Search Engines: More Words in 2006

Using search engines has become internet users’ favourite activity after e-mail. 63% of Americans use a search engine every day [1]. We also know that a growing number of online and offline purchases originate from a search engine request. This is why competition to be well-positioned is increasingly fierce.

Buying keywords (Pay Per Click/PPC) has made Internet advertising so easy that more and more people integrate it into their marketing mix. The price of keywords has therefore increased by almost 25% (2005 vs. 2004) [2]. Organic positioning, although little used compared to PPC, is getting more refined and the engines leave less chance to optimization techniques that go against their ethical rules.

Positioning using the most popular keywords therefore becomes extremely difficult and expensive. It is thus essential to know the search habits of potential clients or the target market in order to maximize the profitability of a positioning campaign.

Between 2003 and 2005, the percentage of searches with one or two words went from 49% to 43% [3], leaving more place for searches using three or four words. It is believed that three word searches will be used more frequently during 2006. This increase falls under a trend where internet users know search engines better and do not hesitate in using more words to find sites that better respond to their needs.

Several internet users begin their research process with short searches and increase the number of words as get closer to reaching a decision. This fact makes it paramount not to forget three-word-and-over positioning. Don’t forget that competition is much less intense with more precise expressions, which enables companies with smaller budgets to position themselves very well.

Whether to buy keywords or for organic referencing, it becomes increasingly profitable not to neglect longer expressions and to position for them. Analysing your website’s logs as well as keyword generation tools will enable you to find these expressions.

Then optimize your campaigns by increasing the use of three or four word expressions. Following this optimization, you will be able to evaluate if these keywords brought you the desired traffic and if the conversion rate of these visitors is better than your average.

Conclusion: to optimize for expressions over two words in length is more complex and more demanding, but will usually give you a greater return on investment than one or two word optimization.

[1] Pew Internet & American Life Project. search engine use report, November 2005

[2] Marketing Sherpa, January 2006

[3] OneStat, 2003 et 2005