Comparing the search query length of desktop search vs. desktop search.

1. Keywords Length Statistic – Comparing Length of search queries on
Mobile Phones and Desktops
Keyword - a holy word for all website owners. For all starting or in the process of starting
their website, just like I am, start getting obsessed with this word. Well a good keyword
strategy is the key for your websites success. Master this and you are set for success.
Previously I had posted an article on my blog, The Long Tail – Search Engine Keywords.
This article dwelled into how the Long Tail concept acceptation has increased since the
dawn of the Internet and how online business can really benefit by implementing it.
In this post I’m going to discuss how the dynamics of search is changing due to
technology adoption. I compared the length of search queries, for two keywords - Dentist
and Plumber (randomly selected) and their keyword ideas provided by Google, for the
mobile phone and desktop users.
Data gathering:
I took assistance of Google Adwords keyword tool and searched for Dentist and Plumber
for all countries. I collected the data for all the keyword ideas that Google provided for
Dentist and Plumber. I performed the same search, but this time I just considered ‘Mobile
Search’ and collected the data for all the keyword ideas that Google provided.
Observation:
Number of mobile phone searches constituted only 10% of all searches in the Dentist
category and 5% in the Plumber category. Also, the number of keywords used by mobile
phone users constituted only 55% of all keywords in Dentist category and 25% in
Plumber category. The most important observation was that one and two word search
queries used by mobile phone searchers were 7% to 8% higher than searches done on
desktop.

2. So what does this mean for searches? Well for starters, search behavior on a mobile
phone is definitely different from that when it’s conducted on a desktop. On a mobile
phone, it’s much easier to type in one and two word queries. Also, the Long Tail shortens
by a considerable percentage, effectively restricting online businesses that cater to the
long tail.
As more and more people adopt smart phones, it will be interesting to see whether the
one and two word query usage increases over time. In the long run, it will also be
interesting to see whether people get comfortable with searching on the mobile phone, as
they have on desktops, and ultimately increasing their search query length.
Nikhil Lamba, www.ClinicsOfWorld.com