Keywords and search engines - singular vs plural

[giftsun]

My keyword "african figurines" is ranked consistently between 10 and 13 on Google. However if I do a search for "african figurine" the ranking is #226. Yahoo seems to differentiate between them too. However, for pay per click, it makes no difference. I always use plural because I think I remember reading that most people search using the plural form of the keyword. Any comments?

Thanks
Herman
www.giftsunusual.com

[red]

I always make sure to optimize pages for my top keyword phrases in both the singular and plural formats. SE's are all different and many will list the singular term in the results when a user queries the plual term. But my experience with Google has been exactly the same as yours so I have built several pages that have just one phrase optimized. Locksmith tool, locksmith tools, lock pick and lock picks. (just an example, obviously our businesses asre vastly different but both are ecommerce.)I make sure the heading of the page is the same as the kw phrase I am optimizing for and enclose it in the <H1> or <H2> tags to give it more prominence.
Hope this helps!

[jestep]

I agree,
While with some search engines it is possible to rank ok for both singular and plural search terms, if you optomize for both terms you have a much better chance for ranking well for both terms. Just try not to make it look too spammy.

[Mel]

Why Guess?

For about $6.00 you can get a one day subscription to Wordtracker.com and find out which terms are the most popular for your search terms.