In doing my research I've found that people search using both "cheat sheets" and "cheatsheets". Comparatively speaking, in terms of monthly search volume compiled by Google, the 2 word spelling wins by about 7-1 ratio. If you enter the 1-word spelling in Google, it will suggest the 2 word spelling. I've also found a couple of other strange trends that are making me wonder on how to approach the situation:
1. Although the 2 word spelling is searched for more, the number of competing pages is much less than the 1 word spelling:
2 Word Spelling ("fantasy football cheat sheets") - 2400 searches, 9,700 competing pages
1 Word Spelling ("fantasy football cheatsheets") - 480 searches, 131,000 competing pages
*Consider that the search volume is very low but explodes in July-September. I also understand that I'm in an ultra-competetive market, but this site is a personal learning project for me, I don't depend on it for income, and I'm in it for the long haul.
2. Currently I try to use both the 2 word spellings and 1 word spellings on my main page, but I am ranked much higher for the 1 word spelling than the two.
2 Word Spelling ("fantasy football cheat sheets") - I'm #93 in Google
1 Word Spelling ("fantasy football cheatsheets") - I'm #34 in Google
What I can gather from this is that, although there are less pages competing for the 2 word spelling, the level of competition at the top is much greater (assumedly because of the higher search volume). It makes sense that I'm ranked higher for the 1 word spelling because there are less searches for that term and the level of competition is probably much less. I do find it strange that although the 1 word spelling is searched for much less (1/7) than the 2 word spelling, but there are almost 13x as many competing pages for the 1 word spelling.
I have not yet tried to do a competetive analysis of the top-ranked sites, so maybe I'm jumping the gun, but I'm trying to figure out if I should target both phrases (1 and 2 word) the same page, or just choose one over the other, or maybe target each one on different pages. They mean essentially the same thing so doing 2 different pages probably isn't logical, but I'm wondering if putting both on the same page is hurting my rankings for both individual terms, whereas of targeting for 1 phrase could make me do very well for that 1 phrase while disappearing for the other...
I am planning on expanding my site to include multiple sports over the next year, so this is a decision that will affect the keyword phrase map for those main categories as well.
Edited by pinch, 06 April 2010 - 07:46 AM.