Kevin Newcomb over at SEW wrote a post late last week that outlined how often searchers use keyword phrases of different lengths. I hadn't seen the latest data in awhile and wasn't surprised to find that two and three word phrases still rule the day.

Here's how it breaks down.

1. Two-word phrases -- 28.38 percent
2. Three-word phrases -- 27.15 percent
3. Four-word phrases -- 16.42 percent
4. One-word phrase -- 13.48 percent
5. Five-word phrases -- 8.03 percent
6. Six-word phrases -- 3.67 percent
7. Seven-word phrases -- 1.63 percent
8. Eight-word phrases -- 0.73 percent
9. Nine-word phrases -- 0.34 percent
10. Ten-word phrases -- 0.16 percent

When you think about it, it makes sense. Apart from the natural ways that people use language (how often do you describe something with a single word?) the stats are also representative of Internet users' increased search savvy. It doesn't take long for a searcher to figure out that entering "car" isn't going to get them far in their search for a new vehicle purchase. As such, they learn to add qualifiers to their searches.

What's interesting to me is how high four-word and five-word phrases are these days. At 16.42% and 8.03% respectively, we're not talking about small numbers.

The long-tail is here to stay. If you're a small business and you're having trouble competing on what you think are your money terms, give some more thought to seeking out those longer, more focused phrases and to targeting them. They are often less competitive but drive more targeted traffic. That means that you'll sometimes see the same amount of revenue come from 100 targeted visitors as you will from 5000 non-targeted visitors.

Search doesn't have to be about ranking in the top five or top ten for that one phrase you dream of. Many a business not only survives, but prospers but focusing their efforts on less competitive phrases.