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Ask the Experts: Do I Need Both Singular and…

  • September 7, 2007
  • by Gradiva Couzin

Q: If I’m using a keyword such as “planet orbiter” or “planet orbiters”, do I need to focus on both words for meta searches, PPC, etc. or can I focus just on “planet orbiters” and trust that a good enough campaign will yield results for the singular “planet orbiter” search as well?

A: Since search engines recognize a difference between singular and plural words, we think it is best to represent your keyword in both singular and plural forms on your website.

Despite Google taking great pride in the fact that it returns meaningfully different results for “apple” and “apples” (people searching for the single word “apple” are more likely to be seeking the company and not the fruit), for the vast majority of searches, most people would agree that there isn’t a whole lot of meaning in the difference between singular and plural searches. If you think that your searchers could be querying both words, you should optimize for both too.

This is even more important when it comes to symbols such as apostrophes and dashes in words. Search engines provide different results for mockingbirds and mockingbird’s – as well they should. Be sure to do your research to determine which is the most popular form of your favorite keyword.

For pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, it’s usually a good idea to target all variations of a multiple-word keyword phrase (“mockingbird songs” “mockingbird song”, “mocking bird song”). In the rare instances when we sponsor single keywords, we usually only sponsor the singular version and make sure broad matching is enabled so that the plurals and other variations are represented. But if this is a critically important keyword for you, it’s probably worth your while to go ahead and sponsor individual variations. Again, though, it’s not always a great plan to sponsor single keywords, so make sure that you track carefully to make sure the traffic you pay for is converting at a reasonable rate.

You may also be interested in our previous “Ask the Experts” answer about targeting variations of multiple-word keyphrases.

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6 COMMENTS
  • Curt Bizelli
    March 31, 2010 at 9:45 pm

    Hi, Thanks for the advice. My question is “Do I need to create a meta tag keyword for both “singular” and “plural” versions; not include both in the content?

    1. Gradiva Couzin
      April 1, 2010 at 9:55 am

      Hi Curt,
      The meta keywords tag, which looks like this: is almost always ignored by search engines, so whether you include singular and plural terms is really a moot point.

  • (removed - please use a name not a keyword)
    June 16, 2010 at 5:05 am

    What about meta title tag, how could I optimize my title tag for both singular and plural terms? For example Boxing Gloves and Boxing Glove.

  • (removed - please use a name not a keyword)
    September 7, 2010 at 4:38 am

    very good post. I was searching the difference between singular and plural in SEO, about its effects in google ranking etc. So, happen to visit your site.The information provided here was very useful. Thanks a lot.

  • Orlando
    April 8, 2011 at 9:36 pm

    @ Urwa Industries

    Sorry if this response is too late. In regards to your question you could try using the following:

    “Selling Boxing Gloves – Buy A Glove Fit For Boxing”

    Hope this helps.

  • (removed - please use a name not a keyword)
    April 27, 2011 at 3:16 am

    Depending on people’s customs, e.g. “auto accessories” searches occur much often than “auto accessory”, should I give more weight to the one that is searched more often?

Comments are closed.

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Gravity Search Marketing was formed in 2006 as a partnership between Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin. Gravity’s clients include Fortune 500 companies, global entertainment brands, niche B2Bs, large and small retailers, and non-profits.
As SEO industry veterans, Couzin and Grappone co-wrote Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day (Wiley, 2006, 2008, 2011) and Five Stars: Putting Online Reviews to Work for Your Business (Wiley, 2014), and enjoy sharing their expertise in speaking engagements and press interviews. 
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