Search words versus carewords
The words we use when we search are not always the words we like to read when we arrive at a website.
Over the years, I have discovered that the way we think and the words we use when we search give strong clues as to what we want, but only clues. The words that will help us complete the task we came to the website to complete can be subtly-and sometimes substantially different-to the words we used when searching for it.
“The language used by participants to describe their behavior before they carried out the task - classified here as the language of intent - differed from the language they used online when actually carrying out the task,” states Online Language Pathways, a recently published study. “We found they used a more ‘mechanical dialect’ (machine language) when searching, using technical words and succinct, staccato phraseology.”
The study was carried out by CDA, a digital communications consultancy. 14 individual internet users, of varying levels of internet proficiency and from different demographics (age, gender and profession) were asked to use the Web to research opening an instant access savings account.
The study found that one participant who wanted a “high interest instant access savings account” actually searched for “best instant access savings”. Another participant who wanted a “best rate bank account with instant access” searched for “banking account online”. And another participant who wanted “easy access and best interest rate savings” searched for “instant access savings”.
Understanding how people search is extremely important but is only part of the battle to understand what people actually want when they search. Over a typical 12 month period about 25 million people search for a “cheap hotel.”
But what does that mean? I have often searched for a “cheap hotel” but I’m not actually looking for a ‘cheap’ hotel. What I’m really looking for is a 4 or 5 star hotel at a cheap price. And I would certainly not be impressed if I arrived at a hotel website that had a big sign saying: “Welcome to our Cheap Hotel.”
About 16 million people search for “hotel deals” every year, but only 18,000 search for “hotel special offers”. However, we have found in testing that on a webpage, people respond better to text containing “special offers” than “deals.”
The CDA study found that while most participants assumed they would be comparing financial offerings, and were looking for words like “compare” on the website, their search words rarely contained the word “compare.”
So, some words bring you to a website, and it’s very important to understand what they are. But then a whole new set of words kick in, and I call these carewords. Search words tend to be brutal, short, precise, cheap. Carewords are softer and more subtle. When testing with university students, we found that the phrase “prestigious well recognized degree” tested very well. But nobody’s going to search for a “prestigious well recognized degree.”
One set of words to bring customers to your website. Another set of words to bring them through it.
Online language pathways study
David Carley says:
Added on March 9th, 2009 at 11:39 amThis effect also seems to occur when carrying out searches for local listings; it seems you have to get your keywords in the correct order to generate the local listings.
For instance you can look all day at ‘3 star hotels Quimper’ (for example), if you’re looking for a hotel in that particular town in France, and find hardly any of the hotels that are in that town. Whereas if you carry out a search for ‘Quimper Hotels’ you get to generate the local listings, full of not only 3 star hotels, but the towns full listing of all hotels.
What this means is exactly what Gerry is referencing here, to carry out effective search you have to search strategically, and not necessarily for what you believe you want.
Catherine K says:
Added on March 9th, 2009 at 7:16 pmInteresting post. My question, and maybe it’s a dumb one, but if we use the search words in the text to enhance SEO, as I am told to do as a content producer/manager, how do we then also use the softer language — the ‘carewords’ — in the text to enhance usability and create a “pleasing” environment? I struggle with this as a web writer. I have essentially one tool to bring customers in and get them through — text. We have optimized menu items and URLs as well, but I am asked to incorporate these same terms in the text, as our marketing spend has been cut and we are now relying on SEO. Are people less likely to complete a task if they see their search term, ugly as it may be, on the page?
Glenn Murray says:
Added on March 10th, 2009 at 3:33 amInteresting post. This is what makes keyword analysis so difficult for SEOs. However, one thing to remember. There’s no reason your copy can’t have BOTH care words and search words. e.g. If you run a 4-5 star hotel, and want to rank for “cheap hotel”, you could still use “cheap hotel” in your copy. Just don’t use it when referring to your own! Instead, say things like, “Sure, you could stay at a cheap hotel, but why would you…?” and “Cheap hotels may save you money, but is it really worth the cost of your holiday memories?” When you think about it, there are plenty of opportunities to use that phrase, even when / particularly when it’s the exact opposite of your offering.
(I know Gerry didn’t say you had to choose one or the other, but I thought I’d note it anyway.)
Cheers.
Glenn (@divinewrite on Twitter)
Gerry McGovern (blog author) says:
Added on March 11th, 2009 at 12:39 pmGlenn, good points. And, yes, it cannot be an either / or strategy. We have to find a way to weave the search words and the carewords into the content on the pages.
We may also find that there are particular pages that tend to get found by search more than others. These ’start’ pages might be optimizing strongly for search, but then when customers click they might go to pages that needs to focus on carewords, because such pages are not often searched for.