Member Avatar for seffi

lets say i have a site about horse racing. i wouldnt want to use the word horse as a keyword as there are tons of horse related issues that have nothing to do with horse racing. same applies to the word racing.
how do i address this matter?

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Short answer: yes — use the phrase (the exact query people search for) rather than a generic single word. is right in principle: phrase-level optimization gives clearer relevance signals than trying to rank for “horse” or “racing” separately. Modern SEO pushes this further: pick long‑tail phrases that match search intent and build pages that actually satisfy those queries. (ahrefs.com)

Practical places to use the phrase: the page title (what Google may display as the result title), the visible main heading, the URL slug and naturally in the opening copy — but don’t stuff it. Titles and headings are signals Google uses to understand page topic (and Google may rewrite titles for clarity), so make them descriptive and user‑focused. The old meta‑keywords tag is ignored by Google and isn’t worth relying on. (developers.google.com)

Links still matter: anchor text that naturally includes your phrase helps signal relevance, but avoid repeating exact‑match anchors at scale or using paid/widget links that insert keyword‑rich anchors (those patterns can trigger Google’s link spam checks). Use a variety of natural anchors and earn editorial links where possible. (developers.google.com)

Quick checklist

  • Choose phrase(s) that match user intent (informational vs transactional).
  • Put the phrase in title, H1 and URL; write helpful content that answers the query.
  • Track what queries and pages are doing with Google Search Console and do phrase research with Keyword Planner or similar tools.
  • Vary anchor text and avoid link‑scheme tactics; don’t waste time on meta‑keywords. (developers.google.com)

Tiebacks: ’s recommendation to use research tools is still good — just use current tools (Search Console / Keyword Planner / modern keyword explorers) — and ’s warning about meta keywords remains correct today.

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Member Avatar for mnemtsas

Yes. Try to optimize the site for 'horse racing'. By the very nature of search engines this means you will have some relevancy for both 'horse' and 'racing' but less so than if you optimize for the phrase.

Here's a rough example, don't take these numbers as gospel. Lets say you have a link to your site that says Horse Racing

A search engine would look at this links and say:

This link is saying this site is 100% about 'horse racing'
This link is saying this site may be 50% about 'horse'
This link is saying this site may be 50% about 'racing'

So my tip would be to use the phrase 'horse racing' together as much as possible in your on page text, tags, and inbound links. Of course I would include variations of this like 'horse race', 'horses racing' or whatever else.

My site is a good example of this effect. I've tried to optimize the index page for Timesheet Software. I rank 7 or 8 for this in Google, rank 25 or so for 'timesheet', and obviously rank nowhere for 'software'.


Hope this helps.

Member Avatar for strangerrr

Choosing keyword phrase is very important .... Choose keyword phrase what people are actually searching for ...... use a research tool such as Wordtracker or ....
yes you should never optimize you site for general keyword "horse" or "racing" bcoz they are rarely indicative of what your site is really about...

Member Avatar for seffi

OK

and technically i shouldnt have problems defining phrases as keywords in my meta keywords line, right?

for example:

<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="horse racing, horse races, horse racing tracks">

and an off topic question: i put a link to my site in my signature.. i noticed that in in both your signatures there are links to your websites, but the urls dont appear in them. has what i done ok, or am i violating froum rules??

Member Avatar for strangerrr

IMO, you have done nothing that is against the forum rule ... but still i dont know much about the forum rules.... If its again the forum rule then i m sure there are moderators and administrator to tell u ....

Member Avatar for seobook

the sig link does not appear until you make ten posts.

the meta keywords tag is best used for alternate versions not in the copy or common misspellings. many SEOs no longer use them.

Member Avatar for Mr.'BackUp'

Advertising.com have released a product called Dart Search which will help to advise on keywords and phrases etc which afre actually being searched for and I think thats what should be focussed on.

<< Moderator Removed: Please setup a signature via your user profile >>

Member Avatar for jewboy

Yes!

Avi Wilensky

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