Simple question about keyword phrases

keyword phrase, keyword layout

[Illah]

My old boss used to tell me that if you created a phase such as this one,

'free download software'

...that it would register under the keyphrases 'free download', 'download software', and 'free download software'. Seems logical, but I never bothered to question the validity of his statement. Is he right?

--Illah

[Robino]

What exactly do you mean by, "register"?

[keywordguru]

register meaning show up in the rankings for that particular search term?
I agree with that comment only because I have tried it multiple times by choosing an anchor text that was 3 words long. I then tracked my url for every combination of those 3 words in 2 word pairs.
the result was the highest for the 3 words together, then less for the 2.
So if you want to be in the ranks for all 3 words, then go for it, but if you are trying to get the 2 word phrases then I would concentrate on getting more 2 word anchor text links.
Then in your title tag, include all 3 possibly.
Good Luck
KG

[Illah]

Yeah, I'm going for bigger phrases but I try to pick keywords with multiple mini-phrases built in if I can.

'free software download' is a good example of my approach, you get 'free software' and 'software download' in there too.

--Illah