Issue with excellent ranking for keyword in plural and really bad ranking for keyword in singular.

by 21 replies
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Hi guys and girls.
I have a ranking issue.


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The main keywords are "hängmatta" (hammock) and "hängmattor" (hammocks). My site ranks no 1 when doing a Google search for "hängmattor". The problem is when searching for "hängmatta". Until 2020 the ranking was always on the first page. Then the "hängmatta" search dropped continuously to ranking around no 115 today or even worse.

If I combine "hängmatta" with "Brasilien" (Brazil) or "brasiliansk" (brazilian) it ranks no 3. The problem is when searching for only "hängmatta".

My ranking today:
"hängmattor" (plural, hammocks): #1
"hängmatta" (singular, hammock): #115
hängmatta Brasilien: #3
hängmatta brasiliansk: #5
köpa hängmatta (buy hammock): #15
handla hängmatta (shop hammock): #10

IMO title tags, meta descriptions, alt text etc looks OK and I don't there are no keyword stuffing. I understand that Google treats singular and plural different, but the difference is just too extreme.

I would be happy if somebody have some advice on what I could try to get my site to go back ranking good for "hängmatta"?
#beginners area #bad #excellent #issue #keyword #plural #ranking #singular
  • Google doesn't rank sites - it ranks pages.

    Not surprising. The combination is a longer-tail keyword and more likely to rank higher than the general "hangmatta".

    But, presumably, what you really want is for potential buyers to find your page. To that end, the words hammock or hammocks aren't the best keywords. If you target buying keywords like "buy xxxbrand hammock" or "this length xxxx" hammock" you might have more success.
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      Hi Frank Donovan.
      Thank you for replying.

      Regarding content that contains a mix of keywords, I already have plenty of such content.

      I already targeted buying keywords, but I'll work more on that part.

      IMO it seems like it's something really weird that happened, dropping from ranking on first page to page 12 on Google. Almost like my site/my pages becomes unvisible when searching for "hängmatta".

      What the competition shows: The sites who have topranking om singular "hängmatta" have one thing in common, they all have "hängmatta" in their domain names.
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  • The domain name is such a small, and according to Google, non-existent ranking factor that it cannot be the word in their domain name.

    My guess is that it is backlink related. What anchor text is in the backlinks to your site and more important, the actual page that targets the singular?

    What I really wonder, though, is why do you care? The word "hängmatta" gets 20 searches per month. Why in the world would you even be targeting such a word? If 100% of the people who saw your listing clicked on your site (they won't, even in the first position), that would be less than one person per day. I wouldn't target that word if there were ten times as many searches!
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    • Hello dave_hermansen

      Interesting what you wrote about backlinks. The anchor text in my backlinks is mainly the plural "hängmattor" (hammocks). Not surprisingly considering I sell hammocks and also as I have hangmattor in my domain name.

      You wrote "The word "hängmatta" gets 20 searches per month." I'm not sure where you found the number 20?

      Why I would like to target "hängmatta" (hammock)? To me it seems natural as I sell hammocks.
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    • Hi farhan ullah
      Very interesting what you wrote. Thanks!

      * Yes, regarding search intent. I agree that plural is used when the objective is to buy a product and singular when seeking information.
      * Keyword optimization: I have mixed singular and plural in title tags, meta description, headings and content. I'll try to include the singular more often.
      * Competitor analysis: Three of the topranking sites is actually the same business with just different webshops.
      * Backlink profile: Yes, mostly backlinks with the plural form in the anchor text.
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  • I think you're missing the trust of the comments.


    Let's get it away from hammocks, so emotions do not get into it.


    Let's use shoes as an example.


    People who Google things use different phrases depending on where they're in the buying stage.


    When I google shoes, I am not buying, just curious to see what Google brings up.
    When I google walking shoes for men 9 wide, I'm ready to buy.


    The stages between them get searches like:
    walking shoes for men
    sports shoes for men
    cheap sport shoes for men
    nike shoes for men.


    Back to your thing:
    ranking for hammock, in your language, gets you people who're not in the buying stages.


    You want people who're googling:
    cheap hammocks for backyards
    where to buy hammocks

    and such.


    If you sell locally, you want buy hammock city name.


    Ranking for hammock, in other words, does you no good. And, it is harder to rank for. And you'll end up ranking for it even if you do not go for it (if you end up ranking for enough other keywords).


    In April, Google rolled out an update. What's happening to you might be related to that update.


    Here's a link to an article about it on Search Engine Journal: https://searchengineland.com/google-...ing-out-395916.
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    • Strange, when posting I get unknown error.

      Anyway, hi DABK.
      Thanks for interesting reading. You make a lot of sense. I've been narrow-minded.

      Still, no matter if the keyword "hängmatta" is important or not. Just now I search for that keyword and my site/my pages didn't show up at least in the 150 first search results. I consider that strange and I guess nobody will have an explaination?
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    • That's basic in SEO. Not really what the discussion was about.
  • Yes, it IS about SEO. No one can tell you why one particular keyword is not getting the traffic you believe it should have.



    If you have had little traffic for 'at least a year' - what traffic did you have before that time? For how long was the traffic acceptable?
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    • Of course no one can pinpoint one exact answer, but those with kmowledge and experience can give advice.
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  • Did you try to use ahrefs for analyzing?
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  • These days usually we see Google treat the singular and plural as much the same as it understands they are both the same thing, so in theory you shouldn't have this issue.

    But it's Google, and they do confusing and strange things sometimes.

    The thing that I would be interested to know, if you have the data, is how much sales these broad keyword searches are actually resulting in for you?

    Because broad terms like "Hammocks" are not typically buyer intent keywords but people looking to browse, learn information, or at the very start of their buyer journey and nowhere near ready to pull out their credit card and purchase.

    So even if you did rank for this big broad term it might not result in any sales anyway, and that's the end goal right?

    So unless you have specific data that shows this broad keyword is driving sales I wouldn't get too hung up on it, as I suspect it will not be a huge sales driver anyway.

    Ranking for "best Hammocks for X" (i.e. sleeping, camping, trees ect) type keywords typically will convert into sales better.
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    • I guess it's ovbious that Google treats singular and plural different.

      Loosing ranking for the singular word have resulted in less visitors and also affected the sales.
  • Although you have provided some details regarding the issue you are facing. Still, more data is required to tell the exact reason behind this phenomenon.

    I am quite sure, for the singular keyword your competitors are doing better SEO than you. That's why they have moved ahead.

    I am not intending to dishearten you but if you don't take proper care of your SEO campaign now; you may lose your current rankings also.
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    • Your guess is wrong. This isn't the case.
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