Where the Dictionary Fails: Popular Web Searches and Terms

Are you missing out on page views because you're being stubborn about popular web searches that use neologisms? Are you resisting using these neologisms because they do not fit in with strict rules of grammar?

Language cannot be constrained by rules and regulations and fit into a neat little one-size-fits-all box. Language is a living, breathing entity than a static object. Some believe there is only one "right" way to say things and write things.

Others, including some linguists believe that what is right is determined by how people actually use the language, not how it should be used. When writing for the web, it is sometimes necessary to break the rules and simply, go with the flow.

The Flow of Web Searches

If you want to find success with web writing, there are times that you have to bend the rules, even if it hurts your inner grammarian. You may have learned how to write in English class. You may have learned a different type of writing in journalism classes.

But on the web, the most important people do not care about grammar or about AP Style or Chicago Manual of Style. They are your biggest audience, and they are ones who will be giving you a grade, in the form of consistent page views.

Those people are the millions that are conducting searches online.

Using the Wrong Word With Purpose

There are times that you need to use the wrong word when writing for the web. Yes, it hurts. Yes, it must be done.

The one that currently comes to mind for me is "printables." While I realize that printables is not a noun recognized by my spellcheck, by common dictionaries, or by the online grammar police, it is a popular web search word.

The word describes pages that can be printed. Usually these pages are used in home schooling, or for arts and crafts.

In the correct form, the word printable is a an adjective, not a noun, and certainly not a plural noun.

Strict grammarians would miss out on capturing traffic for printables if they refuse to use the right word. The right word in this case is not in the dictionary as a noun, and certainly not a plural noun, and yet, there it is: printables.