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!
-
I went to that URL listing the stop words in the Internet Archive, and it's had the same content for at least five years now. Years ago, Google did have a notice when it ignored common words, but I don't remember it as being this restrictive even a long time ago. I would consider that list vastly outdated.
Here's some information from Google itself:
http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=136861
Words that are commonly used, like 'the,' 'a,' and 'for,' are usually ignored (these are called stop words). But there are even exceptions to this exception. The search
- [ the who ] likely refers to the band; the query [ who ] probably refers to the World Health Organization -- Google will not ignore the word 'the' in the first query.
-
Does Google ignores the word an ? A query for "seo" and "an seo" produces different results.
-
Even though I can see why search engines would find ways around have to deal with these words too much (or attach a lot of value to them) I think the list is either too large, or nonsense altogheter. Prime example would be the inclusion of the word 'plus' on the list. A query for the keywords 'google plus' returns quite different results that a query for 'google'.
-
Hi Theo,
Well this could be mis-information which is why I wanted to check but I've come across it in a few places;
http://www.link-assistant.com/seo-stop-words.html
I've only recently got involved with this company and we're work on our link backs (and especially the anchor text!).
Thanks
Chris
-
Is this a public list? If so, I'd love to have a look.
I don't see why Google would ignore words in the first place, and even more so why they would ignore the word 'self'. In theory I could see why the would ignore words like 'a' or 'the', but not 'self'.What reason does the author of the list state for Google's exclusion of the keywords on it?
As a side note, it is always wise to optimize both incoming anchor text and on-page optimization for closely related variations of words (such as 'self tan' and 'tan' in your case).
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
-
How come when I create a keyword list, the volume of that keyword per month is not displayed? It is only displayed once the keyword is selected.
Why do we no longer have the ability to view keywords in a list with all of its data? VdhmGmQ
Keyword Research | | solitude15577990 -
How can we stop an article ranking so highly?
We secured an article on national newspaper site for a client which now ranks number one for its own branded search term. Since we secured the article (over two years ago) the client has changed the direction of its business so the article is now no longer relevant and is actually causing a lot of trouble for the client. When people search for their business the article is telling readers one thing when their business actually does something else. How can we stop this article ranking so highly?
Keyword Research | | HeatherBakerTopLine2 -
How to do a comprehensive SEO Keyword Research
Hi, What are the best tools and techniques to do a comprehensive keyword research on all the relevant search engines? There are times when there are no stats available on the Google keyword planner tool, in that case what do you suggest? Thanks
Keyword Research | | LaythDajani0 -
Best Keyword Tool
WE are a small Internet marketing agency and of need of a new keyword tool. We were using Market Sumeria but they lost access to Google. What would you recommend? I'm not looking for a free service but a good service under $100 per month.
Keyword Research | | Doug_Hay0 -
Keywords + Country?
Hey guys, Let's say that I'm doing on-site SEO for a website that sells football shirts. This website targets 5 different countries. We only have a .com domain and no other country specific domains will be added at this point. When I choose the keywords, do I opt for product name + country or only product name? football shirts france or football shirts? Some info: Countries have been added in the title of the pages. Countries appear in the footer. Thank You.
Keyword Research | | BruLee0 -
Spammy Industry Keyword Research
Hi everyone, First question posted on here. I have spent a lot time this week going through videos and discussions since I signed up here earlier this week. We're just starting in a particular niche that is powerful (home-based businesses), but EXTREMELY spammy with all the at-home opportunities from stuffing envelopes, to MLM, etc. Then there's the other side which is not as spammy, but just not an overall good business model with the in-home Tupperware, candle, and makeup party sales companies. The people that we help and serve are just people who want to start up a part-time or full-time home-based business doing what they love. Maybe it's a dad who loves golf and would like to start a golf store on Ebay or a lady who is great at making stuff and wants to open an Etsy shop or start selling her goods at craft fairs. Our program is more about teaching them how to start a real home-based business that can either earn them a profit either part-time or fulltime while also doing what they love and spending time with their family. My biggest question right now as we begin the Keyword Research and SEO process part of this, is how do we go about doing the keyword research for this while also dealing with a spammy niche? All the research I've been doing for home-based businesses comes back to all the ugly examples I gave above and that isn't the type of people that we're a good fit for. I appreciate all your help and guidance in advance. Been doing web development for 10+ years but finally taking the tiger by the throat and actually learning the SEO/SEM piece myself.
Keyword Research | | buzzmediallc0 -
What Keyword reasearch tools are you using?
I'm finding the Google tool to be inadequate for our needs. Does anyone have any suggestions of a better tool out there.
Keyword Research | | Xcellimark0 -
How do you order similar keywords when writing content?
Let's say I sell widgets: plastic widgets, paper widgets, brass widgets and steel widgets. These are in order by how popular they are but none is so popular to really stand on it's own. When writing general content about widgets, lets say for the main Widgets page, would you write: 1. "We sell plastic, paper, brass and steel widgets." -or- 2. "We sell plastic widgets, paper widgets, brass widgets and steel widgets." I understand I can have specific pages for Plastic Widgets, Paper Widgets, etc., but like I said this would be for a main category page, maybe even for a quick "this is what we do" opening paragraph on the homepage. Is it better to be concise like in example 1? Or to individually call out each type like in example 2? I'm looking for SEO insight and the customer experience viewpoint as well.
Keyword Research | | rball10