Should You Stop Optimizing for Certain Keywords?

Jun 19, 2008 - 10:16 am 3 by

A Cre8asite Forums member contends that optimizing for certain keywords isn't desirable any longer. The reason given is that people aren't ever searching for those keywords (even though it looks like a logical search term). He adds that there's no consistency in users' search patterns. The behavior differs from one searcher to another, which is entirely understandable.

If I had 'optimised' the page for MY keywords I may have lost all those visitors and THEIR keywords.

But another forum members suggests that you start optimizing based on the search phrases people use; you might even get better traffic. You need to think of what people are searching for and lengthen your articles so that you capture that desired traffic.

So should you not optimize for the original keyword list? You might want to still consider users who search for "the head and the long tail," as Ammon Johns puts it.

There's really good information here, so have a read at the forum discussion at Cre8asite forums

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Google Search Volatility

More Details

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: July 10, 2026

Jul 10, 2026 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Search Breaks Usage Records, Social & Video Platforms Show In Search Console & More Google Ads, ChatGPT Ads & More

Jul 10, 2026 - 8:01 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Now Show AI Creation/Edited Labels

Jul 10, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google Ads

Google Automatically Assigns Product Categories With Evolving Taxonomy

Jul 10, 2026 - 7:41 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Hack: Google AI Performance Reports For Platform Properties

Jul 10, 2026 - 7:31 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google: Canonicalization Issues May Take Up To Two Weeks To Resolve

Jul 10, 2026 - 7:21 am
 
Previous Story: Google Shows The Gay Pride Flag in Search Results