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. ;-)