What are word searches good for

We use word searches as a way to reinforce vocabulary students are learning through reading. I work with first graders, so as they search the words, they learn to look for consonant clusters, vowel combinations and the like. I also feel it does help to develop their visual acuity for recognizing English words.

Where did the word search came from?

The Spanish claim The claim to the creation of Word Search is contested by Pedro Ocón de Oro, a Spaniard credited with inventing over 125 types of puzzles in Spanish. During the 60s, this puzzle aficionado created what he called Sopa de Letras (Soup of Letters) which was nothing more than a Word Search puzzle.

Who invented the word search?

Norman E. Gibat

What are word searches called?

Word search as a name is used in the majority of places; however on occasion it may be called word square, word grid or perhaps word finder or word locator. Whatever the name used, it is the same familiar puzzle that has been a stalwart of puzzle magazines and children’s puzzle books for generations!

Does playing Word Search Sharpen your brain?

1. Word Searches Keep the Mind Active. While word searches may not seem like the most stimulating activities, they can do some good for aging brains. Because the process for solving a word search is to look at the “clue” of a few letters to find a word, this activity can help seniors sharpen their reasoning skills.

Are word searches good for you?

While boosting your brain, problem-solving skills and your spelling, doing word searches helps further improve language learning. It’s a great way for people of all learning abilities to learn words, increase vocabulary and make you feel smarter. Enjoy word search fun for the whole family with DRUM Word Search.

What skills do word searches develop?

While boosting your brain, problem-solving skills and your spelling, doing word searches helps further improve language learning. It’s a great way for people of all learning abilities to learn words, increase vocabulary and make you feel smarter.

Are word searches good for anxiety?

Doing word searches helps beat anxiety and nervousness. Older adults can use word searches to relieve stress.

Why are some people so good at word searches?

The Dopamine Connection Dopamine is naturally produced in our brains. Touted as the “reward molecule”, neuroscientists are linking dopamine to perseverance and the sense of accomplishment. When we finish a task, like finding words in a word search puzzle, our brains reward us with a surge of dopamine.

What does a Cruciverbalist mean?

: a person skillful in creating or solving crossword puzzles.

Do puzzles help your brain?

Puzzles are also good for the brain. Studies have shown that doing jigsaw puzzles can improve cognition and visual-spatial reasoning. The act of putting the pieces of a puzzle together requires concentration and improves short-term memory and problem solving.

Does playing word games help your brain?

Playing word games can improve various brain functions like problem-solving, memory, cognition, and creativity. All of them can make life easier and can help you advance in your career and one a more personal level.

What games increase IQ?

Below are 15 games that rely on your strategic, critical-thinking, and imaginative abilities.

• Lumosity Brain-Training App, free to download.
• Chinese Mahjong set with compact wooden case, $72.99.
• Hasbro Scrabble Crossword Game, $16.99.
• Sudoku: 400+ Sudoku Puzzles (Easy, Medium, Hard, Very Hard), $6.29.

Do brain training apps really work?

“At present there is little strong evidence that brain-training apps are effective. While some studies have reported improvements in the skill being used in the app, what are often small and fleeting advances end up being promoted commercially as lasting improvements,” adds Brennan.

Which is the best brain-training app?

Five of the best brain-training apps

• Peak. Android / iOS (Free + in-app purchases) Peak.
• Elevate. Android / iOS (Free + in-app purchases) Elevate.
• Lumosity. Android / iOS (Free + in-app purchases) Lumosity.
• Fit Brains Trainer. Android / iOS (Free + in-app purchases) Fit Brains Trainer.
• Cognito. iOS (Free + in-app purchases)

Is lumosity worth the money?

The paper, published in the Journal of Neuroscience on Monday, found no evidence that playing brain games (specifically, Lumosity brain games) translated into improvements in cognitive functioning or decision making. In the study, 64 participants played Lumosity games for 30 minutes a day for ten weeks.

What is the best free brain-training app?

1. Lumosity: Over three billion games have been played by more than 85 million people. Created by more than 100 researchers from around the globe and launched in 2007, this was one of the first apps in the brain-training empire.

Is sudoku good for brain?

