Finding and including related, popular keyphrases.
Marketing research, hints, warnings about implementation.
1.: Finding related popular keywords, search phrases
1.1.: Start with what you know
1.2.: Prioritize keywords by intent
1.2.1.: Adjusting relevance on the go
Keyword popularity tools, top searches in Google and major search engines:
1.3.: Prioritize by popularity / competition
1.3.1.: Google AdWords (External) Keyword selection tool
1.3.2.: Google Trends
1.3.3.: Google Hot Trends
1.3.4.: Yahoo! Search Marketing ( Self Serve )
1.3.5.: Overture Keyword Selection Tool
1.3.6.: WordTracker
1.3.7.: Keyword Discovery
1.4.: Scale by generalization
2.: Generic tips on popularity, filtering, competition, natural language
2.1.: Popularity vs. projected market share
3.: Summary - (over)using popular phrases
3.1.: The Basics
3.2.: Advanced
3.3.: Expert
1.: Finding related popular keywords, search phrases
This article will assume that the webmaster or SEO knows the sector, niche, theme, topic of the website that is being marketed online. Either because it is actually managed by the same entity, or because sessions with the owners, copywriters, present or future editors who have explained the area to the webmaster in detail. Should this not apply to you, the very first and most essential step is missing, as this is the foundation of any marketing effort. For those who have confidence in their understanding of the topic they're marketing, you may skip the first paragraph, or perhaps 1.1. in its whole, although you might get some ideas from the following points all the same.
1.1.: Start with what you know.
No matter how little knowledge one might have on a certain topic, the content that was made available by the website owner, and the content that is readily available - to study(!) - on the Internet by others are a good hint on what to read up on. Make sure to ask. The editors, writers, owners will most likely be more than glad to explain their area of expertise in detail, but in case their schedule prevents them from being available to you all the time, you can always turn to others who are well versed in the topic. Doing a search on Google much like any interested user would do will not only allow to get familiar with the terminology of the specific area, but also provide insight for what seems to be the norm in the depth and amount of related keywords and phrases on a website. ( see the paragraph 3.3. Summary - Expert. ) Identifying patterns of what words / synonyms were likely to be present along what the query was made for will soon give a lot of ideas for people's associations, thus more searches, which will result in more websites to look at and study. Another pattern that might be interesting is when certain resources seem to be ranked prominently across many related searches. Which in case of similarly built publications might be the sign of a poplar and/or well marketed website. Seemingly lower profile domains might also produce high positions, and such are more likely to be doing so because of their often revolutionary content, or simply their good choice of words. Even without any previous education or skills in the topic, one could quickly catch up with the basics.
Those who feel they're well informed, and use the proper terminology, a different danger is imminent, which is using the expert- the 'inner-circle' language of a certain area/industry, without taking into account the fact that the public at large might not be looking for their content using such queries. Which might not be a problem with certain academic or even business to business online publications, but would practically bar any eCommerce, informative, or generic purpose websites from ranking well in organic search. Not to mention their (lack of) relevance to the more widely user words would raise their costs when applying for AdWords as well.
Both for those who are just learning of the theme-specific terminology, and those who believe they have it mastered, visiting community and hobby websites and even forums created on the topic might be essential. The current wording and terminology the public uses might not be all that different from which is used within the 'trade' but even slight differences can see a huge difference in the number of searches made, not to mention, the price one would bid for a keyword when using paid advertising.
A simple to-do list for the initial keywords for anyone doing online marketing.
Mixing some of the obvious generic technics used in any kind of research, and some of the less obvious marketing tips for both beginners and experts.
- If the webmaster has had no interest in or knowledge of the topic, research is necessary
- Those who do other marketing work, writing or editing for the website can always help
- Do a search on Google, and read up on the topic
- Make sure you've studied it well by choosing more than a single resource
- Keep track of words that you often see accompanying your initial keywords
- Do some follow-up searches with the terminology you've seen
- Keep track of websites that seem to be considered the 'norm' as for being current in their wording
- This doesn't mean you should copy them, but to know of the standards. You may (need) to innovate
Additionally, some off-line tips.
