Why do we use terms that might seem insensitive, politically incorrect or outdated when referring to our products and services on our website?
The answer is simple. Statistics show us that the people who research and purchase our products enter those terms into their Internet Search Engines.
The primary source of information about products and services for most people is the Internet. The starting point is usually a search engine such as Google, Yahoo, or Bing. Search engines such as these try to direct people to websites that are relevant to the terms they are searching for. In order to help web site developers make themselves available to the correct searching audience, Google and others provide tools that let us see what people are typing in when doing a search. Once we have that info, we can then write web content that contains these terms. What an eye-opener this has been for us!
What an eye-opener this has been for us to see the terms people use in their Internet searches!!
We had always avoided terms like “handicapped” because we know that it is an outdated and insensitive term. We prefer to use terms such as “disabled” and “accessible.” However, we have found that that the searching public does not use those terms as heavily. To put it in perspective, in one month alone, over 100,000 searches were made for vans using the term “handicap” or “handicapped.” Only 30,000 similar searches used the term “accessible.”
We will continue to try to write content that is as respectful as possible to people with disabilities and we will avoid insensitive terms entirely on non-internet content, in our spoken words and signage. We hope that you will understand the need for us to use such terms on our website so that we can be found by those searching for our products and services.
If you ever take issue with anything we write, or would like to suggest alternatives or improvements to our approach, we would love to hear your suggestions.