I've been helping individuals figure out why their pages aren't ranking. One of the things I keep coming up on is modifiers attached to your keywords -- its a big enough problem for ranking and enough people are doing this improperly, I thought I'd revisit this concept so people can write their content better.
Your page must have a goal. This page will rank for _____. ______ = exact keyword you want to rank for.
Lets deal with a real keyword here so you can visualize what we're dealing with. Lets pick ... Ugg Boots.
You want to rank for Ugg Boots, that is your keyword. Therefore, you need this keyword in your title, and probably an H-tag, and as an alt tag on an image, and in the body of your content. However, its not enough just to have this keyword in your content, you must have it segregated from modifiers.
A modifier is usually an adjective. For instance, lets pick "warm". Warm Ugg Boots. That is your main keyword with a modifier attached to it.
Now, imagine your title. "We sell Warm Ugg Boots". That is fine, if you want to rank for "warm ugg boots". However, it is not a good idea if you want to rank for "Ugg Boots". This is because, when you add a modifier to your main keyword, you will tend to rank for that term, with the modifier. You will not rank as easily for the term without the modifier.
I call this "weighting" of keywords, its a term I made up and if anyone else has talked about this as "weighting" then its just coincidence. Weighting a keyword is how much emphasis Google gives to your use of the keyword. If you use a modifier with the keyword (such as warm ugg boots), you have a 100% weighting for "warm ugg boots" and a partial weighting for "ugg boots". In the Google SERPs, you will tend to rank for "warm ugg boots" if you use that modifier, and you will be less likely to rank for "ugg boots".
How do you implement this? Because certainly, you want to rank for "warm ugg boots", and "ugg boots". The key is to use stop words and arrange your sentences properly, so that a modifier is not directly attached to your desired keyword.
Bad (if you want to rank for Ugg Boots) ...
We Have Warm Ugg Boots for Sale
Good ...
Ugg Boots are Warm, Best for Sale
In this case, "are" is a verb and does not modify Ugg Boots. Therefore, this 2nd "good" title, is 100% weighted towards Ugg Boots, and partially weighted towards "warm". Compare that to this ...
We have Warm Ugg Boots for Sale
With the above phrasing ... your title is 100% weighted for "warm ugg boots", and partially weighted towards "ugg boots". This is good if you want to rank for "Warm Ugg Boots", bad if you want to rank for "Ugg Boots".
Rule of thumb ...
You should never use a modifier directly attached to your keyword unless you want to rank that modified keyword. If you want to rank for your desired shorter keyword AND for your keyword plus modifier as a long tail, then you need to use your main keyword segregated by stop words at least 50% of the time, and use the term with the modifier attached less than 50% of the time. If your main keyword use is too high of a percent, then you use your modifier (warm) but do not attach it to your main keyword.
To sum things up, if you want to rank for Ugg Boots, your article needs to be about "Ugg Boots", not about "warm Ugg boots". Don't modify your main keyword unless you want to rank for that modified keyword. If you want to rank for both "Ugg Boots" and "warm ugg boots", then use "Ugg Boots" segregated by itself, and use "warm" by itself, such as "Women love ugg boots because they are warm", and not "Women love warm ugg boots".
If you guys think I'm splitting hairs here, I'm not. This can easily be the difference of 20 slots in the SERPs.
