skip to Main Content

Longer Search Queries Decrease With More Keywords

Longer search queries decrease with more keywordsI thought this was a very interesting statistic.

While performing SEO (Search Engine Optimization) services we’re told to not forget the long tail of the search. (I.E. The length of the keyword search). A lot of people don’t just search with one word.

Well it turns out the majority of us search using only one word and the percentages of clicks decrease as we add more keywords to our search.

Still Focus on The Long Tail Search

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t focus on the long tail search. You should. The long tail search is usually beneficial for creating conversions because people are using more descriptive and specific terms in their search.


Percentage of U.S. clicks by number of keywords
Subject July 2009 August 2009 Month-over-month percent change
One word 23.51% 24.21% 3%
Two words 23.54% 23.71% 1%
Three words 21% 20.74% -1%
Four words 14.02% 13.78% -2%
Five words 8.10% 7.90% -2%
Six words 4.35% 4.23% -3%
Seven words 2.34% 2.27% -3%
Eight or more words 3.22% 3.16% -2%
Note: Data is based on four-week rolling periods (ending Aug. 1, 2009, and June 27, 2009) from the Hitwise sample of 10 million U.S. Internet users.
Source: Experian Hitwise

This Post Has 0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back To Top
Search