Note that Google has done a lot of research, and while automating its actual ranking process, initially all of the sample data they use are people's opinions and knowledge of different topics. The automation doesn't replace basic principles of knowledge, but tries to track them without experts - people - having to go through all documents on the Internet. Thus it's a good idea to:
- Ask people who know the topic well about the current terminology used among experts
- In parallel, be sure to ask people with only casual interest
- Write down an initial set, based on your knowledge on the topic after all of this is done
- Read offline publications that are known to be authoritative on the topic ( books, magazines, newspapers )
- Pay attention to the language used in other off-line advertisements where applicable (TV/Radio)
1.2.: Prioritize keywords by intent
Based on the purpose of the website to be marketed, you'll need to prioritize by the assumed intent of people who use different search phrases for different aspects of the same theme. It is only logical to do so, for you will show your website's intentional use. Your initial set might contain a lot of keywords which while related to the topic, essentially carry a different message towards people and Google, because years of user behavior analysis shows that people were most pleased with the results if they were shown a certain type of websites for certain types of queries.
The most basic difference in user intents are, but not limited to:
- Commercial ( buy, sell, rent, lease... etc. )
- Informational ( generic or specific interest, nothing to indicate buying intent )
- News/Entertainment ( specific interest and search phrases, fresh, not commercial, neither academic )
- Social ( basically fits into Entertainment, but popularity is the main driving force )
- A mixture of such ( e.g.. commercial and informational: reviews for products, product specifications )
Based on what the website would stand for, you will be able to determine what keywords on your list match the intent of the users. A commercial site that does not indicate in its terminology that it is commercial, will see a huge competition among the academic sites which are much more likely to be popular among a larger audience. Also this same website will not compete at all in the commercial sector, for it simply lacks relevancy.
A very simple - and rather unlikely - example would be the presence or missing of the words buy / sell. If from nowhere else, at least from the page titles.
If a website with commercial intent does not include either or both words in its title, and/or on its page, and/or in the navigation, Google will unlikely be able to rank it for searches such as "buy [certain item]", while it will also be unable to match the link popularity of an informational website, and thus not able to rank for a query on just "[certain item]" either.
Even websites that would like to provide a blend of different content for different audiences will need to indicate which is which, and attract people for both with the right terminology.
As a reminder, the idea to rank well for any and all keywords related to the industry is while understandable, it is not too sympathetic to users or other webmasters, and recent / not so recent changes in ranking calculations will make it proportionately hard to do. In other words, choosing the proper keywords right up front requires much less effort, time and resources than trying to market a huge spectrum just because the website doesn't target its audience properly.
1.2.1.: Adjusting relevance on the go
For already established websites, webmasters can later fine tune the wording by looking at data Google itself sees, and makes available for them to study. Google Webmaster Tools provides top 20 statistics for both what the website would appear for in the search results ( things people search- and then site is displayed for ), and what phrases people use when they actually click on the site's listings ( when they not only see, but also, choose your site over the rest ). Also the data set is different for the different Google search platforms, vertical searches and regions, thus in effect provides hundreds if not thousands of analyzed keywords.
By matching up the data you'll learn when users are, and when they aren't finding your site to be a match for what they thought they were querying. Of course this is all based on the page title, and its description, however it can provide valuable clues on a badly targeted audience that is not interested in your services, products or information.
On the other hand, when a certain keyword isn't specifically targeted, yet it shows up in both the query list and the click through table ( likely at lower positions, yet prominent compared to other search phrases of better rankings ), it's probably a good idea to consider whether it is related, and if so, providing a separate section, rewording an existing section, or just including it as well in the navigation/title of the document.
