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The cheapest, fastest and most efficient way to make money at home online and achieve SEO optimization is through “Keyword Targeting”. This technique – sometimes also called “Keyword Sniping” – is misunderstood.

Keyword targeting involves using keyword phrases of three or more words – called “long tail keywords” – to target the subject matter of the product being sold.

Yet many people also misunderstand how the term “long tail keywords” got its name. The name didn’t come from the fact that the phrases are long. It comes from a graph of search volume against phrase popularity.

Imagine a simple graph of search volume (low to high) on the vertical scale, and phrase popularity (high to low) on the horizontal. On that scale, broad, popular keywords that are one or two word phrases would have both high popularity and high search volume (and also TREMENDOUS competition). On the other hand, very narrow, specific multi-word phrases would have lower popularity and search volume – and of course, lower competition.

For example, the phrase “weight loss” is extremely broad and popular. But with 347 million competitors, it would be impossible to rank on the first page of Google. If you lengthen the phrase, though, the competition goes down dramatically. For example, the phrase “weight loss after pregnancy” has 43,600 competitors as of this date, while the phrase “weight loss programs after pregnancy” has only 8 competitors.

If you were to place this trend on our imaginary graph, you would find that the broad, popular one or two word phrases would be at the very top. You would then see a very steep “suicide ski jump” type curved slope come down as the keyword phrases become narrower and more focused.

It’s the position of these narrow, specific phrases on the “long tail” of our imaginary graph that gives them their name. They are essential to making money quick on the Internet, because they are very numerous, and they each have very small competition.

In fact, it’s because of this low competition that you stand a pretty good chance of ranking on the first page of Google with some of these phrases. Of Course, it’s also true that you have small search volume for each phrase. But if you include enough of them in your article marketing campaign, you can achieve pretty high monthly traffic overall.

So far, this has all been theoretical. The question is – does any of it really work? You will find that intuition and instinct, as well as experience will all be factors. But this is where most people misunderstand how to target.

You must understand that unless your phrase appears on the first page of Google – preferably above the fold – you will get ZERO traffic. In this regard, just calculating search volume versus competition isn’t enough. You also have to study the top ten competitors for each of your long tail phrases. For example, if each of the top ten has a Google PR of 4 or better and many high quality backlinks, you will find it very hard to get on that first page.

Those who are experienced in “keyword targeting” are able to do this. They can pick out the phrases that have a good balance of competition versus search volume, yet can compete for a slot in the top ten.

How do you do that? In a future article I will address some of the tools and parameters that successful keyword snipers use.

Want to find out more about KEYWORD TARGETING? then visit David Hirsch’s site on THE GOOGLE SNIPER PHENOMENON at www.MakeMoneyWithComputer.org.