Search results differ for singular vs. plural

#1 for widget - #20 for widgets

[paladin]

Argh...this is annoying. I know that the search results differ with singular or plurals - although I never understood the theory behind it. If a person is looking for "widget" or "widgets", shouldn't the results be the same?

One site that I am working on in in the #1 spot for the plural version "widgets", but we are at the bottom of the second page for "widget".

Just me blowing off some steam, obviously I cannot tell them how to show the results.

[incrediBILL]

But you CAN optimize for it....

I include things like "widget, widgets, widget maker, widget makers, etc." and it works well as most people don't optimize for plurals.