Do exact keyword matches exclude "in", "based" etc?
-
I am trying to build a landing page for the search term "web design london" and I have included this search term as well as some variations such as "web design in london", "web design based in london" as the content doesn't really read well if I don't put in a connector word (I can't remember what the term for the use of "in" etc is).
However I am using the Moz On-Page Grader to make sure I'm dotting every i and crossing every t, but it doesn't seem to pick up on the search term when "in" or "based" is used. Now is this a limitation of the On-Page Grader or should I expect Google and other search engines to not pick up on the search term when it contains these sorts of words?
-
The Yoast SEO plugin does the same thing. Both it and Moz are intended as a guide only. You have to overlay it with your best judgement.
-
This makes sense. The content is written in a way that makes it easy for the user to read, I think my concern was whether either Google or Moz itself were smart enough to see that. I guess this is something that will improve in the On-Page Grader over time. Thank you!
-
A similar question was asked a while ago and here's what Moz Staffer Keri Morgret had to say.
"Here's some information from Google itself:
http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=136861
Words that are commonly used, like 'the,' 'a,' and 'for,' are usually ignored (these are called stop words). But there are even exceptions to this exception. The search
- [ the who ] likely refers to the band; the query [ who ] probably refers to the World Health Organization -- Google will not ignore the word 'the' in the first query."
So you can see that there is no definitive list of "stop words"; the answer is contextual. Try your proposed title tag with and without the "stop word". If it has the same meaning both ways, you can safely omit it. If you think it will invoke a better response from viewers or clarifies some subtle distinction and you can fit it in within the known pixel constraints, then consider adding it.
-
There are two schools of thought on this.
One school is as you have adopted above, simply frame your title to the customer. I do not 100% agree as I think there are competitive tensions between "customer v SEO" on various aspects of a site build. One is title - So personally I would delete words "in" as the 512 pixels in your title is valuable space and integral in informing search engines what your site does, so the search engines can match it to searchers intent. The "in" does not add anything, it is superfluous. I personally prefer "web design london" as it is succinct and straight to the point. I already know you are based in London - so no need to tell me, web design london does that.
Your call, hope that assists.
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
-
Utilizing the Moz Location in keywords vs including the location in the actual keyword phrase
I've searched the Moz blog as well as Q&A forums - but I specifically have a question about utilizing the Moz Location in keywords vs including the location in the actual keyword phrase. I've done both and get different rankings. For instance, I have "it company" with the Location set to Corpus Christi, Texas and our rank is #3. Then I also have "it company corpus christi" with the Location set to Corpus Christi, Texas and our rank is #6. Additionally, I threw in "it company corpus christi" with the Location set to National and our rank is #7. What is the best practice and what are the determining factors for the differences? Thank you in advance!
Moz Bar | | LBoxerger0 -
Did Moz recently change how it calculates keyword difficulty?
Did the keyword tool recently change? What is Grepwords? Why do all my long-tail phrases show as "not available?" Just wondering...
Moz Bar | | amandasnowden0 -
How to make sense of data for this keyword (Moz Keyword vs. Google KW Planner)
The keyword "auto immune disorder" has an avg monthly (local/US) search of 880 in Google KW Planner with "low" competition In Moz, the same keyword has an avg monthly (local/US) search of 5 with a KW difficulty of 71%. I realize that the competition in Google KWP is based on ads, but is there a discrepancy when the search volume is so different in Google vs. Moz/Bing? Based on the above data, it seems like it would make sense to do a Google Adword (high search volume, low competition) instead of trying to rank organically...am I on the right track here? Thanks!
Moz Bar | | lulu710 -
Bing search match vs google
With the keyword research on moz it reports on bing search volume - does anyone know if you should multiply this for google searches - ie if I'm looking at a keyword with 2500 bing searches what should I be considering google would be?
Moz Bar | | Wickedwildweb0 -
On-page Grader and Cyrillic keywords
Hi all, I'm trying out the On-page grader and i see "funny" output when it comes to cyrillic keywords. I can see 73 occurrences in the title, 108 in the meta description tag, 34 in the H1 tag, etc. etc... Of course, these are not correct and i've manually checked. I've tested a few other pages in Bulgarian, using Cyrillic kewords... same story 😞 Please, let me know if there's something i'm missing, as this is crucial for my work. Thanks in advance.
Moz Bar | | jose_ugs0 -
No Keyword in URL, but it is there
Hi,friends. I have grade A on all pages but system shows like no keyword in url, but it is there. for example i have Latvian keyword: bīstamo kravu pārvadājumi (with Latvian characters like Ū, Ā) I have url with exact keyword in it: http://vervo.lv/lv/kravu-parvadajumi/transports/bistamo-kravu-parvadajumi So why moz dont see that keyword, it does not understand special characters?
Moz Bar | | Liva0 -
Adding Labels to Existing Keywords
Under "Manage Keywords", I've previously added several keywords that have been tracking for a month. It's easy to remove labels, but how can I add them to existing keywords? I tried re-adding them with the new labels, but no dice. If I delete them, won't the ranking history be deleted as well?
Moz Bar | | AziyoConsulting0 -
Why still the moz index showing "Next Update on August 26, 2013"?
I have been waiting to see the updated authority metrics from Opensiteexplorer.org. But still it is showing old data. and showing "next index update: August 26, 2013" as the date is 27th August today. Is there any delay in update?
Moz Bar | | Bala_K2