Plural vs Singular

logodesign77 · #1 (**permalink**) 01-01-2006, 02:02 PM

Have a question. One of my websites ranks number four on google when I use a plural version of the search term and ranks number one on google when I use the singular version. Any idea what might cause this? The two search terms are "Luxury Homes For Sale" and "Luxury Home For Sale" I would be curious to hear your input. I have toyed with the wording for quite some time but dont want to do too much to it as I also rank number one on google for two other search terms for the same site as well as top ten on msn and yahoo. Thanks.............eric

bhartzer · #2 (**permalink**) 01-03-2006, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Any idea what might cause this?

Most likely it's the link text that's pointing to your site. Get more text links to your site that say "Luxury Home For Sale" and you'll most likely boost your rankings for that phrase.

Also, you don't have the word 'home' in your title tag--you are using the word 'homes'.

Look at your web site statistics and decide which phrase (plural or singular) gets more traffic. Then, change your title tag (if necessary) so it reflects the version that brings in more traffic. Then work on getting more links to the site.

SPC2 · #3 (**permalink**) 01-04-2006, 11:07 AM

But what if the version that brings more traffic to the site is the one that people search on the least? It's better to find out which version is searched on the most and aim at improving that - especially if its the version that brings you the least traffic.

Google incorporates stemming into their algo, so pages can rank well for the plural version without actually having it on the page, or in any links to the page, and vice versa. But their stemming only goes as far as getting results from the index. When it comes to actually ranking the pages, exact matches do make a difference. So the advice about link texts is good. Personally, I would include both versions in the Title, and in the link texts pointing to the page.

logodesign77 · #4 (**permalink**) 01-04-2006, 12:21 PM

Hi...thanks for the input...this has been a bit puzzeling to me. Will take your advice under consideration and see what happens. Once again, thanks....