More Money from Longer Keyword Phrases?

When picking your keywords for a page, I usually suggest that you look for keywords that have less competition, even if they return less traffic — owning some of a smaller pond is better than owning none of a bigger one.  Typically, these are longer phrases (three - four words).  Now it turns out that there may be an another good reason to target these phrases.

In a new report, eMarketer finds that the longer the keyword phrase, the better it actually converts to sales.  In testing, this held consistent over a three month period, with the peak being four word phrases.

Oneupweb President Lisa Wehr notes, “this study reveals the opportunity in optimizing for longer keyword phrases…our recommendation to marketers has always been, ‘don’t invest all your resources and efforts in single-word or two-word phrases. Optimize for longer keyword phrases in addition to the shorter terms.’”

The article also reports on a new study by DoubleClick and comScore that indicates that people click far more on generic keyphrases than they do on keyphrases involving specific brands or products.