How to Maximize Keyword Phrases

How do search engines view keyword combinations?

[blastboy88]

I have identified a three-word keyword phrase that would also touch a couple of two-word keywords related to my website. I am new to keyword techniques so I need some help in understanding how search engines would react to these keyword phrases.

For example, if my three-word keyword phrase was "big brown cows". Would my site be optimized for "brown cows" and "big cows" searches besides "big brown cows"?

In another example, if I had two good keyword phrases, "black cows" and "blue cows", could I optimize my site for both by using "black / blue cows"?

I would be curious to know how others have handled these kinds of keyword dilemmas.

[buckworks]

If you mentioned "big brown cows" your page would indeed get noticed for both "brown cows" and "big cows" and also "big brown", but how well you'd rank in such searches would depend on exactly how you used the words on your page, and how that compared to what other sites were doing.

It's quite common to take aim at one phrase and also pick up traffic for some variations, although again it would depend on what the competition was doing.

"Black/blue cows" would likely support you better for "blue cows" because of proximity factors, but there's nothing to lose by mentioning black cows that way. If ranking well on "black cows" was important to you, it might be easier if you had a page dedicated to black cows.