When a Web site needs to be optimized for high rankings, usually the first step is to find the keyphrases most relevant to the site. But what happens when the keyphrases that are most relevant are not the ones that people are actually searching out? Sure, you can probably get a high ranking for "Boston business directories," but if no one is looking for that type of site, your high rankings will not bring your site any traffic.

The site was a portal for regional businesses. For the purposes of this article, let's say it was based in the Boston area. The site had been optimized to rank highly for phrases such as "Boston business directory." However, a quick Word Tracker report revealed that people weren't using that phrase when searching the engines.