Search Terms with Apostrophes
-
In doing keyword research I discovered that the Google Adwords Tools returns results with a space in search terms where an apostrophe should be.
For example: Searching for 'mens fashion' or 'men's fashion' will return keyword ideas like 'men s fashion trends', 'men s fashion styles'. Same thing happens if yous search for '50s fashion' or 'mens suits'.
Not only that but if you search for 'men s fashion' in the adwords tool you get 14,800 exact matches! Who would you use that term? And if you do search for it in Google, it will auto correct to 'men's fashion'.
If you know the answer to what a term like 'men s fashion' signifies, you can skip the rest of this post and answer my question (thanks!). If not, here's what I did to try and figure it out - but I'm stuck and I need your help.
-
First off, I did a search for all 3 terms: (mens fashion, men's fashion and men s fashion) in the adwords tool. The tool responded with different numbers for each, with 'men s fashion' far exceeding 'men's fashion'. See image 1
-
I did a search for each of the three terms in Google. The top 10 results for each were different. See image 2
-
Google reads 'men s fashion' as 'men's fashion'. I know that because:
- Google says 'showing result's for men's fashion' (obvious!)
- Google instant lists terms beginning with 'men's fashion...' See image 3
- Related searches are identical for those two but not for 'mens fashion'.
- But it's not completely the same since as I mentioned you get different results, and the number of results found are different as well.
So that brings me back to my question: When the tool says that 28 people search for [men's fashion] and 14,800 search for [men s fashion]. What on earth does it mean?
-
-
I think that one thing that probably causes a lot of confusion for most people is that the algorithm google uses to return search results is far more complex most likely than the algorithm they use in the Google Keyword Tool to return lists of keywords.
I've probably spent more than my share of time trying to wrap my head around this and it is the best theory i have come up with to date.
Also, i think that some of the ranking factors are significantly disproportionate in weight when comparing a regular search vs. a "phrase match" search.
-
Thanks. That was a really useful link.
I'm going to take that to mean that 'men s' is a stand in for 'men's' or 'men!s' or 'men!!!!!!!!!s'
I'm still not clear about how to apply that (as in how Google applies that) to organic search because they return (slightly) different results 'men s' and 'men's'. Also, why would the adwords tool show separate search volume for both terms if one's a stand in for the other?
-
Nice link Dan.
I support Dan's reply with the exception of when exact match is used. If you want to target a specific form of the phrase, exact match should give you only the form you submit.
-
Hi
Great question! Stumped me a little, but I found this article. Safe to say it seems as if google ignores the apostrophe (and other characters including hyphen etc) so in effect "men's fashion" and "men s fashion" is the same thing.
-Dan
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
-
Where are the Google Search Volumes in Keyword Analysis
I just joined and started by doing some keyword analysis, For some reason although I select "On Google", the tool only reports Bing Search Volume (Exact match). I am not that interested in Bing - not sure how to display the Google search stats
Keyword Research | | jbendiner0 -
Organic Search Visits Rapidly Decreasing?
Last week i had over 2000 organic pageviews and this week i have 0 Could this be an error, how could this possibly happen?
Keyword Research | | briananglin0 -
What does it mean when two keywords in Google's Keyword Research Tool have exactly the same amount of searches?
The two keywords are [publicity] and [product placement] (both in exact search - not broad) and have 22,200 searches each. Is it purely coincidental or are the two keywords kind of related in Google's eyes and that's why we're seeing the same amount of searches for each?
Keyword Research | | davhad0 -
How should i see exact search volume of keywords
One of the seo company provide me the 2 keywords which have a 5400 exact searches per month but when i see this on google adword tool i didn't find 5400. it is only showing around 500-1000 exact searches, so how they are calculating these exact searches.. Here i am posting my screenshot please check - http://i46.tinypic.com/ezs7b.jpg
Keyword Research | | xplodeguru0 -
Small Doubt about Google Keyword Tool Search Data
No. of searches for some query in Google Keyword Tool for a specific country shows data for last 12 months or for last 1 month? Please reply. 6hHTw.png
Keyword Research | | ksbnok0 -
Long Key Phrases with no search results?
I have to examples 21 Cobblestone Farms Maricopa AZ homes for sale 23 maricopa az homes for sale in cobblestone farms They have no local or global results in the analyzer. Just shows the difficult level. How do I choose what one to do, or are they simply not really worth my time?
Keyword Research | | sansonj0 -
Is there a pro tool or google service that I can use to see which sites rank for certain terms? Without having to first identify the url's?
For example I want to see the top 20 sites in order of ranking for top keywords in my industry. Without having to know in advance the url's.
Keyword Research | | CURT-208170 -
Most Important Keyword Term
Question about a sites most important keyword term. So lets say you have a website and your most important keyword term is "Blue Widgets", you also have a page named "blue-widgets.htm". What do we do with our index page in this instance? Especially for the title tag? Should I put "Blue Widgets" in the title tags of both pages? I'm guessing this would be a duplicate meta tag error? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Keyword Research | | TRICORSystems
Thanks
-Brandon0