Do stop-words have influence on SERP rankings?

[joemama]

I've been targeting about two keyword phrases in every article. So in order to insert both of them, I've been omitting stop words like "How to" kind of things which my competitors have included.

So, do I really have the advantage of not using those stop words in my title and H1 tags? I've seen many SEO gurus saying excluding them will allow you the space you can use to target another keyword phrase.

Is this really true? If people are searching for "how to xxx", and my competitors targeted the same. While I choose to target " xxx" in a meaningful manner in the title. Do my competitors have an advantage as they've included the "How to" phrase?

Thank you!

[GeethaN]

Yes, experts agree that SEO stop words do influence rankings, but it isn't considered a significant ranking factor by itself. Google is always trying to improve their algorithms to better match the search intent, and stop words play an essential role in this game.

[dennis123]

Stop words themselves do not hurt your SEO, it's the excessive usage of them. Always write for the end user and think about intent, especially with Google announcing last year their BERT model. Use keywords and synonyms when relevant and only use stop words when necessary.

[jayam]

Yes, experts agree that SEO stop words do influence rankings, but it isn't considered a significant ranking factor by itself. Google is always trying to improve their algorithms to better match the search intent, and stop words play an essential role in this game

[jayammrg]

Quick answer: Stop words themselves do not hurt your SEO, it's the excessive usage of them. Always write for the end user and think about intent, especially with Google announcing last year their BERT model. Use keywords and synonyms when relevant and only use stop words when necessary.

[chandrao7]

As you can see from these points, social media plays a crucial role in your overall SEO strategy even though it may not directly affect your rankings. It mainly works by bringing your brand and content more visibility, which in turn drives more traffic.