This is what I'm doing on two of my sites.

For each category I outline the type of content I plan to post. I create a description and list of keywords. Then I use multiple keyword tools and search engine research to brainstorm all possible variations. I create a one sentence description that will attract the greatest amount of searchers. I cultivate booster seo links directly to the category pages with optimized yet variable anchor text.

I wrote more about optimizing category pages at http://www.launchscout.com/
If you want to read it.

I’m interested in seeing what seo experts think.

Is this a good practice? It seems like my method will be a lot less effort because I’m only optimizing a limited number of pages.

I limit my persuit to one keyword phrase per page (maximum three).

If your phrases aren't that compeditive you should be able to rank fairly well with them using my aproach, simply due to anchor text within the site to each page.

If you are seriously chasing a phrase though, you should limit it to one, two, or maximum three per page. As each phrase will require it's own set of inbound links, and on page optimization.

Yea, each category has a page. I’m targeting one competitive phrase per page. I’m asking this because category pages change with each post. It’s a weblog so it is different than a regular static site. Google might like the pages changing because they are fresh.

Thanks

Anyone else? Does anyone know if/why this is a bad idea?