How do search engines score "nested" keywords?
-
I use "nested" for lack of a better term; what I mean is keyword phrases that contain other keyword phrases. For example, if I have a page that is extremely well optimized (on-page) for the phrase "old silver coins", is that page by default also extremely well optimized (on-page) for the phrase "silver coins"?
Or does google understand that I am optimizing for the longer phrase "old silver coins" and somehow exclude me from contention for the sub-phrase "silver coins"?
I understand that this gets more complicated when talking about backlinks (off-page), but the same general question remains. If I am getting good backlinks for "old silver coins", am I also getting good backlinks for "silver coins" at the same time?
I do understand that "silver coins" may be more competitive than "old silver coins" and so my page may not rank the same for the two phrases.
But I am really curious if there is some kind of multiplier effect with nested keyword phrases like the example I have provided, or whether google somehow only credits for the full phrase and not for any sub-phrases contained therein.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated! (And sorry if this has been addressed already. I have looked around the site and have googled this question, but haven't found anything useful yet.) Thanks.
BONUS QUESTION: Are the answers to my questions above exactly the same when discussing singular versus plural keywords ("coins" versus "coin")? After all, that is a "nested case just like my examples above. On the other hand, I can see there being some special treatment of singular and plural.
-
Pluralized terms are treated as different words.
When I search for "coin" the wiki article is first. When I search for "coins" that same article is still on the first page but at the bottom. Other pages focused on "coins" have more relevancy due to the identical match.
-
Thanks very much.
And how about the singular / plural question? Are singular and plural versions of a word treated as completely separate keywords, or are they somehow lumped together? In other words, is your answer the same with respect to "coin" versus "coins" or do the search engines return results for either if a user searches for on or the other?
Thanks again!
-
What you are asking about is relevancy. If you write an article on the topic of "old silver coins", if your page is perfectly optimized for that key phrase then your url, title, links, content will all use that phrase. Your page is still relevant for "silver coins" but all the pages which are optimized for "silver coins" will beat you assuming the other factors are equal.
When you perform a search for "silver coins" on Google.com, over 13 million results are returned. 90% of people do not look past the first page so the reality is you are competing for the top spots on the first page. If your result isn't on the first page, it doesn't really matter much.
The bottom line, yes your page would be relevant for "silver coins" but most likely it wont be relevant enough to make any meaningful difference.
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
-
Keyword Plan Of Attack
We have looked up our direct competitor to see what keywords they rank #1 for (aside from their own company name). We have narrowed it down to 3 that we want to focus on. Our plan is to build internal landing pages, external landing pages and beef up our content. Is that a good strategy to start or are we missing something?
Keyword Research | | IcarusSEO0 -
Tool for wildcard keyword suggestions
Like others, I have also been oblivious to the options which were uncovered in this article, using stars or underscores to uncover more keywords suggestions. However, I am trying to find a way to avoid the manual labour. Did any of you find a successful tool that automatically adds all the possible combinations of these wildcards to give a comprehensive lists of suggestions? I am looking for a tool that also included my country (.nl).
Keyword Research | | Entertainment0 -
About Keywords
Hi everybody! I was reading a huge pdf about keywords, long tails and too many things and my brain is now like a blender. What is the diference between long tails and keywords? Thanks to everybody! Have a nice day!
Keyword Research | | Harmario0 -
Keywords/URL
Greetings! I've read previous posts on this topic, but wondering if something has changed recently...On the on-page grading, the following was suggested:Use Keywords in your URL - high importance - easy fix _(In the past it has read difficult fix). _Could it be as easy as creating a new page with the name in the url, then redirecting to it? My site is www.enchantingquotes.com and the keyword that brings in virtually all of business is "wall quotes". I've read in the forum this isn't worth the trouble of trying to do, but the "easy fix" comment has me wondering...?Any help is much appreciated....I'm been trying to recover from a recent unexplained drop in rank. Ugh! (So feel free to analyze my site LOL!) :DA huge thanks for any advise!
Keyword Research | | eqgirl0 -
Google algo mistake in persian search?
I recently wanted to work on a high important persian keyword (شارژ ایرانسل) and analysis it on moz.com Difficulty SERP. But the result was very Surprised me. because the second top site in SERP used more than 15 time the keyword in home page and Google doesn't mark it as spam. why Google doesn't apply the spam algo in some language? akg2NqH.png kcHgx0D.png gUSez3B.png
Keyword Research | | vahidafshari450 -
How to improve keyword rank
Hello, I have made some changes to my site within the last 1 1/2 months and have not seen my keyword ranking improve whatsoever; however, my page rank has gone up. I have made all the changes that my campaign suggested, and yet there is still no change to my keyword rank. Please advise me on what I'm doing incorrectly or what I should change. Thank you
Keyword Research | | thelearningman0 -
Using local monthly searches for generating website keywords
Hi Guys,Im researching keywords to add to our new website with google key words. At this stage we are not using any paid searches or any PPC and are solely looking to be optimized for organic searches. With this in mind should I focus on populating out site with words that rank high under the column " local monthly searches' and not worry about the words that rank high under CPC and the Competition columns? .
Keyword Research | | dawsonski0 -
Best keyword research tool
Okay, what is the BEST keyword research tool? I've heard all across the board, but I'm looking for preferrably a free tool, but just want to use one that can do competitive research, as well as find me a ton of long tail.
Keyword Research | | azguy0