One expert has been looking at the question of whether it matters if a word is singular or plural in a search, and the answer could impact on SEO web design.

Bill Slawski, director of search marketing at KeyRelevance, cites the example of looking for some "sneakers" - not for sneaking, but for running, apparently.

What differences are there between typing "running shoe" and "running shoes" into a search engine, without the quotations?

"It [seems] like both Yahoo and Google are looking at both singular and plural versions of a query term when someone enters one or the other," he said.

For any company selling a product like this, knowing how a search engine will look at the query is important.

Of course, Mr Slawski has perhaps picked a bad example with his running shoe(s) experiment - this type of item is inherently plural, as people will never buy, or search for, one "running shoe" (well, maybe on eBay) - they will always be looking for a pair.

So is it worth thinking about both the singular and plural versions of keywords in SEO web design?

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