If you think everyone is searching on some variation of "cityname homes" and "cityname real estate," you are in for a surprise. When I've shown people the following list of real search phrases, used by real web surfers, which led them to an agent's Website, their jaws dropped open.

"But everyone searches on 'cityname homes!'" you might say.

Yes, that's true - to some degree. It was truer a few years ago. Nowadays, more and more, statistics are telling a different story: Searchers are using longer, more complicated search phrases.

OneStat.com released a study showing approximately half of all searches were 3 to 7 words in length. Use of single word searches declined 25 percent during the nine-month period ending January 2004.

When most searches were a word or two, it was easier to see how well you were doing in search engines. How many variations are there on "cityname homes" and "cityname real estate?" But each additional word a consumer might add to a search phrase increases exponentially the task of checking them all.

How many words are relevant to your area? Let's take Dallas. And suppose you work a few towns, like Colleyville, Flower Mound, and Arlington.

Here is a list of words relevant to your site: Colleyville, Flower Mound, Arlington, real estate, homes, for sale, property, land, condo, condominium, realtor, agent, broker, Tarrant County, Texas, house, acreage, buying, selling, single family, residential, mls, listings...

That's over 20, not including plurals or other variations, not to mention all the unincorporated neighborhoods in any town, which are also often used in searches. Beyond that there are still plenty more words we could use, some dependent on the area, such as: beach, beach front, water, lake, views, waterfront, moving, suburban, starter homes, foreclosures, school reports, relocation, pools, rural, new construction.

Believe it or not, people use street names in searches, too! Phew, this could get out of hand. But, let's stick with 20 possible search words for this example.

If there are 20 search words that are relevant to your real estate Website, how many possible searches could bring up your site? This is fancy math, so I turned to a math teacher friend of mine for help.

We went through the numbers. If word order in search phrases matters, then the number of variations of 20 words for up to 7 word searches is 645,909. Google accepts up to 10. Using a maximum of 10 word searches, the number of different phrases grows into a ridiculous number.

Formulas are one thing, but what about the real world?

Consider the following search phrases, which I culled from actual traffic analysis reports from agent websites:

• Housing Market trends in Avon Lake, OH

• jacksonville, fl avondale apartments

• little rock home virtual tours

• mls lorne park mississauga

• ocean front wrightsville beach real estate

• photos of real estate $250,000 broken arrow oklahoma

• multi family homes for sale in little rock, arkansas

• phoenix arizona suburban real estate

• arizona home photo tours real estate chandler

• Property around Lafayette, Oregon

• Little Rock Arkansas Schools Districts

• Raintree Lake Lees Summit lots for sale

• land for sale in Napa valley

• Real Estate AND Princeton, NJ

• residing in baton rouge la

• maine mls realestate listings

• single family homes for sale in texas

• recent sales in somerset county nj homes

• state college, pennsylvania homes for sale

• HOUSING ADDITIONS IN DEER CREEK EDMOND

• tennis club point clear

• Family Homes for sale in Auburn, Maine

• 1148 Waterway Cluster

• affordable real estate in port angeles washington

• city lexington virginia real estate transfers

• athens georgia historical homes for sale

• real estate eagle ridge gilroy, ca

• beach homes to rent in orange beach, alabama

• homes for sale in pennsylvania with acres under $100,000

• bloomington/normal illinois public records

• stratford place at bridgewater

• Brentwood Montana Avenue Condo 2.5 baths

• buying first home inexpensive homes Wilmington, Delaware

• columbus residential real estate trends

• medford, NJ MLS listings

• hopewell, kindergarten, new jersey, day time schedule

• Craftsman Homes for Sale in Madison Mississippi

• delaware beach new construction

• dog kennel woodland hills

• new construction hopewell new jersey

• elgin illinois houses pictures

• buying townhouse maryland near University of Maryland

• ex spouse rights selling of home

• find a home in Lafayette, Indiana

• picture of little rock arkansas

• Chatham village columbus ohio

• foreclosure chicago multi unit

• entrada drive santa monica real estates

• half moon bay condo for sale real estate

• homes recently sold in manassas park

• Carrollton Texas property listings

• houses for sale, Winchester, Front Royal, VA

• How much are homes selling for in Plymouth, MN?

• baird warner reality listings, Chicago

• lake havasu city zoning codes

• HOMES FOR LEASE FORT BEND COUNTY TEXAS

• listing of houses in princeton new jersey

• Fairmount historical district real estate Fort Worth Texas

• local newspaper of Arlington, texas

• marion county oregon pictures

• coldwell banker real estate princeton NJ

• paradise market corte madera

• model home for sale and plano

• new construction jersey burlington county

• arizona gilbert mesa realtors

• $100,000 homes desoto texas

• colorado springs sunset mesa homes sale

• Big REALTORS in Torrance CA

• Virginia Powhatan farm properties sale

• arlington texas school system

• new housing development nearby horsham, pa

• ocean shore real estate in south Carolina

• meridian public schools Idaho

• 1 acre new homes washington county pa

• open houses in northbrook

• MLS homes for sale in elk grove ca

• ACCEPTING A REAL ESTATE OFFER

• Oxford Pennsylvania Land Use Parcel information

• picture of home in capital hill washington dc for sale

• BIKE SHOPS folsom ca

• price range of condominiums in torrance california

• average square feet home size webster, ny

• Beachfront investment property Encinitas CA

• property appraiser east greenwich rhode island

• 55 and older homes in virginia

• real estate agents for irvington, portland, oregon

• parade of homes wilmington nc

• realtor.com tesuque, nm land for sale

• sellers choice texas site home sales

• acreage and lots for sale in Fort Bend

• silverwood housing addition Bixby

• Bay St. Louis Mississippi beach house Gulf of Mexico

• attorney real estate nipomo

• Single family new construction in Lynchburg, VA

• bernalillo county new mexico horse property covenants

• moving to fairbanks alaska

• single family starter homes wilmington north carolina

• brown county greenbay wi courthouse

• summer school classes St. Charles Illinois

• things to do wilmington, nc

• Average house prices collin county winterstone

• torrance, ca demographics

• unincorporated land michigan

• virtual tours homes DC VA MD area

• pool parties/little rock arkansas

• waterfront properties for sale pittsfield nh

• wilmington nc real estate records

• a site on any movie theaters in Morgan Hill

• 1890 and up houses for sale vancouver washington

• 5 or more bedrooms in washington county, portland OR

• where is highland michigan located

• acreage in the northern part of san antonio,tx

• aerial photos of league city

• southwest realestate bullhead city

• arnold maryland tax assessor

• barton creek golf homes

• new hampshire restrictive covenants

• beach property for sale santa monica los angeles california

• pond lake front property in texas for sale

• subdivision avon lake ohio residential

• blytheville arkansas affordable homes for sale

• real estate on Lafayette Blvd. Scottsdale az

These are actual search phrases, extracted from recent traffic analysis reports, which led searchers to agent Websites.

So, I figure the number of search phrases which people could use to find your web site is somewhere between 1000 and infinity.

Published: July 8, 2004

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.