Picking keyword combinations

Sometimes it’s a good idea to target terms lower down on your list, rather than the ones up top, because the lower terms include the higher terms. Suppose that you’re selling an e-commerce system and you find the following list (the numbers are the predict numbers, the number of times that Wordtracker believes the term is used each day)

Notice the term e-commerce. This is probably not a great term to target because it’s very general and has a lot of competition. But lower down on the list is the term e-commerce solutions. This term is a combination of two keyword phrases: e-commerce and e-commerce solutions. Thus, you can combine the predict numbers: 1,828 searches a day plus 130 a day. If you target e-commerce solutions and optimize your Web pages for that term, you’re also optimizing for e-commerce.

Notice also the term ecommerce (which search engines regard as different from e-commerce) and the term a little lower on the list, ecommerce software. A term even lower down encompasses both of these terms: ecommerce software solution. Optimize your pages for ecommerce software solution, and you’ve just optimized for three terms at once.
Use the keyword-analysis procedure I’ve described in this chapter, and you’ll have a much better picture of your keyword landscape. Unlike the majority of Web site owners, you’ll have a good view of how people are searching for your products and services.