Google’s search results are baffling experts. And especially when queries are related to “SEO.” People often complain about oddities in search results. However, the current situation with SEO-related searches is confusing.

Anomaly is word that means when something deviates from the norm or what is expected. Many times the anomaly is explainable when there is something odd about search engine results pages (SERPs). Queries combining a geographical element and a longtail phrase tend to produce strange results. Similarly, lack of data about specific word combinations sometimes lead to inappropriate results.

What is happening with certain keyword phrases related to “SEO” is different. It is a true anomaly. Keywords such as “SEO program,” “What is an SEO program?,” “SEO New York (City),” “SEO NYC,” “SEO Conference,” “SEO Events,” “SEO Education,” and “SEO Awards” point to SEO-USA.org site, which is not related to search engine optimization. SEO-USA stands for Sponsors for Educational Opportunity. It is a legitimate non-profit organization that was established in 1963. It provides mentorship to underserved young people and helps them in getting into colleges and universities through SEO Scholars and other programs.

One possible explanation for the rankings could be backlinks. SEO-USA.org has backlinks from almost seventy .edu websites and many high-quality .org sites. The strong backlink profile might be contributing to its high rankings for irrelevant keywords.

However, backlinks alone probably don’t explain the anomaly. The impact of backlinks has evolved over time. In the early days of SEO, sites with a high number of backlinks could rank well for almost any keyword. Search algorithms now have become more sophisticated. The power of backlinks has been reduced. The importance in today’s SERPs is the quality of content as well as the relevance of content.