Search Phrases are Growing
Posted Jun 16, 2008 @ 11:56 am, Viewed by 682 Visitors, Read 708 Times.Now I know some of you more advanced SEO types are probably aware of this trend already, I just wanted to drop-a-post putting it out there for others like me that are a little less "SEO Savvy". Lately I have seen increased traffic in some of my longer keyword phrases in my analytics account. Naturally, I go to my favorite keyword research tool to see what was going on and discovered that the search volume on my 4,5 and 6 word phrases were up significantly when compared to some of the shorter terms that used to be the money makers. The trend I am seeing is that users are beginning to abandon the use of short phrases for a more direct and efficient search using more words.
Right away I begin to theorize as to why users are increasing their use on more keywords in their search phrase. Is it because of the depth and speed at which stuff is getting indexed? I remember the way we used to search was to use a short phrase and then manually scan and click to do our own drill-down because we knew the information we were searching for would be too new or too specific for search engines to understand. Or is it that search engines always indexed this way and users in general are just getting smarter and are making better use of more keywords?
In my opinion I think it may be a combination of both. I have read in other blogs that the increase in use of long phrases vs. the shorter phrases is industry specific and speaks to the experience level of the consumer ion those industries. Now in real estate we know that the majority of our customers are "bonded" to the internet which would explain why we are seeing this trend now. Regardless of industry, it is only a matter of time before the entire internet consumer base are now using more specific search terms for the majority of their product searches. We as website owners should realize this trend and market accordingly.
Lou Lynch
Associate Broker / Technology Director
Lou Lynch is an Ulster County real estate advisor and local area expert providing stellar home buyer and seller services in the Hudson Valley region of Upstate New York.
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OK, thanks for clearing that up and serving up my humble pie 
. I thought long tail meant longer search phrase as well as it being less trafficed. So I guess the trend that I am seeing is that longer (4, 5 and 6 word phrases) search phrases that were once considered long tail are being searched by more by my users.
I will edit the post!
No need to edit the post Lou, I wasn't trying to be a know-it-all, (Maybe a bit of a smart ass) - but what you thought were long tail, is what a lot of people think, I think you (Correct or not) reach more people with the post the way it is.
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I hate to break it to you Lou, but if traffic volume increases significantly they are no longer "long tail" as that references their low numbers when viewing an inverted bell graphic