By Karon Thackston © 2012, All Rights Reserved
It never fails. You do your keyword research and find what you think are primo search terms. The ones you pick are plural keyphrases that seem to be ideal with high search counts and low competition. They are relevant to the page and should drive a good amount of traffic to your site. Perfection! Until…
You start writing copy and suddenly realize that choosing keywords and using keywords are two entirely different things. These plural keyphrases are harder to use than you thought. For example, in your copy you might be talking about one painting company (singular), but the search terms you picked are plural (painting companies).
So how do you make a plural keyword work when a singular term should be used? Here are a few of my favorite tricks.
Set Yourself Apart
Make yourself the better option by using a phrase in a way like this:
“Unlike other painting companies, ABC Painters offers __________, ____________ and __________ so you get the best value possible.”
Position Yourself as the Best
You could bring yourself to the forefront by stating something like:
“As the best/top/first choice among painting contractors, ABC Painters has won numerous awards for quality and service.”
Of course, you’d need for that to be true in order to claim it.
Highlight Your Experience
“As one of the area’s oldest/most established/best-loved painting companies, ABC Painters has gained the respect of homeowners from __________ to _________.”
And Vise Versa?
What about the other way around? What if you need plural keyphrases for your copy, but singular ones have the best stats? My favorite trick is to add a word to the end.
Let’s use the example of an ecommerce site that needs to write a page about the variety of flat-screen TVs and DVD players it sells. Because they sell more than one TV and more than one DVD player, plural terms would be best.
If the best search phrases were singular terms (such as Sony flat-screen TV or Samsung DVD player) you could still use them by simply adding a word or two to the end of the keyphrase like this:
Sony flat-screen TV selection
Sony flat-screen TV options
Sony flat-screen TV assortment
Sony flat-screen TV collection
or
Samsung DVD player sales
Samsung DVD player rebates
Samsung DVD player variety
Samsung DVD player choices
Never, EVER stick a plural phrase into a sentence designed for singular words (or vise versa). It makes your copy sound like a 4 year old wrote it. When you know a few tricks of the trade, you can pretty much use singular and plural terms interchangeably without a problem.