Sudoku or Crosswords May Help Keep Your Brain 10 Years Younger. New research finds that solving puzzles may help you stay “sharp.” A new study adds more evidence that puzzles can be effective for brain health. On short-term memory tests, puzzle takers had brain function equivalent to eight years younger.

How can I get lumosity for free?

Lumosity is free to download on Android and iOS, though upgrading to a premium subscription costs $11.99 per month or $59.99 for 1 year.

Which is better lumosity or elevate?

Lumosity is much more minimal and understated, while Elevate is colorful and loud. The difference can be seen in the app menus, but it’s more noticeable in the games. The result is that Lumosity can feel like an educational tool, while Elevate is much more like a mobile game.

How can I improve my brain function?

Here are 12 ways you can help maintain brain function.

1. Get mental stimulation.
2. Get physical exercise.
3. Improve your diet.
4. Improve your blood pressure.
5. Improve your blood sugar.
6. Improve your cholesterol.
7. Consider low-dose aspirin.
8. Avoid tobacco.

What do the rankings mean in elevate?

Your rankings compare your performance to other Elevate members in your age group in Speaking, Writing, Reading, and Math. Percentiles are calculated based on your scores and activity in all Elevate games within each Skill Group. By tapping on the circles for each Skill Group, you can check your ranking in each game.

Does lumosity make you smarter?

If you play brain games on your computer, you’ll get better at those games — but it’s unlikely to enhance your ability to carry out daily tasks or improve your performance at work or school. At the same time, there’s no definitive proof that these programs don’t work, and researchers continue to investigate them.

How can I sharpen my brain?

10 Proven Ways to Keep the Mind Sharp as You Age

1. Exercise for a healthier mind.
2. Read for intellectual stimulation.
3. Eat healthy to stimulate your brain.
4. Strive for good posture.
5. Get plenty of sleep to improve memory.
6. Play games or draw.
7. Listen to music or play an instrument.

Is it actually possible to get smarter?

Intelligence isn’t a set trait, though. It’s a changeable, flexible ability to learn and stimulate your brain that can improve over time. The key is to practice lifestyle habits that support and protect your brain.

How can I think faster and smarter?

14 Ways to Faster, More Efficient Thinking

1. Make Minor, Unimportant Decisions Fast.
2. Practice Doing Things You Are Good At, Faster.
3. Stop Trying to Multitask.
4. Get Plenty of Sleep.
5. Stay Cool.
6. Meditate.
7. Play a Musical Instrument.
8. Give Your Brain a Mental Workout.

What should I read to get smarter?

Give Your Brain a Boost: 12 Books Guaranteed to Make You More Intelligent

• The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Dan Kahneman.
• A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
• The Greatest Secret in the World by Og Mandino.
• The Courage to Write by Ralph Keyes.
• Jump Start Your Business Brain by Doug Hall.

1. Word Searches Keep the Mind Active. While word searches may not seem like the most stimulating activities, they can do some good for aging brains. Because the process for solving a word search is to look at the “clue” of a few letters to find a word, this activity can help seniors sharpen their reasoning skills.

What are the benefits of word search puzzles?

10 ways word puzzles can help your child

• They help with spelling.
• They make your child work faster.
• They boost working memory.
• They extend vocabulary.
• They encourage problem-solving.
• They’re good for competitive kids.
• They’re fun for the whole family.
• They appeal to techie kids.

Do word searches make you smarter?

Word power While boosting your brain, problem-solving skills and your spelling, doing word searches helps further improve language learning. It’s a great way for people of all learning abilities to learn words, increase vocabulary and make you feel smarter.

Are puzzles a sign of intelligence?

A study has shown that puzzles activate our brains while simultaneously relaxing us psychologically, putting our brains into a meditative state. Puzzle solving has also been linked to increased IQ (intelligence quotient) and overall reasoning.

What personality type likes puzzles?

ENFPs are often great at puzzles, and have a knack for figuring things out. They enjoy challenging their minds, and strive to push themselves. ENFPs are not only good at most puzzles, they often enjoy them very much. They dislike feeling stagnant or having to focus on something that is too easy for them.