Google Analytics and other website statistics available freely on the Internet may also be used in this regard. You will be able to track users after they have landed on your website, for example what keywords they used, what page they have landed on and whether they were satisfied with what they saw, how they proceeded from there, and see if they eventually ended up on the page that was designated to serve them the information they needed.
High bounce rates might indicate that while people thought your page would be what they were looking for, they were disappointed with the content and left immediately. Unless of course your page did serve its purpose in itself, in which case the Time Spent on the page will hold the answer.
Funnels might also prove to be informative - especially for eCommerce - as they show where people went within the site, and whether they gave up at some point or contributed to your conversion rate in a positive way. Setting up conversion goals in Google Analytics or tracking your sales back to the website statistics ( comparing the keywords used to find the site based on conversion rates ) can either compliment or criticize the way you've built the pages. In other words, whether it easy enough for users to find the specific information/products/services or whether they eventually gave up. Which also might be an indication of other problems in marketing ( like prices, services ) but that is another issue.
Related websites:
Keyword popularity tools,
top searches in Google and major search engines
1.3.: Prioritize by popularity / competition
This is probably the part which is the hardest without insider knowledge of SEO / SEM and the industry. With a few exceptions, data by one needs to prioritize which of the many keywords are most popular is simply not at their disposal.
But since Google, and all major search engines are in fact interested in providing the proper marketing tools with their advertising services to help target specific audiences ( and also interested in helping webmasters with the best content to get listed in organic search ) many of such are available to do research on your topic. Some of this data can be used both for researching advertising keywords, and keywords used to optimize for organic search.
Important to note that most if not all of these tools use data that are slightly ( Google Trends ) or greatly ( Overture ) diluted with the queries made for researching keywords, and also, searches by SEOs checking the rankings of their websites. In popular areas this problem is much less prominent than in niches, where the competing websites are almost as numerous as the targeted audience. Depending on the popularity / projected ROI equation ( Return On Investment ) the 'noise' which the webmasters generate may skew the data so badly that any newcomer would think the industry is promising, while in fact the situation is the exact opposite. This affects micro and macro niches, very specific areas of interests only, where popularity is low, yet competition is high ( for example, very expensive services/products ).
Some of the tools will be more of an inspiration on doing additional research, considering additional closely related material that people would be looking for on your website, while others will help prioritize which of the keywords are most popular.
Also, never forget to check whether any of the keywords and phrases have any other meaning that is related to your theme, as trends, numbers and competition may be reflecting the 'other' topic in an uneven way.
Provide a full list of specific keywords you've researched so far, set the region and language in which you'd like to compete, and request a list of suggested keywords. By checking the 'Use synonyms' box the results will be extended with additional phrases, data that usually originates from advertisers, and seen relevant to your chosen words.
Most of the time the list will include all keywords and phrases that are even mildly related, and provide a mixture of various areas and intended uses. Note that the result page rarely constitutes a theme as a whole, and it is essential for you to be able to tell which of the keywords is actually related to your website's content and purpose.
Search volume is shown for the last month as a comparative measure, not in exact numbers of queries, which will be useful to determine which of the keywords is queried more often than the other. Note that unlike Trends, the threshold for the number of queries to appear on the list is relatively low, meaning a few dozen searches will have the term included at the bottom, while the full green gauge could mean anything from 200.000 to 2.000.000 queries a month.
Competition means advertiser competition, in other words the number of advertisers and obviously, the related prices per click in the AdWords program. These too are provided in order for you to compare them to one another, and provide but generic insight ( unless of course you already are advertising in AdWords ), and are useful to determine the presence of business activity in a sector. The prices for advertising with a keyword are also varying greatly based on popularity and possible ROI figures. They are only comparative within the same theme.
The short, more generic queries often show a lot more search volume, yet less competition, however you shouldn't assume that this means easy ranking for a widely used keyword. Search volume often indicates competition in organic search more fierce than among advertisers. Academic, informational and news websites usually top the result pages as link popularity is usually proportionately necessary to penetrate such a market. Also, high advertiser competition doesn't always mean the same hardships for non-commercial websites targeting a phrase in an area where their commercial counterparts have a hard time accumulating links. Such a newcomer may do much better for generic queries, but as soon as it would add commercial content, this leeway would of course be negated.
