Let’s Make Tamil Search Results Meaningful
A Simple Language Lesson Turned Eye-Opening
One evening, while teaching my daughter the Tamil alphabet, I decided to make the lesson more visual and fun. I opened Google Images and searched for "Tamil," expecting to find colorful charts of the Uyir Ezhuthukkal (vowels) and Mei Ezhuthukkal (consonants). Instead, I was flooded with Tamil movie stills, political leaders, and celebrity photos. My daughter, with wide eyes, asked,
"Where are the Tamil letters, Appa?",
I paused. It was a simple question, but it revealed a deeper problem.
Google Images search results for the word Tamil. Mostly showing pop culture
Google Images search results for the word English. All the images are related to English language
The SEO Bias – When Tamil Becomes Only Pop Culture
The reason behind this skewed result is simple: SEO dominance.
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Tamil cinema and politics have massive online footprints.
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Websites, fan pages, and news outlets tag their content broadly with "Tamil," making it outrank actual language-related content.
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As a result, a child searching for Tamil alphabets might instead see images of actors, singers, or politicians.
This isn't just a quirky search issue—it’s a cultural representation problem.
As I sat there, explaining the Tamil script to my daughter, I thought:
"What if we could change this?"
A TechTamil Movement to Clean Up Tamil SEO
made easy
Imagine a Tamil SEO Cleanup Movement—a community effort to:
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Create and publish more Tamil language-specific content: alphabets, grammar charts, and cultural graphics.
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Properly tag and optimize images with language-specific keywords like
Tamil script,Tamil letters, orLearn Tamil. -
Contribute to open platforms (Wikimedia Commons, educational sites) with free-to-use Tamil language graphics.
How You Can Help
If you’re a designer, teacher, or language enthusiast, you can:
✅ Share educational Tamil images online with proper SEO tags.
✅ Encourage Tamil content creators to use language-specific alt-text.
✅ Support Tamil educational sites by contributing graphics.
Together, we can make it easier for the next generation to find authentic Tamil language resources—without being buried under pop culture.
#TechTamilSEOCleanup – Let’s Make Tamil Search Results Meaningful
This is more than an SEO issue—it’s about preserving and promoting the Tamil language.
Would you join this movement? Share this post and tag your Tamil-speaking friends, content creators, and educators. Let’s clean up Tamil SEO, one image at a time.
By Shiyamalan Thevendranadan - April 18, 2025