singular and plural?? conflicting or not?

[pt-mike]

Hi all, I have a campaign with two single keywords in my keyword box:


keywords
keyword

Now because they have no quotes or brackets they are both set to broad match.

So I'm thinking that at some point they will conflict.

Is it ok to have the single and plural version of a single keyword without quotes or brackets (broadmatch) or does this cause conflict. ie if my keyword was balls and someone searched for ball would my ad trigger?

If yes then they do conflict.

But I thought keyword and keywords in googles eyes where two different keywords.

Can anyone advise on this?

Thanks

Mike

I have paused the singular until I know for sure but one could be cheaper than the other so I would like to figure it out.

[Dubbya]

No need for the singular word as the SE's automatically parse it from the plural but you might want to consider using long tail key phrases instead of isolated keywords. This would allow you to target search phrases with a high degree of precision while still using the singular and plural versions of the keyword.

In truth, you'd most likely see more benefit by ensuring that your page title, anchor text, headings and content use both forms.

Here's a link to a pretty great article that may be of use:
Hitwise Intelligence - Robin Goad - UK: Plural or Singular search terms? (http://weblogs.hitwise.com/robin-goad/2008/03/plural_or_singular_search_term.html)

.02

[deepsand]

How singulars vs plurals are handled varies by both the SE and the Advertising platform.

For example, see

concert ticket - Google Search (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4DMUS_enUS219US219&q=concert+ticket)

and

concert tickets - Google Search (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4DMUS_enUS219US219&q=concert+tickets) .

Note that:

1) The organic listings differ, with the singular returning approx. 1,880,000 results, while the plural yields approx. 20,400,000, a substantially greater number.

2) The paid listings also differ. Looking at that listing which appears in the 1st position for both, each from the same advertiser, we see that each is specifically targeted, one to "ticket" and the other to "tickets."

http://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=B0KWwq1FgSLPuNJ7eeJmOjeIG1fK0VKeFuooH2saOB5DWJw gAEAEYASCnxp0GKAI4AFCQ65vc-P____8BYMn2pozQpOQPoAHDs_79A8gBAdkDLpAFOPtD_lM&sig=AGiWqtwmNBazF3Eu2vHkF0g7wDkB4IjUkQ&q=http://www.ticketsnow.com/Concert_Tickets.html%3FGCID%3DS16598x002-genr_cncrt%26keyword%3Dconcert%2520ticket (http://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=B0KWwq1FgSLPuNJ7eeJmOjeIG1fK0VKeFuooH2saOB5DWJw gAEAEYASCnxp0GKAI4AFCQ65vc-P____8BYMn2pozQpOQPoAHDs_79A8gBAdkDLpAFOPtD_lM&sig=AGiWqtwmNBazF3Eu2vHkF0g7wDkB4IjUkQ&q=http://www.ticketsnow.com/Concert_Tickets.html%3FGCID%3DS16598x002-genr_cncrt%26keyword%3Dconcert%2520ticket)

http://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=BKypbxVFgSJOrC4beeYWliNkG1fK0VI-IuooH3OKSBoCfSQgAEAEYASCnxp0GKAM4AFDN5I0HYMn2pozQp OQPoAHDs_79A8gBAdkDLmb8tvOAAkM&sig=AGiWqtwVFcsCvnkgONeDvvHeru1IRSjohw&q=http://www.ticketsnow.com/Concert_Tickets.html%3FGCID%3DS16598x002-genr_cncrt%26keyword%3Dconcert%2520tickets (http://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=BKypbxVFgSJOrC4beeYWliNkG1fK0VI-IuooH3OKSBoCfSQgAEAEYASCnxp0GKAM4AFDN5I0HYMn2pozQp OQPoAHDs_79A8gBAdkDLmb8tvOAAkM&sig=AGiWqtwVFcsCvnkgONeDvvHeru1IRSjohw&q=http://www.ticketsnow.com/Concert_Tickets.html%3FGCID%3DS16598x002-genr_cncrt%26keyword%3Dconcert%2520tickets)

By targeting each separately one can independently position the bids vis-a-vis competitors' bid, so that no more is paid than is necessary.

[pt-mike]

Ok thanks. With adwords I had both the singular and plural of the keyword in my campaign. But google stopped displaying one of them because it was outperformed by the other.

example

mushrooms
mushroom

I think that because there are no "quotes" these single keywords are seen as broad match so a search for mushroom would trigger the mushrooms ad. If the mushrooms ad had higher quality then mushroom would stop showing.

Broad match even triggers when someone searches for mushroms so I believe. Spelling mistakes.

Now I have just had an idea:

I have made my single keywords into phrase match

"mushrooms"
"mushroom"

So if someone searches for mushroom they trigger the "mushroom" ad and if some searches for "mushrooms" they get the "mushrooms" ad.

I think that this will fix it.

Would you agree?

Thanks

Mike

ps:
Yes I know that I should add words rather than use just single words. But there is a method in my madness. And no I'm not selling magic mushrooms :-)

[SM911]

You should both use the plural and singular form of the keyword. Because both of them trigger your ad independantly.

If you don't have "balls" keyword, your keyword "ball" does not trigger your ad (maybe rarely it can) when someone searches balls.


Source:
http://www.911seosem.com/indexeng.html (http://www.911seosem.com/indexeng.html)

[deepsand]

You should both use the plural and singular form of the keyword. Because both of them trigger your ad independantly.

If you don't have "balls" keyword, your keyword "ball" does not trigger your ad (maybe rarely it can) when someone searches balls.


Source:
http://www.911seosem.com/indexeng.html (http://www.911seosem.com/indexeng.html)
That depends on the SE and ad syndicator.

For example, Yahoo considers the singular and plural to be the same. In that case, if you have PPC ads for both, with different bids, you will pay based on the one with the higher bid.