1. From a Similar Mold

In almost every industry there are competing products, and by nature, many of these products are quite similar. Cotton socks, small-cap value funds, all-beef hotdogs or single-speed bikes, while not identical, all share enough similarities to be classified as a product “category.”

This similarity is a bane and a boon. It allows consumers of a product to find the general “thing” they are looking for, but creates difficulty in finely distinguishing products within a category.

A Meaty Example

Let us imagine for a moment a company selling hot dogs, Piebalds Fine Meats.

The management, sales and marketing teams all believe in their dog. Management loves that the dogs are cost effective, sales loves that it plumps, marketing loves that it pleases, creative loves the parabolic symmetry. Internally the decision is made to distinguish their dog from competitors. How? By changing the name.

And so, the Piebald hot dog becomes a “Piebalds Pleasingly Plump Meat Parabola.” Congratulations all round on the new product launch! ^{(fig. 1)}

2. Search Problems

Meanwhile, Google is busy indexing competitors that still use the term “hot dog,” especially in high impact areas like navigation, page titles and supporting content. Piebalds has removed the term across the board. Web searches for “hot dog” still return hot dog results, just not Piebalds hot dogs. Users have created an image in their mind of a hot dog, not of a “meat parabola.” Search engines have not yet related meat parabolas to hotdogs.

Piebalds has differentiated their nomenclature to such a degree that they have become invisible to users.

3. Navigation Issues

Suppose, however, users do make it to the site. Does their concept of what they are looking for (a thing having hotdogness) match site navigation or categories?

"I want a hot dog, but they only have meat parabolas? Gross."

As simple as that, we have a homepage bounce.

A user that knows Piebalds sells hot dogs will be frustrated. They'll spend a longer time making navigation choices, heading down wrong paths, skipping over relevant content. A poor experience.

4. Real World Applications

In practice, this simplified² example would have significantly more factors to deal with, but it does illustrate a point.

Using jargon or internally conceived terminology will have serious effects on search results and navigation. It amounts to beating around the bush. Speak clearly to your product differences, but do so within the context of an understood category.

If you're using non-standard terms or considering them, handle them carefully. Explore and research the proposed terminology. Is the internal team able to define it? Do educated users³ understand the term? What are the goals? Who is the audience? Why the change?

If an alternate term must be used, how can accessibility and searchability be added back? Temporarily using both terms? Adding an education perspective? More aggressively definitions? A marketing campaign?

Most importantly, differentiate, but do so clearly and within a framework that your users will understand.