Ever wonder what percentage of people use 2 word compared to 3 word queries? Data collected from users of European Web analytics provider OneStat, reveals (surprise, surprise) most people use two or three word queries in search engines.
Here’s the full breakdown:
- Two-word phrases — 28.38 %
- Three-word phrases — 27.15 %
- Four-word phrases — 16.42 %
- One-word phrase — 13.48 %
- Five-word phrases — 8.03 %
- Six-word phrases — 3.67 %
- Seven-word phrases — 1.63 %
- Eight-word phrases — 0.73 %
- Nine-word phrases — 0.34 %
- Ten-word phrases — 0.16 %
The RankStat research is based on a sample of 2 million visitors, made up of 20,000 visitors in 100 countries each day.
Via Search Engine Watch.
While the data indicates most people use fewer keywords in search, it’s good practice to optimize for longer search phrases simply because they offer higher sales conversions, in most cases. Generally speaking, going after a two word phrase might not be the smartest thing to do for businesses with a limited search visibility in the first place since it makes ranking for the phrase much harder. Establishing a solid SEO strategy usually involves a strong dose of web analytics to determine the most profitable search terms. After all, what good is traffic if it doesn’t convert?