Market Research Labs showing fluctuating results

Hello Salehoo and Members,

First of all, I am a new member and want to thank you all for your service and community support!

In a recent book I read, a chapter about finding a niche spoke on researching primary/keyword terms to get an idea of the demand/depth of a particular niche. The advice was, when using an online keyword tool to determine keyword search volume, to use both the singular and the plural of a given search term. This is helpful because different people do search different ways when looking for items online.

So, out of curiosity (but not because I thought the Market Research Lab measured keyword search results), I decided to implement this idea when using the MRL, and found an apparent contradiction:


Search Number One, in the singular, resulted in a satisfying 43% Success Rate and a Low Competition Rating, both appearing in green.

The same search term, in the plural, resulted in an unsatisfying 18% Success Rate and a High Competition Rating, both appearing in red.


Search Number Two, in the singular, resulted in a 31% Success Rate and a Medium Competition Rating, appearing in green and orange, respectively.

The same search term, in the plural resulted in a 7% Success Rate and a High Competition Rating, both appearing in red.


I conducted two searches on other keyword terms and got similar results running separate searches for the singular and plural versions of the terms.

I think of the MRL as a tool that measures the success and competition retailing in a certain idea/field, not the success and competition of a specific term similar to the way a keyword tool would. Therefore, it seems to me that (i.e.) bicycle and bicycles should render the same results since the Market Research Lab is measuring success and not search volume.

Does anyone have an answer that would explain why this difference occurs between the singular and plural versions of a given search term?

Hello Brandon,

You are right when you said that the Market Research Lab measures the success rate of an item's profitability. We also need to bear in mind, though, that the results are based on the searches done and sold on eBay.com

The difference between the singular and plural terms is still explained by the keyword searches done by the public on eBay.com as the results are based on the traffic generated by these terms.

For example, it will be more logical to use "bicycles" as a part of your tags or description rather than "bicycle" since more than 50% has used the term to search for products online.

The higher the success rate of a term, the more people purchased goods online by using that term. As an online seller, this will give you an idea on how to create your listings on eBay and in your webstore(if you have one). This will be a good way to lead customers to your site when running searches and the bigger chance for you to generate more sales.

Hope this clarifies.