Recent studies into interaction with search engines have brought up some interesting results. In a review of global search engine keyphrases, the results showed a marked increase in the length of search terms used. Results gathered to measure trends over the last four years, showed that significant drops in one and two word keyphrases were contrasted with increases in three, four and five word keyphrases.
Unsurprisingly this trend was predominantly set by Google (being the market leader). Google.com.au recently recorded drops in one and two word search terms by 5.3% and 3.1% respectively. However this was contrasted by Bing who maintained a far greater level of single and double word keyphrases making up over 56% of their total searches. So what does this mean for users and marketers optimising for searches?
For Users, it demonstrates how very specific requests are being handled by search engines. The more specific keyphrases are proving successful in providing accurate results. Users as a result are becoming all round more specific in their searches as it is proving more and more successful in locating exactly what their looking for.
As for marketing for websites, it constitutes somewhat of a conundrum. Long tail keyphrases are useful although not always for different types of content. Certain businesses can do very well off of them if for example they are providing for a niche market or provide a more in depth range of their product than most. The long tail keyphrase can get a site front page ranking more easily for a search as there is less competition for more specific phrases. However, if a term is too obscure it won’t attract many searches at all, meaning the site won’t get much traffic even if it is first page.
Another factor that must be taken into account is the use of stop words such as; ‘and’, ‘or’ and ‘the’. A search engine will generally disregard these words making some four and five word searches somewhat misleading.
Despite this, with the increasing trend for longer keyword phrases, marketing may make a turn toward promoting more specific keyphrases. What must always be taken into account of course are the different trends of the different search engines, and SEO must by tailored to fit with this.
As for trends, perhaps next year will see the rise of the six and seven word key phrases.
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