How do you target multiple variations of the same keyword

[SunPoker.com]

I don't think things like site structure and actual application of SEO strategies are talked about much on this site. I am curious how you go about targeting multiple variations of the same keyword in your SEO campaigns?

Let me give a non-poker example. A used car dealership is targeting: "used cars".

They do their research and know that people also search for:

- used autos
- used automobiles
- used vans
- previously owned cars
- preowned autos
- etc. etc.. (the list goes on)

Conventional theory is to not target a number of keywords on the same page and spread this out to other pages. (many say between 2-5 phrases per page). The problem is, if you create a new page targeting the other terms, you basically have the same content as your original term "used cars" but using words like "preowned cars, preowned trucks".

How do you go about targeting all these similar terms in your SEO campaign logistically and structurally?

Mark

[Marcelo]

Mark,

Not that I am an expert in the area, and I would love to hear more opinions on this, but I think that you should target 2-3 terms per page, and create other pages with different content for the others.

The other pages should be able to direct the readers to the main page you want.

[Trikkur]

When you say target 2-3 terms per page, what does that mean exactly. In the same example it makes no sense to be using the word used cars and the word preowned cars in the same page, that just looks funky. So should you be calling a used car a different name on different pages or what?

[SunPoker.com]

Originally Posted by Trikkur

When you say target 2-3 terms per page, what does that mean exactly. In the same example it makes no sense to be using the word used cars and the word preowned cars in the same page, that just looks funky. So should you be calling a used car a different name on different pages or what?

I agree, so if you want to target all the "used cars" terms and "preowned cars" terms but don't want to include them on the same page, do you just create new pages for "preowned cars"?

If you do create a new page for "preowned cars", just for the sake of creating a new page for SEO, it does not seem like that would be best for visitors. I mean, how different can each page really be if they are basically the same thing.

How do you tackle this dilemma?

Mark

[Ridge]

I think you need to target both those in that example.

If you have a page or site targeting/selling "Used Cars" in general. You will also want to capture people searching for "Pre-owned Cars" as well.

In this example it makes sense to optimize that page for both those terms since they are essentially the same thing, so you don't want to limit your traffic to used cars only.

Now other examples and this changes a bunch. As long as these terms are targeting the same search items, you will be losing hits if you don't..

This is a good spot for the SEO elite to chime in, Randy, Hollis, Graham?

[kaus]

What I would do based on the terms you just gave is start with your main article about "Previously owned automobiles/autos.

The main article will relate to your other terms. So yes I would create a new page based on those terms.

I would write an article about Used Automobiles and Previously Owned Autos. Within that article I would mention things like how to purchase one, what to look for when inspecting it, and start working in used cars, previously owned trucks and vans.

Then I would write an article specifically about Previously Owned Cars - Used Cars. as well as Previously Owned Vans - Used Vans. I would link my main article to those articles. I would also make sure I am able to link back to the main one. To go one more you could then take those car and van pages and start breaking it down even further such as makes of vehicles, manufacturer defects etc.

This would allow you to target each page individually while hitting the same keyphrases and then some and at the same time not going overboard with the amount of keywords on one page.

With your preowned and various terms you can work them into the content without being blantantly obvious or spammy. It would sound better to the reader to have a few different variations of the word spread out instead of the same thing over and over.

Cant say if this is right or wrong just what I would do. You can always break things down into more specific topics.

[Randy]

You can target as many keyword phrases as you want to on a page. Just use the words on the page. Emphasis and repetition are the on-page factors affecting your ranking.

There is a limit to the number of keyword phrases you can reasonably include in your title tag or your URL, but not in your page's content.

Just keep it friendly for the user. A page with 100,000 words on it probably isn't very user-friendly.

[2pair]

Hate to revive old threads but this was a good read

[kingcobra]

Man you sure went back in time with this one

Randy's answer is absolutely correct by the way. You target terms by putting them in the tags/text. Now in this case you're going to have some common terms, like for instance poker lessons, poker tips, poker strategy, poker bonus, etc and of course you're going to have a higher count for poker but that's fine. If you want a term though you're going to have to work it in.

You do need to remember that the text needs to be natural English and you can't just do what some spammers have attempted by writing a bunch of jibberish chock full of their KW's and the thing looks hilarious Also depending on how competitive the KW is it's often not enough to have it in the text, you need to get it in the tags as well - title and meta.

[leporello]

Also, you can quite easily rank for "used cars" without mentioning it on your page by getting backlinks with that anchor text though obviously on page SEO stuff helps.