Hallo all - I'm new to these forums.

We're currently designing a small site for our music - The Cray Twins - with a "C", as in the legendary mainframe computers.

We have a test page up at the moment, and are getting a Google ranking of 2 on a search for "cray twins" or "the cray twins" - which is fine.

But the annoying thing is that whenever we actually do a search for "cray twins" we get "Showing results for kray twins. Search instead for cray twins". In other words, despite our name being spelt correctly, Google assumes it's a misspelling of popular London gangsters the Kray twins, and automatically changes the search string without asking.

Even a search for "cray twins music" (which we have the top Google ranking for) yields "Showing results for kray twins music. Search instead for cray twins music" - although what the Krays' musical output was I can't begin to imagine.

Does anyone know what determines when this happens, and whether there might be any way to stop it happening?

Checked link: www.thecraytwins.com
Type of redirect: 302 Found Redirected to: www.organica.co.uk/craytwins/
This isn't going to help you any more.


Your website is new and you have to make your Cray Twins as a brand name. Use PR and create links using Cray Twins as a anchor text. Since Google suggest is based on the popular searches you have to make good linking for this keyword.

But the annoying thing is that whenever we actually do a search for "cray twins" we get "Showing results for kray twins. Search instead for cray twins". In other words, despite our name being spelt correctly, Google assumes it's a misspelling of popular London gangsters the Kray twins, and automatically changes the search string without asking.

Until searches for your name become more popular than searches for the east end criminals it's going to happen.

Originally Posted by Roger Smith

Checked link: www.thecraytwins.com
Type of redirect: 302 Found Redirected to: www.organica.co.uk/craytwins/
This isn't going to help you any more.

Yes, we were considering getting a separate hosting account for the domain, but I think it's something we have to prioritise now. Cheers.

Originally Posted by Roger Smith

Your website is new and you have to make your Cray Twins as a brand name. Use PR and create links using Cray Twins as a anchor text. Since Google suggest is based on the popular searches you have to make good linking for this keyword.

Cool. Just to be clear, are we talking mainly about inbound links from external sites (Myspace, Youtube channel etc) or outbound links from our website to these sites? And if it's outbound links, would the links have to be on the same page we're trying to promote, i.e. the front page of the site?

Originally Posted by chrishirst

Until searches for your name become more popular than searches for the east end criminals it's going to happen.

Well this is what I was wondering.

For example, would a company called "Diskey" actually have to become more popular than Disney to stop being treated as a spelling error?

Or is it more like a minimum number of searches that must be reached for the search term to be recognised in its own right?

Originally Posted by g k

Well this is what I was wondering.

For example, would a company called "Diskey" actually have to become more popular than Disney to stop being treated as a spelling error?

Or is it more like a minimum number of searches that must be reached for the search term to be recognised in its own right?

"more searches" "more popular" are synonomous to a SEARCH engine, they do not know about popular culture, what people look for most are obviously popular.

Originally Posted by chrishirst

"more searches" "more popular" are synonomous to a SEARCH engine, they do not know about popular culture, what people look for most are obviously popular.

Certainly, I understand that.

But for example, I just tried a search for "dizney" and the search works fine - it doesn't treat it as a spelling error for "disney", despite the fact that "disney" will obviously get far more search requests, have higher link densities etc.

I'm wondering what it is about "cray twins" that makes it get treated as a spelling error, when "dizney" is not - i.e. how does Google decide whether a search string is a spelling error, or a valid search for something of a similar name?

There's a lot more to Google's "did you mean" offering than just "popularity" and mis-spelling.

user behaviour is also a factor, maybe "dizney" has been indicated as a valid search enough to be accepted as an independent search entity.

Personalisation is another, if you are logged in to a Google account you will find that the results offered will lean more towards the results you generally click on as Google tries to learn your "needs"

Ah good point - I was assuming because it said "did you mean" and altered the spelling that it was a spelling thing, but of course that doesn't necessarily follow.

I'm now noticing the personalisation thing too - even if I'm not logged into a Google account, if I allow Google cookies, the 2nd time I search for "cray twins" it accepts it. So have to flush my cookies to simulate a first-time query...

Cheers.