High search volume combined with at least minimum advertiser competition usually means the 'needed trust' threshold set very high. In order to appear on the results pages a website would need more trust ( a parameter that is meant to battle spam, scheming, phishing and other unwanted material ). This means that any newcomer to the scene will experience a prolonged time of not being able to rank for 1,2,3 word searches unless it accumulated link popularity from trusted resources, such as the authorities on topic, regional or international media, or other editorial websites ( - widely known as the 'sandbox effect' ). Very high competition with at least mild search volumes means the same, except that relevancy is even more closely monitored, and as such, appearing in the organic results is even harder. Commercial sites have less of a tendency to be referred to by links, unless they provide unique services or products, which makes them even harder to market in an already crammed league.
Don't forget, these metrics should be used to prioritize your own list, and considering the ideas AdWords suggests as related. Extend your primary set with the keywords you perceive as relevant, and sort them by the metrics to create a more refined set of targeted phrases. Don't limit your selection to the few that seem to perform best. This tool allows you to compare up to five keywords or phrases, based on their search volume and their presence in news reports throughout the years. The displayed data is graphic, and just as AdWords, Trends doesn't show exact numbers either. A big difference between the Keyword Tool and Trends is that while the former will allow you to pinpoint markets and keywords of search volumes in the macro levels, Trends will only display data properly for those phrases that are in fact, popular. If your query features a keyword at the first position that falls below the minimum required searches to be shown, you will get an error message.
Use trends to compare keywords that are similar in popularity according to AdWords. You may experience the biggest gaps between their search volumes when looking for differences among the most popular phrases.
Enter up to five phrases at a time, separated by commas, and modify the order of the keywords on your list if you feel one is significantly more widely used than the other.
Make sure to check where the popularity originates from, as Trends also shows which geographic locations send the most of these queries, often resulting in realizing that while the keyword is popular, it is used in a context, in a meaning or in an area that is completely unrelated to what you are marketing.
In case none of your phrases are used often enough to show on the graph, you can use a more generic word as the first of the five phrases, and look for the search volume bars on the bottom right to indicate at least the languages in which people have been looking for them.
Phrases used without quotes will reveal the trends for any query that begins with the given words, while if you put them in quotes, only instances in which people were looking for that exact phrase will show.
Comparing data across different industries, and matching the popularity of keywords to those you know to be popular and/or even know the approximate searches made in any given month, might provide a clue to the actual volumes as well. Also, while AdWords and most of the keyword suggestion tools will only show data for the last month, Trends might answer some questions on seasonal or annual changes in queries, allowing you to measure popularity for your content even if you're taking preemptive marketing measures to get ready for an upcoming peak, something that is not popular all year.
Use Google Trends to further finetune your priorities, and again, sort your related keywords in order of popularity. Make sure you check the area, and the language in which any given keyword performs well. Trends can not be used to suggest new phrases, it is only useful to compare the differences in popularity within the terminology.
The biggest of such - what the public and what experts on the topic use - are usually revealed very early. An extension of a Google Labs idea formerly known as Google Zeitgeist, Google Hot Trends will show a sample of 'searches with momentum' that were made within any single day ( you may set the date yourself, the default is always the current day ). The data shown gets refreshed several times during the 24 hour period. Click on any of these phrases to see how they made it to the top, for these are but simplified examples of the current most popular trends. The detailed page will show additional information on related searches taken into the equation, as well as their origins ( geographic location ), the time of day in which they peaked, related news and blog posts.
This tool is probably more fitting for those who are targeting an audience looking for news and entertainment.
