What Is Keyword Stemming?

Date First Published: 5th December 2022

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: SEO

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Medium

Difficulty Level: 5/10

CONTENTS

Does Google Use Keyword Stemming?
Examples Of Keyword Stemming

Learn more about what keyword stemming is in this article.

Keyword stemming is Google's ability to understand different forms of the same keyword in a search query. It is called keyword stemming as it takes the root or stem of the word and finds other words that have that same stem. Stemming just means adding different prefixes and suffixes to the same term. Only the beginning or end of the word changes, not the root word.

Note:

Keyword stemming is not about Google’s ability to understand synonyms for a keyword.

Does Google Use Keyword Stemming?

Google has used keyword stemming in its algorithms for a long time. Keyword stemming allows Google to go beyond the outdated 'exact match' keyword recognition, and match it to variations to deliver relevant results to the searcher and meet their needs.

However, keyword stemming is not a ranking factor and a webpage will not rank higher based on the fact that it uses different forms of a keyword throughout it. In fact, manual keyword stemming, which is when different prefixes, suffixes, plurals, and common misspellings are intentionally used and make sentences sound odd in the hope of ranking higher for multiple keywords can be recognised as a form of keyword stuffing. This could lead to pages being moved down or deindexed in the Google search results page.

Examples Of Keyword Stemming

Since Google can understand when a searcher enters a query with the word 'minimise', it makes sense to also include results with the words 'minimised', 'minimising', 'minimising', and 'minimisation'. Optimising text for the word 'minimise' should also allow the search result to come up if someone types one of the stem keywords above.

Another example of keyword stemming is the word 'construct'. If a page was written about construction, this term could be stemmed from 'deconstruction' and 'reconstruction'. Instead of mostly ranking for queries containing the word 'construction', keyword stemming can help pages rank for a wider range of queries.