Bizarre highlighting in Google SERPs

[rodhull]

I have noticed a strange quirk (error?) in the way Google highlights acronyms in the search results pages.

Google is fairly clever in the way it handles acronyms. ie. If you type "PPC" into Google, as well as highlighting "PPC" it will also highlight "Pay Per Click" whenever that shows up in the search listings. Vice versa the same is true.

BUT, why is this not always the case? Try searching on "pay per click" and looking at the results in the first few pages. "Pay per click" is always highlighted, but PPC is only sometimes highlighted. Why is this? Why not always?

Can something be changed within the site or meta tags to ensure that the acronym will be highlghted in your snippet?

[AussieWebmaster]

they may used associated with other words that differentiate those references or lack enough associated keywords to get highlighted