Change in search patterns?

[2_much]

I was checking out some of the keywords related to the latest world events, to find out how people were using the web in response to the attacks and other current events.

I was amazed by how many people were using PHRASES! I rarely found one word keywords, they were mostly 3 or 4 word phrases, rather detailed.

It seems to me that people are learning that, to find better results, they need to be specific.

Has anyone else noticed this?

[rcjordan]

Yes, on travel-related searches I've noticed an increase in the number of state codes but I've also noted a big rise in those spelling out the full state name.

[WebGuerrilla]

I don't think there is any significant change overall. While it's true that the top 100 most popular search terms are typically single words, The vast majority of total searches contain multiple words.

For example, if you look at the most popular term, which quite often is Yahoo, and then you look at all the other searches conducted that contain the word Yahoo, you'll see that out of all the people looking for information about Yahoo, the people that used the single word are definitely in the minority.

What has skewed the recent top terms stats is the fact that the public's interest has temporarilly shifted to topics that just happen to have many multiple word phrase associated with them. World Trade Center, Bin Laden, Bio Terrorism, Gas Masks, etc.

[Brett_Tabke]

I think you are pretty much correct WG. However, I think there has been the slow evolution of search query words. Main stream net users are starting to understand they need to be more specific with their kw's to find the information they want.

Part of that is the google influence again. The way they default to "and" has made a big difference. Prior to that, you'd put int "independent webmaster forum" and would get hits from all three words. The new relevance factors have changed the way the typical net user searches. Sure, a few newbies and cluless oldies are still out there.