keyword - singular vs plural - impact in SEO

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by spideynumber01, May 13, 2010.

  1. #1
    what is the difference in the SEO for singular and plural word..

    Suppose, we search 'movie review' in google. Rotten tomatoes comes last in the first page of google.
    If we search 'movie reviews' in google. Rotten tomatoes comes first in the first page of google.
    There is also difference in the number of searches when we see in adwords keyword tool.

    I believe, rotten tomatoes should come first for both words since it is having 'movie reviews' in its title.

    Any thoughts on this..
     
    spideynumber01, May 13, 2010 IP
  2. carbonfiberhoods

    carbonfiberhoods Peon

    Messages:
    68
    Likes Received:
    3
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #2
    I'm not sure, I have the same question too.. For instance.. in Market Samurai

    "carbon fiber hood" Searches = 4438/day
    "carbon fiber hoods" Searches = 1627/day

    So I'm going to optimize for "carbon fiber hood" and see what happens. I would like to optimize for hoods so I don't have to think of funky ways to use singular grammar to sell my products, meta tags, etc.
     
    carbonfiberhoods, Jul 18, 2010 IP
  3. Giamatti

    Giamatti Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,319
    Likes Received:
    18
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    148
    #3
    rank for both at the same time for best results.
     
    Giamatti, Jul 19, 2010 IP
  4. social-media

    social-media Member

    Messages:
    311
    Likes Received:
    9
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    35
    #4
    Doesn't really matter what you believe. What matters is how Google has programmed their ranking algorithm. And they programmed it so that singular and plural forms of the same nouns rank differently... Just as different conjugations of verbs (verify, verifying, verified, etc) rank differently.

    Understand how they rank keywords and deal with it. You're wasting your time "thinking" that it should be coded some way other than how it is currently coded. They likely have LOTS of good reasons for programming it that way. Their thousands of PhDs put a lot of thought into how to rank URLs... and are much better at it than you or I ever will be.
     
    social-media, Jul 19, 2010 IP
  5. asghar.paracha

    asghar.paracha Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    720
    Likes Received:
    4
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    118
    #5
    lol, if you go for 2nd options then your first keyword will also optimized
     
    asghar.paracha, Jul 19, 2010 IP
  6. carbonfiberhoods

    carbonfiberhoods Peon

    Messages:
    68
    Likes Received:
    3
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #6
    I think singular and plural does make a difference. For instance.. Check out the following google test:

    "carbon fiber hoods" plural google search

    carbon fiber hood - singular google seach

    You will see that depending on the plural "s" the search results change buy 1-3 positions, pretty significant.

    The results, while sometimes the same companies are in totally different order. Depending on your niche and SEOT SEOTC (market samurai) then this might be a viable option to boost your ranking if you can't score for the plural word of vice versa.
     
    carbonfiberhoods, Jul 19, 2010 IP
  7. StevieP

    StevieP Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    620
    Likes Received:
    3
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    165
    #7
    you need to build links with and without the 's' if you want to rank for both.

    Research has proven that when people are searching for a singular word like 'dell laptop' they usually want to buy. If they search plural 'dell laptops' they are usually only after research or browsing.

    So optimise for the singular first as those keywords will earn you more MONEY!
     
    StevieP, Jul 19, 2010 IP
  8. Canonical

    Canonical Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    2,223
    Likes Received:
    141
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    110
    #8
    Ummm NO. It doesn't work that way. They are ranked totally separate. If EVERY inbound link used the plural version as the link text and your on-page elements like title, h1, h2s, content, URL all target the plural version, you will NOT automatically rank the same (or necessarily even close to the same) for the singular version.

    So optimizing for plural does NOT automatically optimize for the singular. If only it were so easy...
     
    Canonical, Jul 19, 2010 IP
  9. bruce_robart

    bruce_robart Member

    Messages:
    547
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    #9
    Google considered Single word as keyword and every keywords have their different competition and different google search volume...right..? now i have question for guys who said that if we optimize plural then singular will automatically get optimize..

    How G considered Hood and Hoods as same keyword..?
    carbon fiber hood
    carbon fiber hoods
     
    bruce_robart, Jul 19, 2010 IP
  10. johnk681

    johnk681 Active Member

    Messages:
    240
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    63
    #10
    Use both Singular and plural may be beneficial, like me I am using "seo service" as well as "seo services" both.
     
    johnk681, Jul 19, 2010 IP