How do search engines treat keywords with "and"?
-
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?
-
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.
-
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.
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
-
International Keyword Research
Good morning! I have a quick question about international keyword research. So, I created a keyword list full of terms that we want to analyze in Latin America. My question is around search results. For example, if the keyword I am analyzing in English is "apples" and I choose the region as Mexico, should I submit the keyword to be analyzed as "apples" or the Spanish translation "manzanas"? I am confused as to whether the results account for the translation of someone searching "manzanas" in Mexico to the English term "apples" and how that whole process works. Let me know if I need to elaborate because I understand that the whole question is super confusing haha. Thanks for any help you can give! 🙂
Keyword Research | | BlakeSmith31 -
No SERPs contains my keyword phrase
Hi! I have a question that is the best described by an concrete example: When I use Google UK and search for a keyword "wood floor" why the top 100 search results show pages for "wood flooring" instead? Is it because that keyword is simply more popular and pages are in general better optimized for "flooring"?
Keyword Research | | KAN-Malmo1 -
How to do keyword research for a specific webpage
Kindly let me know how to do keyword research for a specific webpage and what is the process.
Keyword Research | | AlexanderWhite0 -
Long tail keyword research
Is there any way for me to figure out long tail key words related to keyword such as "IT solutions"? This is a competitive term. How do I figure out related keywords with high search volume and less competition?
Keyword Research | | zsyed0 -
Keyword ranking tool?
I am looking for a tool that would show ranking keywords for my website - except Google Anlaytics and Webmaster. I don't want to enter the keywords to see if my website is ranking I'd like to see if there are any keywords that rank already Thanks!
Keyword Research | | Rubix0 -
Ranking Reports for New Keywords
I added new keywords to my campaign. They do appear in my ranking report. But I am not getting any ranking data on the new keywords. It looks like they are yet to be crawled. For my initial set of keywords, i see the specific rankings in each search engine and for some it says "not in the top 50." For the new ones all I see are zeros. Will the ranking data eventually appear?
Keyword Research | | dseevers0 -
Stop List and Keywords
I've came across a suggested list of words that google will ignore in your content, if this is correct and one of our main keywords is one of those words, will it lose effectiveness? We are trying to get #1 SERP for "Self Tan" and it seems "Self" is one of the words ignored - so should we just be focusing on Tan? Any tips / advice would be great!
Keyword Research | | ChrisMciIlroy0 -
Is there a tool that measures what keyword searches actually bring in clients?
Is there a tool to measure what keywords are bringing in clients? For instance, there is a keyword phrase with a high volume of searches so naturally I am inclined to include this phrase in my title tag. However, it does not seem like a search phrase that a potential client would use. Is there a tool to see what phrases actual clients are using?
Keyword Research | | ydop0