Do you track both plural and singular variations of your keywords?
-
Howdy,
In trying to make the most of the keyword tracking slots we get with the SEOmoz tool our discussion turned to the importance of tracking both variations of search terms that could be plural or singular.
The example is that we run a local business search database so we target search terms like "chicago pet stores" and "chicago pet store", however the language of our site almost always uses the plural version of the business category.
On one hand we want to know exactly how we rank for variations of search terms, but on the other, with the number of categories we have we could be tracking thousands upon thousands if we included every variation ("pet store chicago", "pet stores in chicago", etc.)
So what say ye fellow optimizers? Is it worth tracking variations of search terms or do you find that Google is smart enough in coalescing the intent of similar search variants that tracking against the most commonly searched one is enough?
Thank you all!
-
The only concern I have about getting to granular is time. Things like the 80/20 rule come to mind. You don't want to chase down minor details when there are big fish getting away. With that said, there is a lot of traffic involved with plural vs singular keywords. Your time is well spent!
-
From watching the SERPs and visitor behavior in my niche... I believe that singular queries tend to be informational.... plural queries seem to be transactional.
-
I have a subscription at both SEOMOZ & Raventools.
Read up on raven and you will see why, especially when it comes to managing many many keywords and staying on top of reporting.
-
I completely agree with you, so much so in fact that some people say I go too far with how granular I get in my data collection/analytics. This question was ultimately a spot check to see if I was going too far, or not far enough.
Thank you for your insight!
-
My problem is that I already have over 100 keywords being tracked for one site and I'm getting ready to launch 2 more, this could get cumbersome!
SEO is highly competitive. High quality SEO involves a lot of work. If it was easy, then everyone would do it
It's up to you to determine if it is worthwhile to track both. My answer is yes, it is. If you are here at SEOmoz, you clearly have a desire to implement industry best practices. SEO is purely a competition. Think Rocky and his opponent slugging it out. You are either prepared to stand toe-to-toe with your competitors and fight for rankings, or you are not. If you want to be ranked at the top, you need to EARN the position and that involves a commitment to do all the work involved.
This is my approach to SEO. Not everyone agrees
-
Yeah the search volume differs greatly, the question is just whether the page I have will rank more or less the same for the plural vs singular and if not would it be so different that it's worth tracking both.
My problem is that I already have over 100 keywords being tracked for one site and I'm getting ready to launch 2 more, this could get cumbersome!
-
This is my issue. In many cases I rank equally well for both singular and plural so it feels like a waste to use one of my keyword slots tracking both when instead I could use it to track another keyword entirely.
I guess for the time being I'll keep tracking both.
-
Agreed, i always check both singular and plural. Not only for traffic reasons but for difficulty as well!
-
For me it depends on the search results in question and also the keyword volumes in the Google Keyword Tool. More often than not, in my industry I find different results (and rankings) for the singular and plural keywords so I do keep track. It is also baffling to me that I can rank #3 for the singular version but #8 for the plural variation of the keyword. Or Google Places will show up for the singular version but not the plural!!
I also use Advanced Web Ranking to automate ranking reports so keeping track of rankings is no problem at all.
-
Do you track both plural and singular variations of your keywords?
I track both the singular and plural versions. It makes a difference. Pick a keyword such as "childrens book" and then search for "childrens books". You will see the results vary. In some instances, there is a huge difference.
According to Google's Keyword tool:
Apple - 83 million global monthly searches
Apples - 6 million global monthly searches.
To use a more relevant example:
Chicago pet store - 5400 global monthly searches
Chicago pet stores - 6600 global monthly searches
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
-
Should I use location in keywords in a campaign?
We're setting up 25 campaigns for clients and many of the keywords in each are identical. Rather than creating a keyword with a specific location for each client (pool builder san francisco), would it be more effective to use only "pool builder" as the keyword and then set the location for the San Francisco area? I'm concerned that we are going to run out of our keyword allotment since many of our clients have multiple locations.
Moz Pro | | getsmartgroup0 -
Can I batch export top 5 or 10 SERPS for each keyword in my campaign
I'm a newby. I have about 70 keywords and I want to create a list of all of the websites ranking in the top say 10 positions. This is to create a list of competitors in my client's space. How do I do this? I poked around but can only see single-keyword search capability to get the full serp listing (top 50). thanks.
Moz Pro | | empiricalSEO0 -
Improving ranking for a more specific keyword - eg 1 word
Hi there Ive managed to get my site ranking in top5 of Organic search for a 2 word keyword "keywordname australia" for example or "buy keywordname" - however finding it a lot slower process improving rankings for just the actual 'keywordname' Any suggestions as to what might be the best thing to focus on to improve a more competitive term?
Moz Pro | | IsaCleanse0 -
15-20 images on a page / Alt Tag them or not with the keyword phrase?
I have a site that easily has 15-20 images per product page, giving the users ideas of what they can do with the product design. All of them have an alt tag with the keyword phrase in it. There is also an H1, H2, sometimes an H3, body copy with the keyword phrase 1-3 times, bold when it seems like a good time to emphasize it. Just in the images alone, we've exceeded the recommended 15 keyword phrases on a page. Moz On Page Grader says the following: Avoid Keyword Stuffing in Document We've seen evidence that excessive use of keywords can negatively impact rankings and thus suggest moderation. Recommendation: Remove instances of the targeted keyword(s) from the document text of this page to bring it below 15 What's the recommendation for the image alt tags? We'd like the images to show up in Google Images, so they should have the tag, right? What's the right way to handle this for SEO purposes? Someone's suggested naming 1/2 of the images one keyword phrase, and the other 1/2 an altogether different one, not searched nearly as often as the primary keyword phrase.
Moz Pro | | INCart0 -
Occurrences of Keyword - Report card
Hi WHen I run the report card for a particular keyword - URL its says "Occurrences of Keyword 0" however I there is the keywords in the page at least twice and exact match of keywords x1 ? any help would be appricated. For some reason google is just not indexing any keyword that I have optimized page for either. I have checked and they are all "follow" thanks
Moz Pro | | summer3000 -
Structurize campaigns in SEOMOZ for different languages & keywords
I have a website in 3 different languages as www.mysite.com/fr annd www.mysite.com/en what is the best way to track keywords in different languages in SEOmoz how do i structurize the campaign? Do i create a seperate campaign for every language?
Moz Pro | | MiaClientdata0 -
SEOmoz keyword difficulty tool
Is anyone else having problems with this? Every search I do seems to throw up an error in the traffic fields.
Moz Pro | | neooptic0 -
What time of day are keyword rankings updated
The keyword rankings in one of my campaigns update on Tuesday. It looks like they updated today but when I downloaded to CSV, some say last Tuesday. Is this because they didn't change or are they still updating? Today is Tuesday. i.e., do they update at a specific time and if so, what time?
Moz Pro | | mikescotty0
