I’m using a suggested term but Optimize won’t recognize it and adjust my Content Score.
Occasionally, your content score may not reflect the usage of terms that you deem are equivalent. For example, you may be using a term with a hyphen, and Optimize sees it as two separate words. Or perhaps Optimize suggests the single version and you’re using the plural.
A common misconception of SEO is that linguistically equivalent/similar terms are treated the same in Search. Contrary to popular belief, Google handles these differently if there are distinct intents associated with them.
You can verify this manually by searching Google using both terms. In some cases, the SERP similarity shows high overlap. In other cases, it doesn’t.
That’s why MarketMuse is extremely cautious about bucketing terms if they are the same or similar.
So, if you’re using a term that you believe is equivalent, consider it used. But just make sure to verify the SERP similarity in Google. You may be surprised!