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SEO title trick for singular/plurals?

by FlashDriveDT
10 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Following up on the plural vs. singular discussion, I was wondering if there are any known, effective SEO tricks to still beat both stones with one fly in the title tag. Would the following examples work to "fool" google?

1) Summer Vacation(s) - Find great deals bla bla
2) Summer Vacation-s - Find great deals bla bla
3) Summer Vacation_s - Find great deals bla bla

Sure, these may not look great to a human reader but I doubt most would care about these cosmetic flaws. If one would achieve an equal high placement in google for both singular and plural with this I think it would be worth it.

Of course it's also possible to use singular and plural separately in the title, without looking too spammy. For instance:

4) Summer Vacation - Find great deals for summer vacations
5) Summer Vacations - Find a great summer vacation

The benefit for examples 1-3 would be that you could place a couple more other keywords in the title tag whereas 4-5 pretty much restricts you to that one (hopefully high volume) keyword. Would 4-5 actually rank you better for this keyword since its contained twice in the title, albeit as variations? What's your advice?
#seo #singular or plurals #title #trick
  • Profile picture of the author dvduval
    If I were you I would see which keyword gets more searches, and make that your title, but then go submit to some directories and use both singular and plural.
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  • Profile picture of the author affiliated survivor
    Usually I use the best one and optimize the page only for that one. I often rank for the other one anyway, sometimes even higher since the lesser one of both mostly has a less stronger competiton.
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  • Profile picture of the author FlashDriveDT
    Thanks for the feedback but that doesn't answer the question if it is possible to beat with one stone or not. In some cases both singular and plural is well searched and profitable, so it would be sweet to use a trick to include both in the title tag. Anyone ever experimented with that?
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  • Profile picture of the author webmatic
    I think so duval is right at his point and i myself never experienced it but i prefer using singular always and sometimes plural (if its really a good keyword as compared to singular) but generally if i look at myself i always go for singular searches like health blog, kitchen decor instead of health blogs, kitchen decors respectively but for few things plurals are important like "girls" is a good keyword as compare to "girl"
    Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author artlan
    One way to overcome this is simply build backlinks. So for example if your main keyword is GIRL, build backlinks using the anchor text GIRLS. From my experience, you will rank just as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author zoobie
    Well, Flash drive, you can just use your keyword in plurals to cover the singular so that Google recognize both form of your keywords.
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    • Profile picture of the author FlashDriveDT
      Originally Posted by zoobie View Post

      Well, Flash drive, you can just use your keyword in plurals to cover the singular so that Google recognize both form of your keywords.
      Uh, I guess you didn't really read this thread but the point is that I found out that Google is NOT recognizing both, whether you use singular or plural.

      I agree that the best way is probably using both versions in the backlink campaign. And to use the best performing version in the title tag. Thanks ya'll!
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      • Profile picture of the author Ewan Kennedy
        Interesting debate and one which I have wrestled with myself on many occasions in the past. I think in the end Google will recognise whether the singular imports a different meaning from the plural or whether one is relevant to the other. In the UK, the SEO company that ranks number 1 for "SEO companies" (plural) does not have this exact term anywhere in the page content or code or in the backlink anchor text. Google can work out that if somebody searches for "SEO companies" then it should include in the results those companies that are described by themselves (or by others i.e. in the back links) as an "SEO company". Fun, fun, fun.
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  • Profile picture of the author debra
    Originally Posted by FlashDriveDT View Post

    Following up on the plural vs. singular discussion, I was wondering if there are any known, effective SEO tricks to still beat both stones with one fly in the title tag. Would the following examples work to "fool" google?

    1) Summer Vacation(s) - Find great deals bla bla
    2) Summer Vacation-s - Find great deals bla bla
    3) Summer Vacation_s - Find great deals bla bla

    Sure, these may not look great to a human reader but I doubt most would care about these cosmetic flaws. If one would achieve an equal high placement in google for both singular and plural with this I think it would be worth it.

    Of course it's also possible to use singular and plural separately in the title, without looking too spammy. For instance:

    4) Summer Vacation - Find great deals for summer vacations
    5) Summer Vacations - Find a great summer vacation

    The benefit for examples 1-3 would be that you could place a couple more other keywords in the title tag whereas 4-5 pretty much restricts you to that one (hopefully high volume) keyword. Would 4-5 actually rank you better for this keyword since its contained twice in the title, albeit as variations? What's your advice?
    You don't have to try and "fool" Google. It's easy.

    Use either plural or singular in your title tag.

    Include both terms in your keywords meta tags.

    Co-mingle both terms within your copy.

    Use one term in H1 tag and the other in H2 tag.

    In your backlinking...interchange both terms within the anchor text.

    It really is that simple...and...acceptable.
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  • Profile picture of the author affiliated survivor
    "Thanks for the feedback but that doesn't answer the question if it is possible to beat with one stone or not. In some cases both singular and plural is well searched and profitable, so it would be sweet to use a trick to include both in the title tag."

    Yes, you can put the second as a subtitle in H2 tags. But I think with singulars and plurals of the same word you don´t need this.

    If you make enough backlinks you will also rank on the other. The search results are broad match.

    What you ask for is a logical impossibility. One can only be one, never two at the same time. You are you and me is me. A page is the singular or it´s the plural. Never both. You always have to make a choice which one to make first and which one to make the second.
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