Are Editors Doing Traffic Research for Keywords in Titles?

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   eugbugposted 2 months ago

   An editor changed the title of my article and replaced the name of a tool by the term used in the UK. Maybe they've done keyword research? But the US is the biggest market, so hopefully they do this. Could the editor be British?
   Should "lawnmower" be one word? It's been changed throughout a guide from "lawn mower" to "lawnmower". I always thought it was two words.

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      bravewarriorposted 2 months agoin reply to this

      Eugene, according to Merriam-Webster (the preferred dictionary in the editing/proofreading world), lawn mower is two words.

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         eugbugposted 2 months agoin reply to this

         That's what I thought. I used to spell it "lawnmower", but then editors corrected it to "lawn mower". Now it's been changed back. Maybe there are regional variations. Both ways seem to be used. I'm more worried about the title though. Presumably they check Semrush or whatever and see what's more popular as a term? They've changed "string trimmer" to "petrol strimmer" which is only used outside of the US/Canada AFAIK. Lisa has come back to me saying that it's ranking for "petrol strimmer" in Search Console. If it's ranking already, I'm wondering why the need for changing the title is necessary. I don't really understand how this works. Ranking has fallen for the existing title. It used to be a featured snippet in position zero, but now down to around 10th place.

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            bravewarriorposted 2 months agoin reply to this

            That's odd. I've never heard of petrol strimmer. Maybe that is a UK thing and that's where Lisa is from. Here in the U.S., it's called "string trimmer".

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               eugbugposted 2 months agoin reply to this

               Yes, we call them "strimmers". In the US they're "string trimmers" or "weed eaters". Not sure what the logic of changing the title is though. I try to use US terms, because I would have thought there would be a greater number of search queries by people from the US, unless an article is about something which is predominately British. Maybe there's less competition for UK terms though and that can generate more traffic?

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                  bravewarriorposted 2 months agoin reply to this

                  I guess you'll find out, huh?

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                     eugbugposted 2 months agoin reply to this

                     Maybe. She said I can change it back if I want to. It's had the same title for 12 years. Traffic has been decimated though for this guide like it has been for all the others.

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                        bravewarriorposted 2 months agoin reply to this

                        I've Googled both string trimmers and petrol strimmers and both searches result in items for sale on page one. Then I went to your profile page and located the article to which you refer, changed my searches to "petrol strimmer won't start", and "string trimmer won't start" respectively. Most of what shows up on page one of Google in both searches are YouTube videos followed by Reddit articles followed by posts made by repair clinics. Your string trimmer article on Dengarden shows up at number four on page one after half a page of YouTube videos. Note: my search term was "petrol strimmer won't start".

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                           eugbugposted 2 months agoin reply to this

                           It'll probably take days to weeks for Google to index that title change that was made.

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                              bravewarriorposted 2 months agoin reply to this

                              Keep us posted, Eugene.

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                  Jodahposted 2 months agoin reply to this

                  In Australia we call them line trimmers, weed eaters, or whipper snippers.

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                     eugbugposted 2 months agoin reply to this

                     That's right. I had a list in the guide, which the editor removed. Maybe it was superfluous and they thought it would be seen by Google as keyword stuffing.

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                     Patty Inglish, MSposted 2 months agoin reply to this

                     Cool. In Ohio we have called them "weed wackers."

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   john000posted 2 months ago

   Weed whacker?

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      bravewarriorposted 2 months agoin reply to this

      At my house (in Florida), we call it weed eater. Some people also call it a weed whacker.

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   eugbugposted 2 months ago

   "Weed wacker" or "weed whacker" like "weedeater" are brand names AFAIK. So like biro, JCB and hoover, they became commonly used generic names for the products.

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   melbelposted 2 months ago

   I always thought they were called weed whackers. Like... I thought that was the actual name! (Michigan)

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   Springboardposted 2 months ago

   Weed whackers and lawnmowers are two different things. One is to actually mow the yard and the other is to trim weeds around it.

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