Similar to the External tool at AdWords, you may use the keyword suggestion tool of Yahoo! Search Marketing without actually signing up for the service. Just choose the Self Serve option, and name the geographic location you would like to target, the time zone in which the website would operate in ( this might be irrelevant for some ), fine tune the location(s) and you may continue to the keyword suggestions.
Yahoo! Search Marketing is the only tool that uses Yahoo! Search data - apart of the suggestions you would get from their search results pages. Similar to, albeit less functional than the free external tool of AdWords, you will be requested to input up to 50 initial keywords of your choice before the system would provide you with suggestions.
The appearing list will show both your selection and the related terms, provide an estimated number of searches made for the phrase, an average of many months, which can range from as low as about 10, to as high as 200.000+. Also, the tool will display an exclamation mark for those keywords it suggests to be a bit too high on search volume ( in other words: too generic ) to be effective for paid advertising. This message of course can mean completely different things in the creation of an informative, a commercial and an entertainment oriented website.
Further options and refining is available outside the program, including example ads for the keywords you chose. Most of them actual live listings of possible competitors.
Useful, similar in functionality to AdWords, free version somewhat limited in certain areas.
Checking it against the data from Google is advised.
Non Google / Yahoo! trends
( more or less in line with the two mainstream search engines,
sometimes providing additional insight )
Overture, while now a part of Yahoo! has its tool, the Keyword Selection ( or Inventory ) tool available for the public. While it sometimes becomes unaccessible, and is widely known to show skewed results for SEO sensitive areas, it is still useful to compare different subcategories of a theme, and to get additional ideas on how people would try to access the website you build.
Enter any keyword or phrase, and get a list of queries that include it in any way. The results of course are string based, thus if there is more than one meaning for the keyword, or more than a single sector using it, you will see mixed results from which you will need to pick the ones that are related to your content. Also, the string based queries would not recognize word order, neither make a difference between singular and plural versions. These should be double-checked in other tools for their differences in popularity as either or both could be widely used while the other being relatively unimportant. The shorter version of a keyphrase you enter, the more related results will be shown, so if you are unsure of what particular phrases to check, enter but a single word.
Unlike Google Trends, AdWords and Hot Trends, it shows the queries in exact numbers. Note that these are more like estimates than their actual popularity. Discounting obviously SEO-made mass queries and suspiciously long phrases is easy, but make sure to match up the data to other tools for even the short, widely used keywords as well.
This tool can be inspirational, but relying on it is not advised.
The data is collected from search engines previously affiliated with Overture.
Use caution about the numbers displayed, they are known to be inflated by automatic queries to the system. Consider them pointers, variables that only work in this environment, and use only to compare one to another.
Similar in its looks and functionality to the tool at Overture, WordTracker will provide you with an estimate on the number of searches made globally ( on all major search engines combined ) within the next 24 hours. Their list will also show any phrase that includes the word you enter. The statistics are updated at least weekly and they provide the estimates based on 90 days worth of past queries. If you enter your [keyword], results will include any phrases that feature it, e.g.. [phrase keyword], [keywords in country] and so on. WordTracker is an independent marketing company that collects its data from search engines like Dogpile and MetaCrawler, and multiplies the numbers with their estimated market share ( in the US ).
In addition to their many related services, their free tool also can filter the results to clean the list of 'dubious' and 'offensive' queries.
A useful tool for marketing, but the numbers may be slightly skewed ( though far more accurate than Overture ), but again, the data does not originate from Google or Yahoo!, and should be used in combination with others.
Similar to WordTracker and the Overture Keyword Selection Tool, Keyword Discovery uses yet another database of different sources for queries. Its free tool will provide a list similar to WordTracker that could be used to cross-match the popularity, especially for of low-profile keywords.
1.4.: Scale by generalization
Once you have a list of keywords both generic/highly popular, both specific but lower in search volume, it's necessary to think about the hierarchy of your content, in case you haven't done so. In case your publication/business has several sub-topics, and a generic theme that would be fitting to all, naturally the website should reflect this.
