| When you're writing your SEO copy, chances are | | | | both... If the only difference between the singular and |
| there'll come a time when you'll wonder whether you | | | | the plural is the addition of an "s" or "es" on the end, |
| should target the plural of your keyword or the | | | | you can simply target the plural. You'll be targeting the |
| singular.e.g. Do I target "tennis shoe" or "tennis shoes"? | | | | singular in the process. e.g. Target "tennis shoes" and |
| To answer this question, the first thing you need to do | | | | you'll be automatically targeting "tennis shoe" at the |
| is find out what your target visitors are actually | | | | same time. |
| searching for. If the vast majority are searching for | | | | But if your plural is more than the addition of an "s" or |
| "tennis shoes", then you'd target that, and forget about | | | | "es", never fear. In reality, you can target either and still |
| "tennis shoe". | | | | enjoy a high ranking. Google is smart enough to identify |
| However, in the real world, things are rarely so black | | | | the relationship between plural and singular. It knows |
| and white. More often than not, the number of | | | | that people who search for the plural may still get |
| searches for each will be similar, and you'll still be left | | | | some value out of sites that target the singular. It's true |
| wondering which would be the more effective | | | | that - all else being equal - when a user searches for |
| keyword. | | | | the plural, a site that targets the plural will outrank your |
| Your next step is to think about why visitors search | | | | site that targets the singular. But you can swing the |
| for one and not the other. It may be that people | | | | balance in your favor simply by working harder on the |
| search for "tennis shoe" when they're researching | | | | number and quality of your inbound links. e.g. Take, for |
| whether to buy a tennis shoe or a running shoe. On | | | | example, the distinction between "copywriters" and |
| the other hand, people may search for "tennis shoes" | | | | "copywriter". My copywriting website, Divine Write, |
| when they want to actually buy a pair online. In this | | | | targets "copywriter", but it still outranks most sites that |
| case, if you were selling tennis shoes, you'd most likely | | | | target "copywriters". That's mostly because I have |
| choose "tennis shoes" as your keyword phrase. | | | | more inbound links. |
| Still no closer to a decision? Maybe you can target | | | | |