ranking with a plural keyword vs singular keyword phrase

Hi SEOs I would like to check with you - is this right?

I did a quick analysis on the keyword "men's hairstyle" and see that it has 2000 avg searches, and I did a google search and realize everyone is ranking for that keyword. And then I went back to keyword planner and did an analysis on "men's hairstyles" and it also has an avg 2000 searches, and then I googled for that keyword and nobody was ranking it but everyone who were ranking "men's hairstyle" appeared. Does that mean that if I create a page for "men's hairstyles" I will rank for it when people search that exact keyword? Or will the result still show "men's hairstyle"?

Color coded the keyword so nobody gets confused!

Thank you in advanced!!!

Google got smart, they read between the lines. Just because you add an 's' doesn't mean it's a different keyword.
They threat the plural similar to the singular.
Competition for the plural will be almost the same as for the singular keyword.

Its more about context of the search so unless being plural doesnot mean a different thing it shows same results.

Making the keyword plural I found does not make a difference its going to be the exact same sites ranks as the singular.

you can use the plural keyword buddy

Men's Hairstyle keyword looks much better than Men's Hairstyles. Use Men's Hairstyle..
Also it will depend on the content that what are you trying to portray..

Just Use the singular keyword then google will automatically consider by replacing the plural if available in their database and someone searched earlier.

jules85 said:

Or will the result still show "men's hairstyle"?

Click to expand...

Yes, just like Nonilol said

As mentioned, Google understands they are the same thing. That being said, I usually target the plural keyword.

There are instances where pluralism can affect your ranking, as well as other contextually related keywords (e.g. photographer vs photography), but for the most part it doesn't have an impact. To make sure, Google both of them and compare the search results you get for each.

If google treated them the same
You would expect to see th same top 10 in the same order on the search page
Which is not the case im the majority of examples

I dont know what tool your using to get your search results
but this is google planner

keyword Avg. monthly searches Suggested Bid


mens hairstyles 201,000 $1.31
mens hairstyle 27,100 $1.90
men's hairstyles 5,400 $3.34
men's hairstyle 4,400 $4.33

Though I usually find the plural easier to rank, There is no hard and fast rule

The biggest mistake made by all newbies is not spending enough time on keyword research
or in most cases not understanding it

A quick glance at the above results should tell you what keywords to be targeting

The other big mistake newbies make is when they see low competition in keyword planner, they assume is search competition
Its not its for cpc, so unless your using adwords, ignore this