another keywords question

sorry for another keywords question, but...

[LostJames]

hello, still "LostJames" here.

sorry, but i couldn't find this when i did search on this site.

most of my sites use 2 word keywords. (ie. blue widgets)
original question went like.... why is there different ranking for "blue widgets" & "blue widget"?
.....> this somewhat has been answered as different number of results (ie. "blue widgets" returned 100,000 while "blue widget" returned 80,000)

next question i got was why different ranking for "blue widgets" & "widgets blue" even though the number of results are almost identical?
The question was more of asking why can't we get better results on "blue widgets" just like "widgets blue"?

Thanks for helping LostJames :)

[Robert Charlton]

James - I'm not sure if this will address your question, but just about all search engines see "widget" and "widgets" as different words. It's not like the Find function on a word processor, where the string "widget" will be found within the string "widgets." Your pages will need to be optimized for each word separately.

The ability of an engine to relate different forms of similar words is called "stemming." You might try a site search, or, on Google, try:

stemming site:webmasterworld.com

[peewhy]

Just to add to Robert_Charlton's good point.

We think of widgets as little bits, so let's look at a product like Televisions.

If you are searching to buy a TV, mentally you are seeking a single unit, and it is likely your search will be for a single unit.

If you are a retailer and looking for a wholesaler of televisions you may think and search plural.

If you are selling both single and plural widgets think both.

...and before someone nit-picks the post ...I know someone will search for a 'television wholsaler' thus it will look like a singular search ... thats down to pre SEO ;)