People are using long tail keywords more frequently in search engine searches.

Long tail keywords can be defined as keyword phrase that has at least three, and some times as many as five words in the phrase

Long tail keywords do two things for a person searching the net for fast pertinent results. Long tail keywords help narrow down the options that a person has to sort through to get to what they really want. Long tail keywords are specific to what the person is looking for.

The basic idea for users is to get fast pertinent results from a search engine using long tail keywords. The idea is my time is worth more than search engine companies think it is and I will not waste it using single word searches and getting results that don’t match.

The reason people are using long tail keywords more frequently is that they have become more Internet savvy. The younger Internet user in particular wants fast pertinent results. Everyone is time conscious and they are looking for ways to improve the results they get from a particular search engine.

The first step most people take when being more selective in their search terms is adding the name of a state, city, zip code, area code, etc,

A keyword is valves. The short tail keyword could be Valves Houston and some long tail keyword could be  Butterfly Valves Houston,  High Performance Butterfly Valves,  High Performance Butterfly Valves Houston . The difference in results is dramatic.

It’s time to start thinking like a valve buyer in Houston looking for a particular valve.  They can’t turn to the old green Thomas Registry books…. they are going to turn to the internet.

They start with a Google search for Valves

Valves – 142,000,000 results

Valves Houston – 4,900,000 results

Butterfly Valves Houston – 71,600 results

High Performance Butterfly Valves Houston – 66,000

As the word Valves get’s more descriptive the less results show up.  Making the search more productive for the person looking for Valves.

Take a look at your current website and see if you address how people are searching for your top keywords. In an upcoming blog post I will talk about how to take full advantage of the trend in long tail keywords for your website.