Keyword Phrase 

Keyword Phrase - A keyword phrase is typically a word or group of words that summarize, in as few words as possible, the 'key' aspects of a topic, idea, subject, object, person, place, or thing. The use of 'keyword' phrases as a means of finding relevant information utilizing a search engine on the Internet has become so commonplace that in most cases the average user today does it instinctively without a second thought.

The search engines use the keyword phrase as a way to organize and categorize information and also define the importance of data and how that data relates to the definition and meaning of the words that make up the keyword phrase. Google in particular uses extremely sophisticated logical and contextual algorithms to draw inferences as to what content is most closely related to the subject of the keyword phrase being searched upon. The resultant set of results is displayed to the user in order from most to least related in what is called the SERP or Search Engine Results Page. Over time the algorithm used by Google and to a lesser extent some of the other search engines evolves and becomes more and more intuitive based in part on the actions and behaviors of the actual users, in essence learning and becoming more accurate as time goes by.

Keyword phrases are commonly used in SEO to let the search engines 'know' when relevant content is or will be appearing at the destination of a hyperlink. The search engines consider a link that contains a keyword phrase as it's anchor text an authoritative vote for the destination site and if the destination site contains information that is related to the anchor text then that link helps to improve the SERP ranking for that keyword phrase of the destination site as well.