According to OneStat, a web analytics company, most people use two and three word phrases when using a search engine and less people are using one word phrases when compared to last year.

This is important information to consider when coming up with keywords to target for your search engine optimization campaign. One word keywords are also usually the most competitive too. So, the point is, don’t waste a lot of time trying to get a top placement for “travel” when it’s searched for less and has much more competition (Google currently has over 3 billion pages indexed for “travel”).

A better strategy would be to target 10 (or 20 or 100) two to four keyword phrases that more accurately describe your product, then create additional content to cover those terms. Your chances of a top ranking go up and you’ll be appealing to a wide range of searchers who are looking specifically for what you are offering.

Here is the breakdown according to OneStat’s data. The 7 most used word phrases in search engines on the web are:

July 2006
1. 2 word phrases 28.91%
2. 3 word phrase 27.85%
3. 4 word phrases 17.11%
4. 1 word phrases 11.43%
5. 5 word phrases 8.25%
6. 6 word phrases 3.68%
7. 7 word phrases 1.59%

The data is also broken down by country. Most of the countries have similar search behavior with the exception being Germany. Germans seem to be stuck on shorter search terms with 28.89% searching for one word terms and just over 40% searching for two word terms. I wonder why the big difference… Any ideas?

OneStat.com - Press Box


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