I've been doing some research, and have seen cases where sites with lower Pagerank have outranked other sites with higher pageranks for a particular keyword. In 1 case I studied, the #1 site with just 6 backlinks outranked the #2 and #3 site, each of which had 600+ backlinks each. The first site simply focused on that keyword, while the 2nd and 3rd site had content pertaining to that keyword, but it definitely was a small focus of the sites. So, I think if you want to target a site to a specific keyword, it's best to write content that focuses on that keyword. For instance, if you're making a site about asthma, and want to rank high for it, every article should be about asthma. You shouldn't try and write articles that stray away from your main subject. So, in general, if you want to rank high for term 'X', make sure all your content centers around 'X'. I guess this makes making niche sites a better idea than a big general site. Of course this is just what I noticed, I'm no SEO expert.
Well said... I agree with this strategy and actively use it in my own SEO. Relevance is what counts and you will be rewarded for staying on topic on your site, ensuring that links to your site are on topic and ensuring that links from your site are on topic.
True it is just theory but a good practice as it will lead to more "trust" as a relevant source. Revevance is, without question, what G is after.
site internal linking sheme can turn some keyword heavyweight with minimal backlinks, as opposed to sites with many BL's, saturated in both areas
I agree... internal linking is very important. You should use the same anchor text keyeword strategies when linking internally as you do externally. Good point.