Relationship between Keyword Lengths & Conversion Rates in SEO

Search Engine Optimization & Marketing Firm's Study shows that conversion rates drop after reaching a four-word peak. Oneupweb (www.oneupweb.com) today published a research study investigating the relationship between keyword length and conversion rates.

Available on Oneupweb.com, the study discovered several surprises in addition to an overall trend showing that as keyword length increases, so does conversion rate, peaking at four-word phrases.

In the recent research, investigating the relationship between keyword length and conversion rates are discovered several surprises in addition to an overall trend. It is estimated that as keyword length increases, so does conversion rate, peaking at four-word phrases.

"This study reveals the opportunity in optimizing for longer keyword phrases," says Lisa Wehr, Oneupweb president. "Our recommendation to marketers has always been, ‘don't invest all your resources and efforts in only single-word or two-word phrases. Optimize for longer keyword phrases in addition to the shorter terms.'"

The marketing company reported that it has reviewed data collected by its proprietary search analytics conversion tool, roi.trax® in two data sets, including hundreds of thousands of keyword phrases.

"Many businesses focus natural optimization on one and two-word phrases," says Wehr. "With this study in hand, marketers should expand and balance SEO campaigns to include three- and four-word phrases."

The first data set showed, says the report, that single keywords had very high conversion rates. And then, conversion rates rose steadily from two-word phrases through four-word phrases, peaking at four-word phrases and dropping thereafter.

"Examining only our aggregate database, one would conclude that the high-conversion rate of the single-word phrases contradicts our hypothesis," explains Wehr. "However, we also reviewed a second, more focused data set, showing that once corporate names are removed, single-word keywords fall below two-word phrases."

Analysts also reviewed average traffic per keyword, noting that traffic follows a reverse trend, dropping as keyword length increases.