Posted 16 September 2004 - 12:49 PM
Yes - Google WILL consider that if the searcher looks for "keyword keyword" then "keyword keyword" is a better match than "keyword.keyword" or "keyword (stopword) keyword" all other things being equal.
Remember though, as Jill alludes to, you can optimise really well without having the keywords in a specific order, since PR and other factors have a strong weighting in Google, specifically.
There was a case (since tweaked and fixed by Google) during the Florida update last November where a search for "calgary web design" showed up the Calgary Flames hockey team website - which has a very high PR but only mentions "calgery" and "web" on it. And not even near each other. I actually spoke with the designer (I'm in Calgary) during this time and he had no idea this had happened, didn't do any SEO work at all, and if he had, it would not have been related to calgary web design.
Although this has been fixed, in this case, the underlying strategy of trusting links more than content remains the same at Google. Just because somone strings some words together in a particular order doesn't mean that the page has suddenly become important or useful because of it, and Google knows that.
Stringing keywords to match a search phrase increases RELEVANCE but not AUTHORITY.
It's possible and common for a page with so-so relevance and high authority to out-perform a page with perfect relevance but low authority. An example of this would be if you were looking to fix a problem with a piece of hardware, so you type in "fix Panasonic KXP-1124 printer".
Now someone else has looked for this same issue and posted in a forum a lengthy diatribe on his issues with his printer and uses the keyphrase exactly several times throughout. But he go no help and the post is mostly just whining. This is excellent "relevance" but low authority.
The official Panasonic printer support website in this case would have high authority but since they may not mention that phrace at all, or not in that order, it would have lower relevance but very high authority.
Which of these would be the best result? The official site. Authority overrides relevance once it's deemed both sites are relevant.
Now lets say there is a third site, someone reads the first post I talked about above, and outlines a detailed reponse on how to fix the problem. The post has the keyword phrase in it exactly, and it turns out to be so useful that from then on whenever anyone had a problem with their kxp-1124 printer the moderators of the forum (and elsewhere) posted a link to it.
This result has high authority AND high relevance - it's completely on topic and is linked to as a useful resource. Naturally, you want to duplicate this result with your own website.
So if you can't use the keyword phrase exactly, get as close as you can and then build authority (links). If you are having a hard time getting links (or are just starting out) you can attempt to compensate with matching search criteria. Neither is a good idea by itself- the best sites have both.
In practice, if you get the keyword phrase exactly in the title (and maybe a heading) and then talk about the subject using lots of keywords but not necessarily in the perfect order, and then have a strong linking campaign you will beat almost any competition, unless they are doing exactly the same thing - in which case you have to do it more and better than them.
Two things to remember in all of this - it takes no effort to type in exact phrases in a web page, and it's pretty popular with spammers. The result is that a page that is "over-optimized" or, not to put too fine a point on it, spammed, can trip a filter that dumps or penalizes it. The details on this are vague, but it's pretty certain that simply typing a keyphrase repeatedly on a page isn't a good thing.
It also doesn't convert well for the buying public - which is the goal of the whole thing in the first place.
You will need to compromise - just increase the relevance as best as you can without spamming, thenm work on your authority (links) and everything will usually work out.
If there is a professional SEO on the competitions side, it's more difficult, of course, and some minor tactics change, but the overall strategy remains.
Ian
), I would think someone searching in Google would enter: massage therapist chicago (possibly with quotes around the m.t. part).
