Technical Searchers Dig Deeper for Results
Click here to see larger, printable version of this chartConventional wisdom says that if your Web pages appear outside the first few responses on a search engine, most people will miss you. The chart above, however, explores an exception to that rule – the niche searcher.
In this case, niche searchers were industrial engineers – who often find themselves forced to dig deep into SERP to find what they’re looking for. Their searches on the general search engines go significantly deeper than most. And they’ve come to expect that finding relevant results may take them onto the second page or even deeper. The same applies to other highly-specific searchers.
Why does this matter? It speaks to the need and opportunity for better search engine optimization on the pages of websites that appeal to niche searchers.
Just because these searcher are willing to keep looking doesn’t mean they won’t happily click on an earlier result if it’s relevant. Using the long-phrase searches found in your log files can give you insight into how to optimize. Even if these highly specific pages only get a few clicks per month, chances are good that those clicks will be very valuable for companies with high price points.
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http://s-ivp0s-42988.sgizmo.comMore Research Data from Sherpa:
https://www.marketingsherpa.com/membertour.html?view=re
earchMarketingSherpa’s 5th Annual Business Technology Marketing Benchmark Guide 2008–09:
http://www.sherpastore.com/btbmg09.html
Long tail terms tend to have higher conversion rates and can yield higher average order values. A searcher's use of longer tail terms often indicates they are far along in the buying cycle and are looking for price and availability rather than just researching for general information. Unfortunately, using traditional SEO methods, it's tough - if not impossible - to properly optimize for the "small head" to the "ultra-long tail" terms and phrases on sites with many hundreds of pages let alone those with thousands or hundreds-of-thousands of pages. Companies with larger sites are lucky to have optimized 10% - 15% of their site. To solve this gap, find vendors/partners that can truly optimize your entire site regardless of number of pages; can handle small head, torso, long tail and "ultra long tail" terms; can do so in any language... And, ask them if they will do so on a pay for performance model. Why not let the vendor assume the risk of delivering a successful "whole-site SEO" campaign?