How do search engines treat keywords with "and"?

[Evan34]

For example, I would like to optimize a title tag with two keyword phrases: industrial supply and electrical supply. Instead of creating the title tag Industrial Supply and Electrical Supply, which sounds unnatural, would I get the same SEO benefit using Industrial and Electrical Supply?

[Toddfoster]

Hello Evan,

Ray has covered this pretty well - I would also point out that given the differences in search possibilities people can use, and the fact that you don't need exact-match keywords to gain rankings, it is a good idea to have both industrial supply and **electrical supply **in your title tag. This way, you stand a chance of being located by customers or clients looking for either of these terms, and they are equally weighted for relevance.

[Ray-pp]

Well, that puts you into a tricky situation. Google's goal is to best understand the natural language and semantics behind the user's search query. However, it is a very difficult task since natural language is widely different among humans and locations and intent is whole other issue that Google is trying to solve.

So, yes, Google does understand words like 'and' and how they impact a query/content. Those words are commonly called 'stop words.' Google understands the relationship of stop-words and keyword terms. However, it is an ongoing improvement process.

In your situation, I still think Google has a hard time equally weighing the titles you've exampled. While **Industrial and Electrical Supply **is more natural and fluid, Industrial Supply and Electrical Supply will probably help the overall rankings for both terms. However, it may be best to include the natural language in the title and add headings/content targeting both specific terms. It's something you should consider for your readers and continue to experiment with, tbh.