When searching online for store coupons, do you type "coupon" or "coupons"?

by J23
14 replies
I'm just trying to get a consensus from those of you that use Google or other search engines to find coupons and/or coupon codes for certain stores. Do you type in "store name coupon" (singular) or "store name coupons" (plural)

The reason I ask is because I feel that the natural thing to type as a consumer would be the plural form. For example, Target coupons or Burger King coupons, rather than the singular form (Target coupon, Burger King coupon), but I was doing some keyword research today because I want to start a coupon site for a certain store, and Google's KW tool is telling me that more people type in the singular form of "store name coupon" rather than the plural "coupons" and it just doesn't seem right.

The numbers are way different too - the singular form of the phrase gets 1,300 searches per month while the plural only gets around 200 according to Google's KW tool. This is on exact match too which is all I go by.

I then double checked my results by using Wordtracker's tool, and they are reporting much different results with the plural forms getting more searches.

I know keyword tools can be way off so that's why I'm asking you all. So when browsing the web as a consumer and not an IMer, which way would you do the search? Would it depend at all on the store you were searching for, or would you always do it the same no matter what?

On a related note, which KW tool do you find to be more accurate, Wordtracker or Google's tool?
#coupon #coupons #online #searching #store #type
  • Profile picture of the author Firstrate
    I always type "coupon" but that's just me.
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    • Profile picture of the author J23
      Originally Posted by Firstrate View Post

      I always type "coupon" but that's just me.
      Thanks for the feedback Firstrate.

      I know I always type "coupons" so I guess I just assumed that's the way most consumers do it. Glad to see that maybe Google's tool isn't as far off as I thought it was.

      Anyone else mind sharing?
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      • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
        I'm a coupon nut and I generally type it singular. Most people are trying to find a coupon to a specific store so that's what they type.

        I use the plural when I'm looking for general things such as grocery coupons or clothing coupons.

        Tina
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  • Profile picture of the author bestIMtools
    So, if you're asking that question for SEO purposes, if you optimize the plural version you're normally optimizing for both.
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    • Profile picture of the author J23
      Originally Posted by bestIMtools View Post

      So, if you're asking that question for SEO purposes, if you optimize the plural version you're normally optimizing for both.
      Well maybe as far as on-page factors go, but when building links with anchor text, I can only choose one keyword per link at a time and I want to optimize the site for the higher searched keyword phrase before moving to the smaller ones.

      Plus, I plan on buying an exact match domain for the keyword phrase which helps a ton with SEO and I want to make sure I get the right one.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
      Originally Posted by bestIMtools View Post

      So, if you're asking that question for SEO purposes, if you optimize the plural version you're normally optimizing for both.
      Maybe for some of the smaller search engines but not for Google. Most of us mean Google when we talk about SEO. Their algorithm definitely recognizes the difference.

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  • Profile picture of the author Trieu
    I type in both as you get different results.
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  • Profile picture of the author I.M.Retired
    I usually type 'coupon' - mainly because I am looking for 'a' coupon for a particular product or website.

    If you google 'coupon' you will find most of the results show 'coupons' in the list.

    However, if you type 'coupons' you will not find 'coupon.' Strange, but true.
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    • Profile picture of the author J23
      Originally Posted by Val.S. View Post

      If you google 'coupon' you will find most of the results show 'coupons' in the list.

      However, if you type 'coupons' you will not find 'coupon.' Strange, but true.
      Yeah I've noticed this too and found it a bit odd.

      So going by that, it seems like optimizing for "coupons" would be the better way to go because then you're also optimizing for "coupon" at the same time, right? Or do I have that backwards?

      Thanks again for the responses everyone. It helps a lot to see things from an outside perspective.
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  • Profile picture of the author J Bold
    I type "cuepoms" and it never seems to work.

    Perhaps I should try typing "Kooponds?"

    Someone please help me out...
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  • Profile picture of the author I.M.Retired
    @redicelander - Maybe you should try 'kook' ponds?
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Hlatky
    I type in whatever it says on the checkout page.

    If it says enter your coupon here, I would search "coupon".

    If it says enter your coupons here, I would search "coupons".

    Same for discount, etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author rickfrazier1
    I type both, with different searches. Back when Yahoo and Google were about neck and neck, you could type in coupon with either and they automatically added the s to make it plural (even for words that don't have simple plurals where you only add an s) and the results showed both. Then Google suddenly changed their algorithms and you got completely different results when you searched for singular and plural. No overlap at all, unless the content had both.

    As I got into SEO as a web design and maintenance dude, I made sure the keywords meta-tag always had both singular and plural and it seemed to help, along with both in the first 50 or 100 words on each page.

    Lately, I've noticed that I'm seeing more search results where I can see plural in the title when I search singular, but haven't taken the time to determine if this is good SEO or whether Google is moving back to some of the old search patterns...
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  • Profile picture of the author wpanther93
    It seems more natural to type coupons to me, although I may be in the minority here.
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