What does liking jigsaw puzzles say about you?

“When immersed in a great jigsaw puzzle your heart rate goes down and a sense of peacefulness overtakes you, lowering blood pressure and anxiety,” said Donna Brown, founder of The Missing Piece Puzzle Co.

Why do I like puzzles so much?

But psychology is aware of even more reasons why doing puzzles has such fascination for so many people: “We humans feel stressed if we have a task that we don’t succeed at and are bored if we are competent at something but have no task,” explains Dr Lermer. “By doing puzzles, we achieve the perfect balance.

What skills do puzzles develop?

A puzzle teaches young children about the concept of a ‘whole’ and that each piece is a fraction of the bigger picture. It also helps develop basic skills such as shape recognition, concentration, goal setting, patience and a sense of achievement, which will stand children in good stead for school.

Are jigsaw puzzles good for mental health?

Puzzles are also good for the brain. Studies have shown that doing jigsaw puzzles can improve cognition and visual-spatial reasoning. The act of putting the pieces of a puzzle together requires concentration and improves short-term memory and problem solving.

Are crosswords good for your brain?

“Regular crosswords and number puzzles linked to sharper brain in later life,” a May 2019 Science Daily headline proclaims. According to a University of Exeter study, older adults who regularly did word and number puzzles had increased mental acuity.

Do puzzles keep your mind sharp?

Some people might also use the games to keep their minds sharp as they get older, though the verdict is mixed on whether games have long-term brain benefits. Aging experts explain that there’s absolutely no harm in doing puzzles (jigsaw included) or other so-called brain games.

Do crossword puzzles help memory?

Brain Fact: Crosswords are fun and may improve your ability to find words, but they don’t help your brain’s overall cognition or memory. A lot of people do crossword puzzles each day with the belief that this activity will help keep the brain young and even keep Alzheimer’s or dementia at bay.

How do puzzles make you smarter?

Doing a puzzle reinforces connections between brain cells, improves mental speed and is an especially effective way to improve short-term memory. When you do a jigsaw puzzle, you need to look at individual pieces and figure out where they’ll fit into the big picture.

How do I get better at puzzles?

6 Strategies for Putting Together Jigsaw Puzzles

1. Turn All the Pieces Picture-Side-Up.
2. Sort Pieces Into Groups.
3. Assemble the Border.
4. Assemble by Sorting Groups, Colors, and Patterns.
5. Pay Attention to Piece Shapes.
6. Spread It Out.

Is there a trick to doing jigsaw puzzles?

EXPERT TIP: Work on a small section at a time instead of trying to place pieces throughout the puzzle. Starting with an area that has a pattern and working your way out is the best way to work your way toward the edge of the puzzle. If you get stuck, start on a new section.

How long does it take to solve a 1000 piece puzzle?

between 5 to 30 hours

How do you solve a 1000 piece puzzle?

Sort your pieces by color and pattern. These are the most easily-distinguished features and they offer a way to break the puzzle into a series of manageable sub-tasks. Also, set aside corner and edge pieces. Optional tip: Divide your piles into smaller collections of pieces based on their number of tabs and blanks.

Are there exactly 1000 pieces in a 1000 piece puzzle?

A puzzle puzzle Jigsaw puzzles that say they have 1,000 pieces have approximately 1,000 pieces, but probably not exactly 1,000. Jigsaw puzzle pieces are typically arranged in a grid, so the number of pieces along a side has to be a divisor of the total number of pieces.

How long does it take to solve a 2000 piece puzzle?

15-20 hours

What is the fastest way to solve a jigsaw puzzle?

A popular strategy is to put the edges of the puzzle together first because, with one straight edge, the pieces are easier to identify and put together. “There isn’t a single strategy that will work for 100 percent of puzzles, but in the majority of cases, it is easiest to start with the edge,” McLeod says.

How long does it take to do a 4000 piece puzzle?

Originally Answered: how long does it take to solve a 4000 piece puzzle? It all depends on how much time one puts in it (2 hours a day for a week straight vs. 5 hours a day for a week straight) and the level of difficulty the puzzle is.

