SEO for compound word derivatives
-
Our company offers services for nonprofit organizations and we are finding that "non profit" and "nonprofit" are both used very frequently in search queries.
I suspect Google will treat the two variations similarly but am looking for something more concrete than my anecdotal experience.
- How does Google treat compound words that are commonly searched for as multiple words?
- Any suggestions on resources or tests to find a concrete answer for "nonprofit"?
-
Google makes semantic level query assumptions by default now- that's part of the function that allows google to suggest queries as you type. To address your question more directly, it depends on the individual terms and whether or not Google is giving complete, partial, or no equivalence to those terms. Non-profit and nonprofit are treated nearly the same in organic ranking- the top results are identical and the remaining results have more variance. You can experiment with this idea and you'll see some of this phenomena.
As for "concrete evidence"- you aren't going to get it. You should study the results of your individual terms' rankings because that's exactly what Google did to weight potential results... at least, it's a part of what they did. They have a vast army of "raters" that look into the relevance of query/results and assign a value to the search engine's success/lack of success. In the end, a load of data is collected in various categorically-structured groups of search terms. Are they using the data attached to these unique categories to craft a more relevant set of results? I don't know if they are, but I find it hard to believe they flush all of that expensive data down the drain just to use an umbrella algorithm to spit out all query results.
In the end, I think you'll find that worrying about the minor difference between the two is wasted time if you're looking for a concrete answer. To avoid the pitfall, stick to a single convention on each individual page, but vary the convention from page to page. When you search one or the other, watch how Google bolds the alternate terms in the list of results.. Compare the 1st page results of the two alternate terms.. are you seeing a pattern? With the other components of SEO on-track, it effectively won't matter at all.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
What should my key words be for home page?
Hey Everyone, I'm curious if anyone can provide some insight as to what my keywords should be for my website. Just as a quick heads up, my company, Back In Motion Sport & Spine Physical Therapy, is a physical therapy clinic that specializes in orthopedic, sport, and spine injuries. You can find my site here: www.backinmotionsspt.com That said, I understand about doing key word research and integrating that on the site. However, since I am a smaller practice should the end of the my key word entail my city of Fort Myers, FL. For instance, should my key words be the following: Orthopedic physical therapy Fort Myers, FL Sport Rehabilitation Fort Myers, FL Back Pain Relief Fort Myers, FL Or.... Should they just be: Orthopedic physical therapy Sport rehabilitaiton Back pain relief I look forward to hearing any and all feedback.
Keyword Research | | scottgray06200 -
Blog - SEO Better? MyCompany.com/blog or marketing.MyCompany.com/blog? Percent difference?
We started blogging aggressively 3 months ago to bolster our organic search. We are building a new website and wonder if hosting our blog directly on our site is better than marketing.mycompnay.com? Is MyComanpany.com/blog a better choice - what percentage of SEO value would it be? We are building a new WordPress website. Our blog is currently hosted on a subdomain with HubSpot software. WILL OUR SEO BE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE EFFECTIVE HOST THE WEBSITE DIRECTLY OUR DOT COM? It won't be as convenient with HS tool but we want the best possible SEO.
Keyword Research | | Joseph.Lusso0 -
How to do a comprehensive SEO Keyword Research
Hi, What are the best tools and techniques to do a comprehensive keyword research on all the relevant search engines? There are times when there are no stats available on the Google keyword planner tool, in that case what do you suggest? Thanks
Keyword Research | | LaythDajani0 -
Is there a minimum amount of words you need?
I am making some pages on my website very short. Some contain only about 20-30 words in the body. I will have about 50 of these pages. It is not because I want to spam but I think it is more user friendly. Will this hurt the overall site's SEO? I dont care that much about SEO for each individual page, but obviously id care a lot if these small content pages hurt my website in general? Thanks!
Keyword Research | | waltergah0 -
Best way to seo optimize before and afgter photos in plastic surgery website
I publish before and after photos of plastic surgery procedures-breast implnats tiummy tuck etc. I use word press. What are best keywords, category labels and tags to get best ranking in before and after photo posts
Keyword Research | | wianno1680 -
Keyword affected by the following word, forming a keyphrase?
This came to my mind: Can word(s) immediately following a keyword hurt the ranking for that keyword, if they together form a phrase known to Google? Should I avoid keyphrases to rank better for a single keyword? Let's say that I have a website that ranks very well for the keyword "rice". The home page title and headline might be "Rice around the world". Now let's assume I change the "around the world" to "pudding", making the title "Rice pudding", which is in fact one of the keyphrases suggested by Google Instant when one types "rice". Is it possible that Google now decides the page should not rank well for the generic "rice" search any more, because it is not about rice as such but rice pudding, and as a result the ranking for the "rice" search suffers? This would probably make sense in some cases. A "flights to Hawaii" page should not rank very highly for a generic "flights" search, but just that specific search. However a "flights online" page might be all right to rank as high as any, if the meaning is understood (in all languages).
Keyword Research | | Krizze0 -
How do I conduct organic SEO for a company with 2 locations?
Hi, I'm currently working on improving rankings for a web design company. I think i'm possibly getting a bit hung up on this but I'm a bit stuck! The company has offices in 2 locations in the UK - in both Leicester and London. Do I need to include the 2 different locations in my keywords to improve ranking for both locations, say someone searching in Leicester searching for say 'web design Leicester'? ie one of my page titles (with keywords) is currently: Web design agency, Graphic design, Branding, Leicester & London Am I going about this in the right way? Hope this makes sense!
Keyword Research | | CWseo0 -
Killer Methods to find the right key words for e-commerce categories anyone?
Hello SEOs, I work for an e-commerce site and we often open new categories Babycare, Arts & Crafts, DIY... Does anyone have any killer methods to find the right key words for sub categories, items,... Handy tools? Tips? Google doc spread sheet cheat? Cheers!!! crossword.gif
Keyword Research | | ref.price0