Content
- What are low-frequency queries?
- How do search engines evaluate frequency?
- The importance of low-frequency queries for business
- Interesting facts and examples
What are low-frequency queries?
Low-frequency queries are phrases that users input into the search bar relatively rarely. Search queries can vary depending on their frequency of use: high-frequency (HF), medium-frequency (MF), and low-frequency (LF).
Short and simple phrases, such as “buy iPhone 15,” are often formulated similarly. In contrast, longer queries with many specifics, such as “buy iPhone 15 with warranty in Magnitogorsk” or “buy iPhone 15 with courier delivery in an hour,” occur significantly less often. Such lengthy formulations, as well as questions on less popular topics, usually fall into the category of low-frequency queries.
How do search engines evaluate frequency?
Each search engine independently determines the frequency of queries. Data on frequency can be obtained through special tools provided by the search engines. For example, Google offers this information through Google Ads, while Yandex provides it through the “Yandex Wordstat” service.
One of the criteria for frequency is the topic of the query. The narrower the topic, the less often users are interested in it. For example, for the query “Plastic windows,” high frequency might amount to 1 million queries per month. At the same time, for a narrow topic like mountain mining, a query that has been entered only 5,000 times would be considered high-frequency.
The importance of low-frequency queries for business
Low-frequency queries play an important role in promoting companies online. Firstly, they help attract organic traffic to websites, that is, users who are searching for information and visit your resource without the involvement of advertising. Secondly, they are also used for paid promotion. When setting up contextual advertising, companies specify low-frequency queries for which they want their ads to be displayed.
Low-frequency queries are particularly useful for:
- Small and medium-sized businesses: Small companies often use low-frequency queries to promote their websites because they cannot compete with large resources. Search engines typically place well-known sites on the first pages for medium- and high-frequency queries.
- Online stores: Users often search for products by specific names and characteristics. Such detailed queries are characteristic of low-frequency queries and allow targeting a relevant audience to appropriate pages. For example, if a user is looking for a laptop with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, specifying a specific model, they may land directly on the product page.
Interesting facts and examples
In the world of low-frequency queries, one can sometimes find amusing formulations. For example, users searched for queries like:
- “Avengers war without limbs watch online” - 13 times
- “How to win back my cat's affection” - almost 1000 times
- “Exactly 4 is how much” - 2700 times
These examples demonstrate how diverse low-frequency queries can be and how important it is to consider them in an online promotion strategy.