OneStat.com this week reported that fewer and fewer people are conducting single keyword queries as the Internet population as a whole is getting more sophisticated. In fact, in the United States, searchers are predominantly using 3- and 4-word search phrases. According to the OneStat study, search behavior broke out like this:
1. 3 word phrases 28.83%
2. 4 word phrase 22.28%
3. 2 word phrases 20.43%
4. 5 word phrases 11.97%
5. 1 word phrases 6.19%
6. 6 word phrases 5.76%
7. 7 word phrases 2.59%
Any good SEO will have been optimizing for search phrases all along, but given that only about 6.19% of U.S. Internet users are conducting searches on single words, and more than half are using more than two words, that gives us more ammunition when faced with the inevitable "Why aren't we ranked #1 for [insert ridiculously competitive keyword here]?" Not only is optimizing for single keywords not very effective, nor do single-keyword searches result in quality traffic and conversions, but there also are now so few people are doing them that optimizing for 2- and 3-word phrases can no longer be considered chasing "the tail." (Think of it like this: The tail is the new black.)
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Posted by Melanie Phung
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7 out of 10 Searchers Using More Than 2 Words Per Search
OneStat.com this week reported that fewer and fewer people are conducting single keyword queries as the Internet population as a whole is getting more sophisticated. In fact, in the United States, searchers are predominantly using 3- and 4-word search phrases. According to the OneStat study, search behavior broke out like this:
1. 3 word phrases 28.83%
2. 4 word phrase 22.28%
3. 2 word phrases 20.43%
4. 5 word phrases 11.97%
5. 1 word phrases 6.19%
6. 6 word phrases 5.76%
7. 7 word phrases 2.59%
Any good SEO will have been optimizing for search phrases all along, but given that only about 6.19% of U.S. Internet users are conducting searches on single words, and more than half are using more than two words, that gives us more ammunition when faced with the inevitable "Why aren't we ranked #1 for [insert ridiculously competitive keyword here]?" Not only is optimizing for single keywords not very effective, nor do single-keyword searches result in quality traffic and conversions, but there also are now so few people are doing them that optimizing for 2- and 3-word phrases can no longer be considered chasing "the tail." (Think of it like this: The tail is the new black.)
Labels: data
Posted by Melanie Phung