What's my position for the keywords I don't know about?

Can I even find this out?

[warlordbb]

I have many tools available to me including Web Position Gold, WordTracker, and even good ole Google. I have NetTracker to help me look through my logs.

I can tell you if I am listed on the first 30 pages of Google for keyword X.

I can't tell you the reverse, which is, what keywords do I have a listing for in the first 30 pages.

Now, I can see that this would be irrelevant if I already have a list of the 200 or so of my top keywords. But what if that keyword that I just don't know about should really be the 10th most important to me. And further, because I don't know about it, I'm not referencing it and hence, it isn't showing up in my logs.

Am I making any sense?

[graywolf]

Get a log analyzer and look at incoming search keywords. The more incoming referals the word has generally the higher you place.

[warlordbb]

Thanks for your response. However, I'm not talking about the keywords I know about.

We already monitor our logs.

For example, lets say I know about blue widgets, red widgets, and green widgets and I rank for that and see it in my logs. Now let's say that a new fad or such comes along and everyone is searching for silk widgets but I DON'T rank for that (or at least not well enough to be seeing hits from it) and so I'm missing out.

How is looking at my logs going to help me address that?

[tedster]

I think the point is that even if you are #1 on a keyword, if it doesn't bring you ANY traffic at all, then holding that position on that particular search has no practical value -- it would just be an academic bit of information.

To keep up on new trends, you can subscribe to Google News daily alerts in your area, and monthly check the Overture keywords suggestions. Tweak your pages or create new ones as indicated by what you learn.

[bufferzone]

IMHO keyword analysis is an ongoing thing. You need to continuously analyse your area of business in order to pick up new trends and possibilities. You probably know about WordTracker and other tools for keyword analyses. These tools in combination with your log should give you an idea about which words you hit high on, which words you need to optimize some more and which new words you can exploit.

[anallawalla]

Some of the keyword analysis sites will give you a list of "phrases" (more likely adjacent words) that show on your page and you could try some of the less familiar ones to see where you rank.

For a low-volume site I use AXS, which gives me the phrase and position, e.g. "fresh green widgets 21-30". This occasionally shows that I rank for some absurd terms.

If you are in business, say, as a dentist, then ranking high for an unexpected term won't get you more business unless the searcher lives near you.

[nakulgoyal]

more content with more keywords and links pointing to your inner pages as well and not just the homepage and a nice balance of keyword density can keep high traffic flowing in!