Search Trends - Search Engine Marketing

Logically, when I search for things, there are certain descriptive words I use to find what I am looking for. I might be looking for "low cost health insurance" or "cheap flights", or even "free music". Different people search differently of course, but there are definitely more popular trends or ways of describing what you're looking for. Bill Tancer from HitWise recently posted some data on his blog about the words people use to look for deals, discounts, and otherwise value-oriented search terms. A few clear trends emerged, including the fact that people search for "discount" when looking for consumer goods, "cheap" when searching for travel, and "free" when looking for electronic downloads, music, or other low priced items that could conceivably be offered for free. It's important to understand the way people search, because even though a cheap and discount travel might mean exactly the same thing, your choice of words can make a huge difference in traffic to your site. Do your keyword research and then check your log files to see how people are finding your site.

Labels: hitwise, keyword research, keywords