Can You Optimize for Stop Words in Search Results?

Dec 30, 2009 - 8:39 am 4 by

A HighRankings Forum thread asks an interesting SEO question. The question is, can you optimize for stop words in Google or other search engines?

His particular example seems flawed, in that he is calling IT a stop word and it is stopping him for optimizing for the query [it companies]. However, when I search for [it companies] in Google, it does seem to figure out, IT here stands for information technology.

But in general, is there a need to optimize for stop words? Do we have more examples of cases? If so, can it be done?

Here is a poll:

Forum discussion at HighRankings Forum.

Update: See Jill's comment below for the issue this SEO has in the thread.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: October 17, 2025

Oct 17, 2025 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Deceptive Hide Ads Interface, Google Goldmine, Bing data-nosnippet & More

Oct 17, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google

Watch Google's Liz Reid Interviewed By WSJ On AI Search, Ad Clicks, Publishers

Oct 17, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Maps

Google Business Profiles Quick Google Posts Across Multiple Profiles

Oct 17, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google

Google Sending Push Notifications That Go To AI Mode Searches

Oct 17, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Updates Medicines Policy Regarding Prescription Drug Terms

Oct 17, 2025 - 7:21 am
 
Previous Story: Tracking Back Links: How Do You Do It?