I wanted to touch on a subject that I've been wondering about for quite some time. I wanted to discuss whether Google can spot similar terms when evaluating a web page therefore giving it a better SERP ranking. For example, lets say I optimized my page to rank well for "computers" and if I had more specific words in the page like "Dell" "hard drive" etc...can Google tell that the terms are related to the word "computer" and therefore the page seems more relevant?

Synonyms do work!

I am not so sure about Dell being a synonym to computers though.

computer
laptop
software
hardware
computing

are some synonyms

http://www.google.com/search?q=~comp...&start=80&sa=N

see the bold words.

I notice I do have to focus on the exact word to get good SERPS. With or without a letter does mean a difference for me. But 'computer' does give 'computers' as well. So pretty sure there is a system behind, just like typo suggestions. Although these typo suggestions are not that intelligent, I get suggestions that I then follow, but give no results... DO NOT SUGGEST me then. ;-)

Hello
Give visitors the information they're looking for
Provide high-quality content on your pages, especially your homepage. This is the single most important thing to do. If your pages contain useful information, their content will attract many visitors and entice webmasters to link to your site. In creating a helpful, information-rich site, write pages that clearly and accurately describe your topic. Think about the words users would type to find your pages and include those words on your site.

Make sure that other sites link to yours
Links help our crawlers find your site and can give your site greater visibility in our search results. When returning results for a search, Google uses sophisticated text-matching techniques to display pages that are both important and relevant to each search. Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote by page A for page B. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."

With or without a letter does mean a difference for me. But 'computer' does give 'computers' as well. So pretty sure there is a system behind, just like typo suggestions.