Here's a thing that happened to me in early 2024. I was reviewing the search console data for a client's new website, and amongst the queries like "industrial centrifuge maintenance" and "solid-liquid separation equipment," there was a little cluster of four search terms: falcon, loki basecamp falcon, captain falcon amiibo, drift.
I stared at it. Then I laughed. Then I realized I had to explain to a room of very serious engineers why their SEO budget was pulling up a character from an anime fighting game.
The problem wasn't the search engine. The problem was the keyword strategy. We had just written "falcon" into the page copy, assuming everyone searching for "falcon" was looking for our mining equipment. Spoiler: they weren't.
Three Flavors of Keyword Fail
Before you spend money or time, you need to know what kind of problem your keywords have. Based on that mistake (and a few others), I've found that the queries people search with fall into three distinct categories. The fix is different for each one.
1. The Brand Collision
This is what happened with "falcon." You have a perfectly good B2B brand name that also happens to be a Marvel character, a Ford car model, a SpaceX rocket, and a bird. You can't own that keyword. Period.
What to do: Don't fight it. Add a modifier. Falcon rock drill, Falcon mining conveyor, Falcon filtration parts. The search intent becomes clear. We saw a 140% increase in relevant clicks just by adding the qualifier.
2. The Ambiguous Modifier
Sometimes the modifier is the problem. Take "drift." On its own, is that a geology term (mineral drift), a car term (drifting), a gaming term, or a fishing term? No way to know. Your SEO tool sees high volume, but your sales team just sees people bouncing.
What to do: Turn the modifier into a two-word phrase. Glacial drift deposits, horizon drift mining. Or—honestly—just drop it if it's causing confusion. Don't let a high search volume number trick you into writing for the wrong audience.
3. The Cultural Artifact
Loki basecamp falcon. Captain falcon amiibo. Henry age. Why is it called a breakfast. These are not keywords. They are search queries from people who are bored, curious, or looking for a specific pop-culture reference. You cannot rank for them with B2B content. You shouldn't try.
What to do: Ignore them. Or, if you're feeling masochistic, you could write a blog post called "Why Our Falcon Mining Drill Has Nothing to Do With Your Breakfast." I don't recommend it. The ROI is terrible.
How to Know If You're in the Wrong Keyword Group
Here's the simplest test in the world:
- Look at your search console data. Not your keyword planner. The real data from Google.
- Scan for the outliers. Is there a query that makes you go "what on earth?" That's your collision.
- Ask yourself: Would a procurement manager type this? If the answer is no, stop optimizing for it.
My experience is based on about 200 B2B orders over the last 4 years—mostly mining and mineral processing equipment. If you're selling luxury goods or consumer products, your experience might differ. But for B2B equipment, the rule is simple: specificity beats volume.
People think you need high-volume keywords to get traffic. Actually, you need the right keywords to get sales. The causation runs the other way.
So, bottom line: If you find "captain falcon amiibo" in your data, don't write about it. Just delete the page. And then go fix your brand strategy.