There is no doubt that today’s internet world has ballooned compared to two or three years ago. Keyword research is becoming more difficult with competition for many keywords now quite fierce. There are two options left to web site owners, particularly new entrants. The first is to concentrate solely on regional SEO where the competition may not be as intense; the second option is to look a lot closer at long tail keywords.

Hitwise has now reported a 7% increase in the number of 5 to 8 word search queries over the last 12 months which reinforces the theory that searchers are now not only becoming more comfortable with search engines, they are becoming more sophisticated in their use.

For many users, the frustration of not finding what they are looking for using one or two word search terms is being replaced by a degree of confidence as refined searches produce results. For webmasters, and SEO specialists in particular, long tail keywords will need to take on more importance.

Where SEO programs can gain a real insight will be through their analytics programs. These will help to identify which search terms are being used to find pages. A little tweaking of pages to suit some of those search terms and the effect on traffic could be huge.

One and two word keywords will rapidly become a thing of the past – in fact I will go so far as to say they are in the past. The way forward now is to optimize for terms which are at least three to four words in length. Keyword research will need to be more in tune now with users and how they interact with the search engines. Limiting keyword research to your one or two words based on your product or service may not produce much in the way of traffic in the future.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, May 10th, 2009 at 2:03 am and is filed under Keyword Research. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.