Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • MozCon
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      Let your reputation grow with Reviews AI
      Moz Local

      Let your reputation grow with Reviews AI

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Keyword Research
    4. Filler words like "for" in keyword phrase

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Filler words like "for" in keyword phrase

    Keyword Research
    3
    5
    1522
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • SebastianKnopp
      SebastianKnopp last edited by

      Hey,

      I wonder what the effect of filler words like "on" or "for" is when I try to rank for a certain phrase.

      Here is an example, lets say i try to rank for "best apps iphone" but the grammatically correct usage in the headline or text is "best apps for iphone". Is there any difference or should I use the exact keyword without "for"?

      Thanks!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • SebastianKnopp
        SebastianKnopp @DougRoberts last edited by

        Thank you very much for the elaborate answers, this helps a lot 🙂

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • SebastianKnopp
          SebastianKnopp @Immanuel last edited by

          thanks, that answers my question 🙂

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • DougRoberts
            DougRoberts last edited by

            Remember that the title isn't just there to get your keyword in front of the search engines. In conjunction with the meta description it also has to persuade people to click-through from the SERPS and visit your site.

            As long as you keep it short, natural and make sure people feel that they'll find what they're searching for when they click on your site it should be ok.

            You might also want to think about how your can differentiate yourself from the competition. In the example above "best" is pretty generic.

            For a recent project I found optimising for "my keyword + year" got me a chunkier slice of a competitive keyword than if I'd just gone for the keyword alone.

            Yes you need to get your important keywords in there, but you've also got to think broadly when you cover the topic on your page and think about the human visitors.

            Trust and credibility are important factors and poor copy - especially when it's bordering on spammy, over-stuffed or irrelevant to the searchers intent, is a great way to undermine your website - and that can start in the SERPS!

            SebastianKnopp 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • Immanuel
              Immanuel last edited by

              Even though search engines don't see the the "for" (correct me if I'm wrong) keep in mind you're ultimate target is humans. So being grammatically correct might affect how they perceive you.

              Ciao,

              Immanuel.

              SebastianKnopp 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • 1 / 1
              • First post
                Last post

              Got a burning SEO question?

              Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


              Start my free trial


              Browse Questions

              Explore more categories

              • Moz Tools

                Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

              • SEO Tactics

                Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

              • Community

                Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

              • Digital Marketing

                Chat about tactics outside of SEO

              • Research & Trends

                Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

              • Support

                Connect on product support and feature requests.

              • See all categories

              Related Questions

              • ezable

                What defines what words in a title are considered Keywords?

                Hi, sorry if this is a silly question. I'm curious how keywords are defined. Is every word in a title a possible keyword? If I have a keyword titled "Linear Shower Drain | 40" Long", does it take the whole thing as a keyword? Is just "Linear Shower Drain" the keyword? Would "Shower Drain" pop up as a keyword, since its nested in the title? Thank you in advance for your answers!

                Keyword Research | | ezable
                0
              • NikCall

                How many keywords do you recommend tracking?

                I am working through thousands of organic keywords and would like to create a list of core keywords.  I want the list to be small enough that we can really go after these keywords and track progress.  I work for a B2B software company.  I am thinking between 20-30 but I would love to hear any tips, opinions and recommendations! Thank you!

                Keyword Research | | NikCall
                0
              • SMCCoachHire

                Focus Keyword

                Hi everyone! I am pretty new to SEO so all the help would be great. Does every webpage on our website need a focus keyword for example like the about us page. We have webpages for every location in the UK - Would it be helpful if the location webpages had a focus keyword also? Just to note that I am using Yoast on Wordpress. Many thanks,
                Aqib

                Keyword Research | | SMCCoachHire
                0
              • surabhi6

                How can improve my keywords ranking?

                My keywords are not in top in 50.So, what kind of activity we do to get in top in 50 rank?

                Keyword Research | | surabhi6
                0
              • SnapComms

                Accuracy of search volume for keyword planner v old keyword tool?

                Hi there, I'm (logged into Google Adwords)  and researching search volume for keywords but I'm seeing weird results. I know that the term "outage notification" had between 1000 and 5000 monthly global searches when I last looked (I know this because I add a search volume tag to the keywords I track ranking of via Moz).  Yet, now when I check global search volume via keyword planner I'm seeing only 70 global searches per month (AND low competition which I know is not true).  Is this perhaps because only the exact match is reported or is something else going on? Very frustrated as I have now lost faith in the keyword research process via Google keyword planner....not sure where to go from here!! Thanks very much

                Keyword Research | | SnapComms
                1
              • Resolver101

                Keywords for fabrication (welding) company??

                I've been tasked with finding the keywords for our website.  The difficulty I'm finding is receiving help from the fabrication personal to suggest keywords.  I'm not sure if its peoples imagination or if there's a general unwillingness. Can anyone make any suggestions here?  Is there a fabrication or welding keyword database I can put to them and hopefully get their brains working? Or even a way to see what keywords our competitors use?

                Keyword Research | | Resolver101
                0
              • dnaynay

                Best practice for targeting 'unnatural' location based keyword phrases

                When optimising for a local based service, lets say a painter in texas, you will have various keyword phrases which are relevant e.g Texas painter Painter in Texas Painter Texas I have found that often the phrase which has the most searches is: [Service] [Location]  = ('Painter Texas' in this example) But unlike the other phrases this is very hard to work into a natural sounding sentence or heading. Is the best practice to try and target the unnatural sounding phrase anyway due to the higher search volume, or target the next one down to stay natural sounding in your copy? thanks d

                Keyword Research | | dnaynay
                1
              • AdamThompson

                Bulk keyword competition tool?

                The SEOmoz Keyword Difficulty tool is great, but the 5 keyword limit is too small. I need a tool that will allow checking the organic competition level of 100's of keywords (to help in selecting blog topics). Anyone know of such a tool?

                Keyword Research | | AdamThompson
                1

              Get started with Moz Pro!

              Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

              Start my free trial
              Products
              • Moz Pro
              • Moz Local
              • Moz API
              • Moz Data
              • STAT
              • Product Updates
              Moz Solutions
              • SMB Solutions
              • Agency Solutions
              • Enterprise Solutions
              • Digital Marketers
              Free SEO Tools
              • Domain Authority Checker
              • Link Explorer
              • Keyword Explorer
              • Competitive Research
              • Brand Authority Checker
              • Local Citation Checker
              • MozBar Extension
              • MozCast
              Resources
              • Blog
              • SEO Learning Center
              • Help Hub
              • Beginner's Guide to SEO
              • How-to Guides
              • Moz Academy
              • API Docs
              About Moz
              • About
              • Team
              • Careers
              • Contact
              Why Moz
              • Case Studies
              • Testimonials
              Get Involved
              • Become an Affiliate
              • MozCon
              • Webinars
              • Practical Marketer Series
              • MozPod
              Connect with us

              Contact the Help team

              Join our newsletter
              Moz logo
              © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
              • Accessibility
              • Terms of Use
              • Privacy

              Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.