In order to avoid words that are competed upon, many sites opt to go the easy route and rank for less competitive terms, many times unknowingly.

We had a client that offered Virtual Assistant work and would try to rank with terms such as “focus on core competency.” However, little did they know that none of their clients would search for that term to find a virtual assistant. The client figured that’s what a virtual assistant does, so why wouldn’t anybody search for that term? Well, it’s no surprise that they had very little targeted traffic, low ranking, and even lower conversion.

And you’re right, when your product offering is focused, you’re in luck since potential clients will not search for any odd terms you need to figure out.

You do have to admit though some times there are hidden gems in those less used key words. It is just harder to find them.

@Ayat - Yeah, I have had clients who do that too, they optimize for how they describe their service, not how their customers do!

@Jane - Agreed, often though those terms can be ranked for by mistake and yanked out of the analytics

Chris the idea of optimizing for psychology is a brilliant one. I’ve noticed too many people seeing traffic as the end goal when in reality it’s only one goal (albeit an important one) along the way.

One thing I will say about the advice on forums is sometimes you have to take in the context who asked the question. You can’t teach people to run before they can walk.

I’ve often given advice that I know is only part of the equation, because based on the original question it seemed like the next logical step in the posters thought process.

Are you talking about your search traffic/keywords according to what Google will bring? Or another reference?

@Steven - Yes, sometimes people don’t actually want the full advice and are looking for quick fixes too

@Okinawa - I am talking about visitors from keywords in general

My site is only about 9 months old. I’m just now really getting interested in SEO. Thanks for the great article. Gave me some great ideas about what terms I want to try to rank for.

I’ve recently become aware of the long tail theory, and it really seems like the only way forward for low PR sites. Unless you want to set up a PPC campaign, your traffic will depend upon referrals and search engines, so a highly-targeted long tail phrase can be very valuable…

I like this line:

“With the right optimization you can make more conversions with lower traffic, making your job much easier and your business way more profitable.”

This is an often talked about method but rarely implemented. Many people measure SEO success in terms of volume not quality. Getting a client to understand this is often the hardest thing to prove. It is much easier to show an increase of 75% web traffic which in turn brings in a slight increase in conversions. Most people just work towards quick results. It pays the bills quickly.

Of course people just go after a lot of traffic. Enough volume will bring in some revenue and like they say: It is easier to have 10 sites making $1/day each than it is to have one site making $10/day. In the end, it all depends on your business model.