What if users are searching for misspelled keywords?
When you are doing search engine optimization, keyword research is critical. You simply need to find out what keywords your target audience tends to use. This can help you find areas where you are not capitalizing on potential traffic. Your SEO needs to be organic and work well within the text, but you also need to know what specific terms you are targeting that are likely to get people to click on the link and browse your site.
But what if you find out that some users are misspelling keywords? For instance, one report found that there were 90,000 monthly searches for the term “cypress tree” when spelled correctly. But there were also 270 monthly searches for “cypres tree” and 45 more searches for “cyress tree.”
In a case like that, is it helpful to do SEO for these misspelled keywords, or should you just ignore them?
Lower levels of competition
One reason why it can be useful to optimize for misspellings is simply that there will not be nearly as much competition. If your competitors are not doing this, you put yourself in a prime position. It is clear that people who are misspelling the keywords are still interested in those products or services. You are not misleading them by using a misspelled keyword, but simply trying to connect with them even if they have gotten the spelling wrong.
How does it reflect on your website?
One reason to avoid optimizing for misspellings, however, is the overall effect that it has on your website in general. It means creating web content that is intentionally misspelled, which may make your site appear less professional. After all, the majority of your traffic is still going to come from people who typed the keywords accurately. In the example above, less than 1% of users are actually spelling the keyword incorrectly. Is your content going to push people away because they will not understand that it is just for SEO purposes?
Voice text corrects the issue
Another thing to consider is that misspelled keywords are likely growing less common. The reason for this is that many people use voice text when they are performing a search. Ideally, the phone or device that they are interacting with is going to input the correct spelling, so the user does not have to think about it at all.
Misspellings were more common when every search required someone to manually type the terms in with a keyboard on their desktop computer. Many searches today are performed on cellphones, tablets and other mobile devices. Some people interact with the internet every day, but they do not even own a computer. User error grows less common when the device itself handles the search.
Your SEO strategy
Ultimately, optimizing for misspellings is not likely to have a huge impact on your traffic numbers. There are rare cases in which it may make sense, especially if you find out that a misspelled keyword is more common than the correct spelling. But in most cases, you are best off focusing on making your content as professional and accurate as you can, as that is still going to connect with the vast majority of readers and make your site appear more authentic and trustworthy. Quality content is important to both readers and search engines alike.
If you have any questions about search engine optimization or you are looking to improve the content on your site, do not hesitate to get in touch with us at Content Customs.
