Ray Keefe of Successful Endeavours came across new data that shows Google searches are getting longer and more specific. Attached are a few pointers on how you can adapt.
The data reveals that the percentage of clicks based on search term length is changing. Clicks made through searches over eight words grew by 8.3%, with searches over seven words growing by 5.3%.
In contrast, clicks made through searches using one word fell by 1.1%, with clicks made by searches over two words falling by 1.5%. Searches using three words remained flat.
The data isn’t surprising as the growth of the Internet as a business tool results in more users searching for more specific data, such as brands and product names.
Google reports that 20% of searches are absolutely brand new, meaning they have never been typed into the search engine before. Users are having to think about being more specific to get through jargon and get to what they really want.
This is important for you, as you must think about what keywords you can use in order to show up in as many searches as possible when your target market is looking to acquire your product or service.
One of the biggest trends ignored by small businesses is search-by-location. You must start to use keywords relating to your location, as users are more and more searching for specific brands and products by suburb.
Not enough small businesses think about ranking for their suburb name, which is an extremely easy thing to rank for and people will use it in very specific searches. This is necessary even though Google is getting better with that sort of thing, with both maps as well as business listings.
At eight words, which is pretty high, think about the things people would be searching for and the combinations they would prefer…
That means you must consider what you think users will be searching for and that means not just what you think should be an appropriate keyword.
For example, Qantas probably use the keywords cheap flights, but they aren’t targeting cheap air fares. Similarly, you might want to use the words “cheap accommodation” but also consider most people won’t type that into Google, chances are they’ll type in “cheap hotels” or “cheap motel”.
As I’ve explained in previous blog posts, you must not get obsessed with adding as many keywords as possible, but instead should add the right types of keywords.
Google Adword strategies are beyond the scope of this blog post, I just wanted to highlight that BECAUSE searches are getting longer, you need to keep that in mind…
You can thank Ray Keefe of Successful Endeavours for the initial source of information – by going to his site and having a look around – that’ll help his SEO!
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