The most generic keywords that describe your theme should be used on the topmost pages, and perhaps even in the subsequent topics, just not as prominently. Indicating the generic theme along the specific keyphrases is good for the searchers, and generally speaking is sometimes the branding of the website itself. More specific, sub-topic related keyphrases might be used in the navigation, and of course given prominence on their designated pages.
For example, if the main theme is a generic area of consumer electronics, the homepage might use generic phrases - perhaps could give emphasis to the most popular products but, definitely shouldn't list all of the available merchandise should their number be inconvenient to browse, or even look at. Subsequent pages could be designated to each category and subcategory in which the page titles, descriptions and content would be more specific using the proper keywords. A navigation that also uses these words when pointing to the pages usually is a signal of relevancy. Excessive use of competitive words in the navigation on a single page is advised against. 2.: Generic tips on popularity, filtering, competition, natural language
Once you have your list of top keywords, perhaps even down to word order, a choice on plural or singular for each, you might make the common mistake of overly enthusiastic webmasters, copywriters, SEOs, and use nothing but those.
Which is very wrong, and not only in a moral sense, but because search engines are more than prepared for such tactics, and if they encounter an irregular density of keywords, lack of variation, or on the contrary, too many market-sensitive phrases all at once, your website won't rank well. Different rerankings ( see below ) would be applied which would make it end up at positions significantly lower than what you aimed for, sometimes hundreds of ranks into the mid-way of the SERPs ( Search Engine Result Pages ).
The proper way of utilizing the researched 'top list' is to emphasize its important sections.
But using natural language to do so.
This is of key importance in ranking websites. Use natural language, variations, different forms, even synonyms, as if you did without researching the top 3. But when it comes to the title, navigation, description, headlines etc. make sure you include the ones most appropiate. Not only the most popular terms, but also their natural variations, the keywords placed second and third in your list, and if you think the data might be wrong, and firmly believe that for example the seventh phrase on your list is just as important, make sure to include it as well.
Keyword research is to explore trends, and the way the public addresses a certain topic, and is not to replace the use of everyday, technical or descriptive language. Remember that this isn't only advice on ethics ( as in not to use incomprehensible titles, navigation or text which repeats itself, and is grammatically incorrect and aims only for search engine placement with disregard to users ), but also a warning that Google uses refined filtering for such broken context.
The list you've created is a priority list.
And a reminder on what to include if you really do wish to discuss the topic in detail.
It's not exclusive, but a generic guideline.
2.1.: Popularity vs. projected market share
It has been said several times by several people doing Market Research on the Internet but cannot be stressed enough. Popularity of a keyword doesn't mean a lot of money in the topic. Doing search engine optimization should be about optimizing an already established or soon to be established online presence that would fill in a gap in information / products / services provided over the Internet, and wants to be present on the Search Engine result pages. And not solely aimed at filling in gaps in Search Engine result pages. User behavior shows that people are being more and more cautious about where they spend money on the Internet, and whether they should trust an enterprise based solely on its online presence. Most queries are still made for informative and entertainment purposes, even if some of them look potentially commercial, a very small percentage will result in any financial movement.
Websites built for the sole purpose to exploit a yet to be covered hole of an online niche should do so by offering valuable services, products or information. Those that don't will eventually get filtered out of the search engine database.
Some data that search engines use to determine the quality of a website:
Click Through Rate
The number of times a user clicks on the result that represents the website once it is displayed.
Bounce Rate
The percentage of users clicking the Back button, closing their browser, i.e. leaving the site virtually immediately after it loads.
Keyword Co-Occurrence
A gauge that would rank different web documents of different topics, in between being uninformative ( missing phrases of key importance ), authoritative, and spam ( too many related phrases )
Off-site relevancy, Link popularity, Link relevancy
The quality of references to a website on the Internet. Text links with relevant anchor text, from relevant and trusted sources, to relevant and well maintained pages. The number of irrelevant links, links from low quality websites will not raise relevancy. Websites that don't have any quality links supporting its topics will not rank for them.
