Spelling and SEO, how do you handle this? Do you type "corona crisis" or "corona crisis" when you want to find the latest news? And do you type "website builder London" or "website builder London" when you want a website made in London?
Two words that you write together are called "compounds". Partly due to the influence of English, in recent years you see that Dutch people increasingly write compositions apart, while this is actually a wrong spelling.
But, how do you do that with your web texts? Do you write compositions on your website apart because that's how people search in Google? Or, do you write in correct spelling so that people see that you put content and quality above search volume?
Through this blog, we try to help you make a choice. What are the pros and cons when it comes to SEO and spelling? This website builder (or website builder?) will help you out! Don't feel like spending your time on this and prefer to outsource SEO? Then take a look at our website and see what the possibilities are.
Table of Contents
Website builder or website builder: what does the keyword research say?
When you write texts that are optimised for the search engine, we also call them SEO texts. When you write an SEO text for your website or for a blog, you first do a keyword research. Through such a keyword research (e.g. with Google's keyword planner ), you find out which keywords are most suitable to use on your website. After all, you do want to use words that people actually search for.
In such a keyword research, in the case of a compound, you can also find out what is most searched for. For instance, do people search for the correctly spelt "website builder" or for the incorrect "website builder"? We see that people write words apart more and more often, but you want to be sure that this is also the case for your keyword. After all, some compositions make a lot of sense to many people. For example, "web designer" is a compound that people are probably familiar with and have seen often: someone won't be typing "web designer" anytime soon.
We're going to find out. If we run the word "website builder" through the keyword planner, we see that it has a search volume of 430. Written as "website builder", we see a search volume of 1,000. So here it is clear that the loosely written word is preferred!
We also test whether our suspicion in the composition ¨webdesigner¨is correct: are people so used to this composition that they do write it together? And it is correct: "web designer" has a search volume of 1400 and "web designer" has a search volume of 360.
Neil Patel shares his most favourite keyword strategy in the video below.
What does Google say about spelling and SEO?
So we actually see that loose writing is done by many people, except when it is really a very obvious composition that is engrained in the word memory. So it is always important to figure this out well in advance with a keyword planner!
But, how does Google itself actually do this? Does Google give suggestions with correct compositions or not? And if you write a compound apart, does Google correct you?
We see that Google is not yet working optimally in this. Already often, Google gives a correctly spelled suggestion to a loosely written compound, but not always. Even in the suggestions in the search bar, we still often see Google giving suggestions with compositions that are not written together. It seems that, on the whole, Google knows what the correct spelling is, but is not yet at its highest capability in this.
Choice between correct spelling and SEO?
So, what to do with this conflicting information? Because, on the one hand, you know that in many cases people search on compounds written apart, but on the other hand, you see that Google already knows (for the most part) that this is misspelled.
We think the answer lies somewhere in the middle. So you have to go for spelling and SEO. And that requires some of your creativity.
On the one hand, we see that Google is getting better at recognising correct spelling. Google increasingly values good content, which includes good spelling. So we think that, especially in the longer term, it is better to stick to correct spelling. Google will also get better and better at directing its searchers to the correctly spelt keyword.
On the other hand, incorrect spelling for better search volume cannot be completely ignored either. And we also understand that now, even in the shorter term, you want to score well. So, what can you do? Vary how you use the keyword in your text. For example, you can use "website builder", but also use the words "website" and "builder" separately throughout your text. For example, as we do in this sentence: "Looking for a good builder for your website in London? Turn to website builder Monkey Vision !" That way, you do a bit of both (spelling and SEO), and still don't use misspelling.
Is spelling a direct ranking factor?
Is spelling een directe ranking factor voor Google? Matt Cutts geeft antwoord op deze vraag in onderstaande video!
Valuable content always comes first
Zoals we al zeiden, hecht Google steeds meer waarde aan goede inhoud op websites. Zorg dus vooral dat jouw focus hierop ligt in jouw teksten. Bedenk goed wie je doelgroep is en welke informatie zij willen vinden op jouw website. Uiteindelijk is dit het meest waardevol. Bovendien laat je met een goed geschreven tekst zien dat jij een professioneel bedrijf bent, die kwaliteit voorop stelt.
Are you struggling to write good text? And is spelling a subject you would rather not bother with anyway? Then of course you can hire a copywriter. At Monkey Vision , we have in-house copywriters who can help you write good content that your visitor (and Google) will understand.
Monkey Vision
Do you want to have a website made in London and also want the texts taken care of for you? Then Monkey Vision is the right place for you. We will create a beautiful design for you and have one of our professional copywriters write the texts for you. Interested in such a website with text? Start a project or contact us and we will get to work for you!
Google helpful content update
Good and unique content contributes to a good user experience. This has recently become even more important for your online findability in the organic search results within Google.
Indeed, with the Google helpful content update, Google is penalising you if you set up your website too much for search engines instead of users.
Read more about the Google helpful content update here.
Article updated:
- 13 December - 2022
- 16 December - 2022
