Long-tail keyword searches increase in 2009

November 27, 2009 by John Dilbeck · 9 Comments
Filed under: Advertising and Marketing 

I’ve been seeing a trend of longer keyword searches in my sites’ statistics this year.

While most of the keyword searches that find something I write still are mostly 3 to 4 words long, I’m seeing lots more this year that are five or more words long.

I have been noticing this trend for a few months and wondered if it was due to the increasing sophistication of the people who normally read what I write or if it was a sign of average Internet users learning how to use the search engines more effectively.

Today, I found confirmation of this trend in an article on MarketingCharts.com:

Longer Searches Increase 3% in October 2009

At the end of the brief article, they bring up the possibility that longer search phrases may now be required to find what the searcher is looking for amid all the web clutter.

I hadn’t thought of that possibility.

I don’t have any facts to back it up, but I think that more people are learning that they can find what they want by using longer search phrases and that’s something we should think about when we’re doing our keyword research and writing our blogs, websites, articles, and anything else.

What do you think?

Have you noticed this trend in your site’s statistics?

Act on your dream!

JD

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