not target. Once you see where the natural queries fall you can tighten up your on-page optimization (and link anchor text) without sacrificing the brand you created.

Palindromic SEO thus helps you cover more bases, capture more query space, and establish better credibility with searchers. You may obtain more search referrals by practicing palindromic SEO, but it’s more likely to help you develop strategies for optimizing more efficiently in competitive query spaces. Your most hardened competitors are not as likely to practice palindromic SEO as you are (until they figure out what you are doing).

In some query spaces, I’ve found my competitors were savvy enough to follow my lead quickly when I introduced palindromic copy. In other query spaces, I’ve been able to dominate active alternative queries for years before anyone caught on to what I was doing.

Palindromic SEO works best in developing query spaces with lots of activity, before the major sites establish their brands. Once the vertical leaders accrue brand value, people know to search for their brands. You’ll still be able to optimize for relevant generic or unbranded expressions, but the brand queries may eventually come to dominate the query space.

Palindromic SEO can help you become one of those dominant brands that people know to search for.