A couple of other factors also continuously double-check the indexed pages, are matching them up to standards, and these base sets aren't decided by the search engines. The scripts are analyzing the documents and comparing them to standards that were the average derived from websites considered high quality by experts, users, and based on other factors such as accessibility, usability.
3.: Summary - (over)using popular phrases
3.1.: The Basics
While this might be a no-brainer for all who's been doing search engine marketing for many years, newcomers often miss the point of building websites that were meant to be seen: you'll need to study the interests and intents of your users in order to be found by certain audiences.
The basics are simple, include the keywords and phrases people are looking for, and looking for with a distinct motive ( for example 'informative' vs. 'commercial' interests are often confused by SEOs ), and not just random words, indiscriminately filling your articles, navigation and page titles with anything and everything that came to mind while writing up the copy.
And in case you did not know, Google, and any other search engine will only be able to determine keyword importance ( emphasis within the same page ) or even occurrence ( whether the keyword is present ) if your pages are accessible to their crawlers, a.k.a. bots that try to analyze them. Meaning these words are available in text, featured in the content, in the page title ( HTML <TITLE> tag ), featured in the description of the page ( Description attribute of the HTML <META> tag, often used on search engine result pages as the snippet for listings ), and are present in the text link based navigation, optionally in the sitemap, and of course in other sources' links to the given website.
3.2.: Advanced
By including and properly emphasizing - making prominent - some of the key elements, websites may not only attract exactly the people by whom they were meant to be seen, but also increase their chances of sending proper signals of relevancy for their related sub-topics. Consider a thematic hierarchy for your website, much like you'd encounter in any other well edited publication.
Meaning a successful website may be using to the point, generic keywords for its main theme on its main page(s), and more targeted, but none the less well researched keyphrases for its subsequent areas. You can't, shouldn't and needn't cram all the related words on the same page.
3.3.: Expert
Google has been researching and implementing ways of determining the intent of both the searchers and publishers on the Internet, setting up various scripts that will analyze copy, text navigation, and the keywords found in links to a website. Based on the data gathered throughout the years, these layered scripts will look for authoritative documents by matching them up with various profiles and scenarios. Using natural language, phrases 'expected' to be included when touching certain topics, using proper word order and grammar will all raise the chances of a document to be ranked high for its targeted keywords. Using an excessive number of somewhat related ( yet highly popular, competitive ) phrases, grammar that is hard to comprehend ( impossible to match up with other, related, authoritative documents ), word order that would significantly change the meaning of a phrase, and symbolism, synonyms that aren't common enough to be recognized will all hinder the efforts of trying to achieve better positions.
The co-occurrence filters applied for re-ranking documents will scan any and every document, and in case a page is seen to be using an unnatural density of related, competitive phrases, they might see a steady decline in their positions. Reranking will take place for certain phrases that the document has not shown enough relevancy to, in other words, topic that it does not have support for, neither on-page, on-site or off-site ( other relevant sources don't link to it with related phrases ).
Choosing and implementing a high number of the most popular keywords thus might as well make a website drop in its rankings, should it aim for phrases it is not relevant to. Webmasters, copywriters and SEOs should exercise at least some self criticism before building a website that would aim to be a 'resource-of-all that is related' to the topics they target. The analysis doesn't only watch link profiles, it also parses the document itself, and if it deviates too far from what is seen as the ( even changing ) norm - based on trusted, authoritative sources, user behavior - it will not be able to rank high. On the other hand, a well researched article that based on its content seems to discuss exactly what it claims to, might see better positions than its initial link popularity would suggest.
Including the necessary, and not including an excessive number of popular keyphrases is important. Breaking down the content into separate pages is advised, as it makes for a more clear message to Google - and that is because it makes a clear message to users. Also it results in main and sub-topics that are generic and specific enough to market with much more precision and success, let it be increased rankings in organic search results or targeted advertisements through AdWords.
