WebProNews

Google could be making distinctions in keywords based on whether or not the first letter is capitalized.

When is an engagement ring an Engagement ring? To Google, it could be two different things, if more of its datacenters exhibit some observed behavior on the issue.

Big Oak SEO said on its blog a look at those two terms, different only in the capitalization of the first letter E, yielded different search results for a query about engagement rings.

Engagements will be in mind as June's typically large number of weddings takes place as they do traditionally. Someone may have the idea to look into a ring, and that first letter could be the difference in the sites he does or doesn't visit.

Extend that scenario to any other keyword, and suddenly marketers have to worry about revamping their keyword buys across their campaigns.

"Assuming this isn’t a temporary glitch, the SEO landscape will undergo another transformation," said Will Paoletto at Big Oak SEO. "We’ll have to wait for an official word from Google (if they give one), but right now this is looking at lot less like a glitch and a lot more like a real shift in the algorithm. And it would be a significant one."

How significant will depend on how regularly people search with or without an initial capital letter. Plenty of search industry professionals will be delving into that in short order, should this change prove universal across Google's infrastructure.