Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
How do you optimize for compound keywords
-
What is the best way to handle keywords like "switchplate covers"? The key word may be seen as either a 2 or 3 word phrase, depending how you handle the compound term: "switch plate" or "switchplate"
In google KW it shows different results for switch plate vs switchplate as well as using cover vs covers.
I've tried using all the variations in my descriptions, titles and H2s but I think this is diluting them all. Can anyone show me best practice guidelenes or examples of good solutions to these kinds of compound key words?
Thanks
Handcrafter
-
I use google analytics- Is there something special I should set up to track this? Or is it something to do with filtering?
Or any ideas on where to learn to set it up to track conversions and traffic for this 1 group of terms would be a great help.
Thank you for your comments EGOL
Handcrafter
-
Thanks Charles- This is really really helpful. The products I show on www.stowecraft.com do not have have brand names and they are all artisan-made & unique. So naming the products and their categories is crucial - and this compund name issue comes up over and over again.
Your suggestion about using the plural on the category page and the singular on the product page may work. But after reading Rands "singular vs plural" I am thinking that keeping my focus on the singular will increase conversions. I'll try to test it with ppc ads.
Best wishes
Handcrafter
-
Some term variants like this convert a lot better than others. My money is on "covers" - but I could be wrong.
So I would use the term where (traffic * conversion rate) will be highest.
If you don't have tracking to get a conversion rate you can get some data with Adwords testing.
-
Some term variants like this convert a lot better than others. My money is on "covers" - but I could be wrong.
So I would use the term where (traffic * conversion rate) will be highest.
If you don't have tracking to get a conversion rate you can get some data with Adwords testing.
-
This is a really good answer. Accurate, complete, very generous. Nice.
-
Usually Google and Bing do a good job of figuring out when terms are similar unless they have completely separate meanings (see Rand's response on singular vs plural). In your case if you go to google and type in "switchplate" it actually shows the "Did you mean switch plate?".
Also if you do a search on "Switch Plate" you notice Amazon comes up first with the word separated.
So those two notes are some big clues as to what direction to go for that example.
Either way I would use PPC as a playground here and run exact match ad campaigns for both versions of the term, find out which gets more traffic for you, which gets better conversions, and then optimize for that one first. Go with the data.
Anecdotaly I have heard singular is better for e-commerce as plural is usually used in language when talking about an item informationally. So I would probably go for singular and throw in a couple of plural versions on the page like an h2 or h3 link for "Other switch plates".
This could also be handled by doing your high level category pages as plural, and specific product pages as singular. I would probably keep a term like "switch plate" consistently separated in my copy though if I saw this was the big winner in my PPC test, but that is the copywriter/editor in me begging for consistency
and not the SEO tweaker going for every version. In the end I still want my site to be user friendly and clean.
-
Take a look at the traffic on each version of the keyword phrase. Your primary focus should be the version of the phrase which generates the most traffic. I would also try to use each variation of the phrase throughout the article when possible.
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
-
Paid vs Organic Keyword Optimisation
Hi Im wondering whether I should optimise my site with Organic search terms that drive traffic to the site or the paid terms i use in Google search ads?
Keyword Research | | aplnzmarch180 -
Keyword Themes - What's in a theme?
I recently read the Moz guide for "How To Rank - 25 Step SEO Master Blue Print" and had a question on keyword themes. What is considered a theme? Is there a recommended number of keywords in a theme? For example, if my site is for listing and selling cars, would the following terms fit within the same "car" theme or should the terms be broken out by "cars general" / "car locations" / "car types"? Cars Cars for sale in new york Ford Explorer for sale
Keyword Research | | Emily_A0 -
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 -
How can improve my keywords ranking?
My keywords are not in top in 50.So, what kind of activity we do to get in top in 50 rank?
Keyword Research | | surabhi60 -
Longtail keyword definition seems fuzzy?
So we all know about longtail keyword vs. short tail. However, it seems that the definition is a bit inconsistant. Some people say longtail keywords are keywords that get very low amounts of traffic, others that they are key phrases with 2 or more words. And others add to this that they have high conversion rate but describe specific features, product, service, model # etc. In an ideal model I suppose all of these things would be true. As keyword length increases, traffic tends to decrease, keyword is more specific pointing at features, model#, specific product etc and therefore the conversion rate is a bit higher as well. However, the data isn't a perfect curve. I will see keywords that get 18,000 searches but have 4 words. And then I will see single word key phrases that get <10 -20 searches a month. What am I to consider these? Its like they fit half the criteria. Any comments on this would be helpful and appreciated. I suppose the real question I am after is - it seems like the real definition of a long tail keyword cant be any of the above traits of a long tail keyword. How do you really define a long tail keyword in all circumstances (without it being this subjective idealized definition based on a perfect model) and where would the keyword circumstances (lots of words but high traffic, and low traffic but 1 word) fall in the graph? Center?
Keyword Research | | eastco0 -
Keyword Moderator List
Hi Moz Community, I'm wondering if anyone has a comprehensive list of keyword moderators that they could share? For example: online
Keyword Research | | IrishTimes
buy [keyword] online
cheap
cheapest
best
top
free
[country name]
[area name]
store
shop
purchase etc... I always find that it's useful to run [keyword + moderator] for search volumes as it sometimes uncovers some exact match surprises that you may not have thought of. Thanks everyone! Gavin1 -
Ignore keywords that have no data in the Google Keyword Tool?
Hello, There are some keywords that have no monthly search data in the Google Keyword Tool. In many cases, this is because there have been very few searches for the keyword. Would you recommend focusing on other keywords that do have search data in the Google Keyword Tool? Perhaps focusing too far out on the long tail of search results can be less productive than focusing on keywords that have proven that at least some people care about them. What do you think? Thanks!
Keyword Research | | nyc-seo0 -
Keyword Traffic Estimator Tools
Hello, I'm relatively new to SEO and looking to find a good tool for estimating the search traffic volume of different keywords in order to focus efforts on higher yielding terms. Right now I'm using Google's traffic estimator but it doesn't seem to have much data for long-tail keywords. Is anything else out there better or more accurate? Thank you!
Keyword Research | | rawberg0