keyword and keyword pairs

I can't figure this out

[duhboy]

Hi all
I have a problem to solve. I work with a small business site that has shown significantly improved visibility over the last while. The bulk of our visitors use one specific keyword or a pair(phrase). This kw or phrase is commonly used because the topic is very regional. More specific keywords ( two or three at a time) are placing us well.

Here is the problem. The use of the single kw (eg. Apple) puts us on first page at Google with 188K serps. The phrase (eg. MacIntosh Apples) returns about 78k serps with us so far back that I can't even find us. And we are back of some pretty lousy stuff as far as Google guidelines for content,links etc.

Yet our server logs show the phrase as being at the top of our kw list. I have to wonder what our traffic would be like if Google would show us for the phrase. The phrase is common throughout our site.
Any comments or suggestions would be gratefully received.
Thanks, Duhboy

[pmac]

I would guess that a majority of the incoming links to the site have the anchor text as the "apple" example rather than the phrase. If that is the case, try pointing some links with the phrase in the link text.