Can a longtail keyword make you rank for keyword phrases within?

[FlashDriveDT]

Example: "really funny blue widget"

If I use that as an anchor text for a backlink, will it also make the link rank for "funny blue widget" and "blue widget"? I guess so and some of my own campaigns have indicated this. So I'm at the point where I'm thinking I can cut out a lot of time and work by just focusing on creating backlinks for the longtail keywords instead of the separated keywords. Sort of like beating 2-4 flies with one stone, especially if the longtail keyword is the one with the highest search volume. (I have a lot of those)

How much same link juice do you think google gives the included phrases? Though it may not be as powerful as each separate keyword anchor text, it may still make you rank sufficiently (= get on the first google page if the longtail is high up on the first page too). ?

I appreciate your input.

[Preben Frenning]

I didn't quite get what you are trying to say here?

If you suggest that you "might" rank higher for a keyword if you use it in an anchor backlink to your site, as long as it's not nofollow, then yes. In your example "funny blue widget", I'm pretty certain you will rank for "blue widget" too, but not as much as the entire sentence. But say you have many keywords "boring blue widget" "weird blue widget" "strange blue widget" hilarious blue widget" etc., then I'd think you would rank for "blue widget" itself too. It kind of makes sense, as google always goes after relevancy. E.g. If you have many links to your site that has "blue widget" in them, google will think your site is all about different blue widgets, and hence rank you for it.

I hope that helps,
- Preben

[p2y]

Yes it can, I have one plasma tv website right now that was optimized for a "really funny blue widget" type keyword and it ranks for phrases within that keyword and outside of that keyword.

[LegitBlogger]

Originally Posted by FlashDriveDT

Example: "really funny blue widget"

If I use that as an anchor text for a backlink, will it also make the link rank for "funny blue widget" and "blue widget"? I guess so and some of my own campaigns have indicated this. So I'm at the point where I'm thinking I can cut out a lot of time and work by just focusing on creating backlinks for the longtail keywords instead of the separated keywords. Sort of like beating 2-4 flies with one stone, especially if the longtail keyword is the one with the highest search volume. (I have a lot of those)

Yep, that's EXACTLY why it's becoming the norm to
target long tail keywords such as these. They end up
giving you FAR MORE RESULTS than if you target
just the main keyword(s).