runonwords

[tedster]

I've been noticing in my server logs that there are a good number of searches with two or three words run together -- with no spaces. Does anyone have experience intentionally optimizing for that kind of search? And why on earth are so many people doing it?

I'm collecting clever ideas for how to make such a conglomerate word not look like a typo, if anyone has a thought on the subject.

[NFFC]

See quite a few two words phrases, I put it down to accidentally omitting the space which I do myself quiteoften.

>make such a conglomerate word not look like a typo

RealEstate [home.about.com]

[tedster]

I can't believe I made a problem out of this -- RealEstate -- obvious, and thanks NFFC. I smack myself upside the head for you.

What I see in my logs is not the accidental omission of one space, it's a style of searching where no spaces are typed. Sometimes its four and five words.

One of my client's top two-word phrases had 27 referrals in 4 days. I've been glossing over this for months, but it keeps happening and now I'm sure it's opportunity knocking.

I don't see this much with b2b client sites, but on sites with a more "down home" appeal.

[Mike_Mackin]

b2b can have the opposite effect where the goofy surfer types b 2 b OR b to b
chech it out at goto.com

[rcjordan]

>b2b...opposite effect

Absolutely. I was just developing a keyword list for a tourism site, and the letter 'b' kept turning up everywhere as a high-occurrence key 'word.' As tedster says, slap-hand-on-forehead, that's "b & b" stripped of the ampersand.