Depends on what's more important to you. Satisfy the algo's 'requirements' for high SERPs or establish a brand? Depends on what your offering is I suppose.
the ski site has 15 1+2 Kwps 30 in the first 10 35 in the first 20 and a few others after that at the moment. I think that works
This is a very valid and important comment. IMHO you must separate the two in the mind [this is where you can easily get sidetracked] as the vanity of the Branding interferes with the reality of the SERPS If more people search on Brand Name than generic then use the brand name on the index page - if it is the other way round then do it the other way - but do not mix the two - the brandname can always go on a dedicated page about the company Take for example Apple Search on computers - no1 is Apple Search on Apple - no1 is Apple How many searches for Apple? apple 4,064.0 /day apple vacations 3,379.0 /day apples 1,946.0 /day fiona apple 1,829.0 /day apple computers 1,130.0 /day prune apple tree 988.0 /day apple computer 790.0 /day apple cider vinegar 752.0 /day pruning apple trees 726.0 /day apple pie 715.0 /day apple ipod 670.0 /day apple trees 657.0 /day How many searches for computers? computers 14,840.0 /day computer 8,218.0 /day dell computers 5,842.0 /day computer parts 3,961.0 /day computer wallpaper 3,077.0 /day computer cases 2,492.0 /day computers cry 2,390.0 /day computer virus 2,248.0 /day computer desks 2,225.0 /day laptop computers 2,188.0 /day computer games 2,117.0 /day computer viruses 1,974.0 /day computer desk 1,796.0 /day So normally you would go for Computers - wouldn't you?
Sometime I also experience too. One of my site is getting top ranking in Yahoo but not even closer in Google. May be there is a big difference in the algorithm.
You can not count on the first 3 month traffic from search engines. They tend to change, but after having the site up for 6 month, you can see what the trend is and if you are going to make it. In some niche, it can take up to 1 year to get your actual ranking. These are the more competitive terms.
Google is little bit different than yahoo. But you will must get results forum Google. You can get more details from samuraisSEO.com. Try to check it.