Ranking changes when space removed from keywords?

[bsterz]

As I was checking the rankings on Google for my hobby site which is a two word keyword I forgot to include a space in between them making them a single word. I noticed that there is fairly significant difference in rankings when a space is included or excluded I tried in this for a few different phrases and noticed similar results.

Does anyone have any ideas why this happens? Is Google reading this keyword as single keyword somewhere like the title tag, anchor text, or meta?

[goodroi]

Imagine searching for "Ran Kings" you would expect to see pages about royalty. But "rankings" is a completely different idea and users would expect to see something very different. This is a bit of an extreme example but it shows how adding an extra space can make Google's automated process think they should show something different.

For obvious typos Google may show similar results but don't suprised if an extra space delivers slightly different rankings (like rewarding a website that also has that typo on their page). Personally I wouldn't worry too much on this since IMHO there are much more powerful pieces to the ranking algo.

[smithaa02]

When you combined your keywords, did your rankings go up or down?

[bsterz]

My rankings increased. The keyword was more like "bluewidget" instead of "blue widget." It is a keyword where I would expect Google to understand that is most likely a typo. Also, the keyword "bluewidget" never appears on my site which is what struck me as odd. I just wondered if anyone had any thoughts.

[Robert Charlton]

As I was checking the rankings on Google for my hobby site which is a two word keyword...

Not clear from your syntax when you say "my hobby site is a two word keyword", whether you're saying that your domain name is "bluewidget.tld". Is this the case? I'm confused exactly what the situation is, because you also say that "the keyword 'bluewidget' never appears on my site...."

The run-together string "bluewidget" is of course much less competitive than the two-word phrase "blue widget", so it would be a lot easier to rank higher for "bluewidget" than for the separated words. If your site is sending any kind of signal to Google that "bluewidget" is appropriate to your site, it is in fact likely that you'd rank higher for it.

So... please clarify what you mean by your site "is a two word keyword." How does that relate to your domain name?... to inbound links?... to file names?... etc?

[bsterz]

Robert sorry for the confusion. The two word keyword does not appear in my domain, not even partially. This keyword describes the specific niche of my site with, like "widget blog." There are a few (maybe 3) inbound links with the anchor text "widget blog." In fact, I wondered if Google associated phrases in anchor text as a singular term?

[bsterz]

Clarification. The keyword in question does not appear in my domain name., but it is in my title tag and a few anchor text as stated above. I am not concerned about improving ranking for this specific keyword I just want to better understand why this happens.

I apologize for the multiple posts. I still find it difficult to type/post via phone.

[Robert Charlton]

Clarification. The keyword in question does not appear in my domain name., but it is in my title tag and a few anchor text as stated above.

bsterz - Sorry... still not quite clear. Please clarify further....

Is the keyword in question (which appears in your title tag and anchor text)...

a) "bluewidget"?

or...

b) "blue widget"?

If "bluewidget" (run together) appears in any way, shape, or form, then likely it is such a rare combination that Google would be grasping at clues to satisfy the query. For the runtogether search, a title tag and some anchor text appearances would be enough for Google to rank your site for the query.