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
-
Unsolved Keyword difficulty (KD) in the Swiss market's
What are the most effective strategies for managing keyword difficulty (KD) in the Swiss market's competitive landscape, considering factors such as language variations, regional preferences, and search engine algorithms?
Keyword Research | | digitavision22880 -
What makes a keyword good?
Having taken a day-long course not long ago, I'm new to SEO and I'm struggling to decide which keywords to target. I work in a really niche area: we make booking engines that allow travel agencies to sell flights, hotels, cars and other travel services online. I know there are various tools on the web (and on Moz) which give you the average monthly searches and competition for each term but I still don't understand how to decide which ones to target. For example, the term 'travel systems' gets a high amount of search and the competition for it is high. However, Google brings back results about prams and buggies so I think I should avoid this one. Another is 'travel solutions' which gets a high amount of search and is low on competition. Google brings back results about travel agencies. This is more our area but our target audience is travel agencies so I'm not really sure I'd be attracting the right traffic? I'd be really grateful for any advice that you can give me.
Keyword Research | | noortomlinson0 -
Keywords with different spelling depending on country.
Hello, My product sells in both USA and UK, childrens sleepwear. I am not quite sure whether my onsite optimisation should be for "pajamas" or "pyjamas", or do I need both terms? Can someone please advise the best option? Thanks Astrid
Keyword Research | | Lilala_Kids0 -
Are Keywords treated as Case Sensitive?
We found that keywords are not case sensitive, but MOZ show same keyword in different case under "Top National Keywords" tab. Eg: 1) Wobble Wedge 2) wobble wedge
Keyword Research | | torbett0 -
Which keywords to manage?
I'm trying to determine how much certain keywords are searched, is there a tool for that? Ie. I'm a mortgage broker in a small area But I want to see if people search for things like No downpayment, etc I also want this to be location specific, how do I do this? Joel
Keyword Research | | JoelOlson1 -
Ranking for broad search terms
Hello, ive been getting some good organic traffic lately, i always run the live real time analytics and have noticed that the site is ranking for very broad terms and not specific exact keywords that i have the pages optimized for. Is there a reason for this? thx
Keyword Research | | TP_Marketing0 -
Different browsers, same Search Engine=Different PR:why?
Hi Folks, I am hoping for some clarity on this Using different browsers First: IE, Second: Firefox. Same Search Engine Google.ie. I get totally different results when I search for "Buy Gold" In both browsers. I am not signed into my gmail account. Can anyone tell me why this is please? Thanks,
Keyword Research | | girlie
Sinead0 -
Search Traffic down 50% but rankings same?
One of my client's sites is experiencing a major decrease in search traffic (by 50%) but the main terms she usually gets traffic for, she's ranking the same or even better over the period of time that the traffic has decreased. What could cause this?
Keyword Research | | bvrob0