While boosting your brain, problem-solving skills and your spelling, doing word searches helps further improve language learning. It’s a great way for people of all learning abilities to learn words, increase vocabulary and make you feel smarter. Enjoy word search fun for the whole family with DRUM Word Search.

What is the best way to do word search?

Use a finger or the (capped) end of your pen or pencil to help guide your search. Do a circle search around letters to see whether they lead on to the next letter in the word you’re looking for. Use a highlighter pen or light-colored pencil if you want to mark on top of the words you find.

Do word searches help your brain?

1. Word Searches Keep the Mind Active. While word searches may not seem like the most stimulating activities, they can do some good for aging brains. Because the process for solving a word search is to look at the “clue” of a few letters to find a word, this activity can help seniors sharpen their reasoning skills.

Do word games sharpen your brain?

They found that the individuals who engaged in word puzzles had consistently better short-term memory, reasoning, and attentiveness than those who did not engage in such activities.

Are word searches good for dyslexia?

Activities involving crossword puzzles and word searches can reinforce skills taught in intervention (e.g., spelling patterns, vocabulary). I have a few of my dyslexic clients who actually LOVE word searches, “sleuth” puzzles that require spelling, Mad Libs, and other similar word-based activities.

Are Dyslexics messy?

Difficulty Being Organized Lots of kids are messy, but dyslexic children have an especially hard time keeping things tidy—from their bedrooms and closets to the their school bags and lockers.

Do dyslexics have poor memory?

Dyslexia can affect short term memory, so your partner may forget a conversation, a task they have promised to do, or important dates. They may also struggle to remember the names of people they have met or how to get to places they have visited before.

How do you test to see if you are dyslexic?

Your doctor can give you a referral for further dyslexia testing by specialists use a variety of reading assessments and instruments, including the Lindamood Test (for sound and phonetics), the Woodcock Johnson Achievement Battery, and the Grey Oral Reading Test among others to detect dyslexia.

What are the 3 types of dyslexia?

Some names I’ve heard are:

• dysphonetic dyslexia.
• auditory dyslexia.
• dyseidetic dyslexia.
• visual dyslexia.
• double deficit dyslexia.
• attentional dyslexia.

Is there a test for dyspraxia?

The Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Coordination (Beery VMI), is one of the main tests used for diagnosing dyspraxia in the face-to-face assessment. The Berry VMI is a world-renowned dyspraxia test, which is used to identify visual motor problems associated with dyspraxia.

What does mild dyslexia look like?

Nonetheless, children and adults with mild dyslexia tend to have a harder time manipulating the sounds in words, including rhyming words. Spelling ability might be below average and reading will often take them more time.

What are the 4 types of dyslexia?

6 Types of dyslexia

• Phonological Dyslexia.
• Surface Dyslexia.
• Visual Dyslexia.
• Primary Dyslexia.
• Secondary Dyslexia.
• Trauma Dyslexia also referred to as Acquired Dyslexia.

What age is best to test for dyslexia?

Around age 5 or 6 years, when kids begin learning to read, dyslexia symptoms become more apparent. Children who are at risk of reading disabilities can be identified in kindergarten. There is no standardized test for dyslexia, so your child’s doctor will work with you to evaluate their symptoms.

What is a dyspraxia?

Developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD), also known as dyspraxia, is a condition affecting physical co-ordination. It causes a child to perform less well than expected in daily activities for their age, and appear to move clumsily.

Can you grow out of dyspraxia?

A small number of children, usually those with mild symptoms of clumsiness, may eventually “grow out” of their symptoms. However the vast majority of children need long-term help and will continue to be affected as teenagers and adults.

What does dyspraxia look like?

Children with dyspraxia may demonstrate some of these types of behaviour: Very high levels of motor activity, including feet swinging and tapping when seated, hand-clapping or twisting. Unable to stay still. High levels of excitability, with a loud/shrill voice.

Is dyspraxia a form of autism?

In some instances, both diagnoses are decided upon, particularly if motor skills are significantly affected, but dyspraxia itself is not a form of autism.

Does Harry Potter have dyspraxia?

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has revealed he suffers from dyspraxia, meaning he sometimes still has trouble tying his shoelaces. Although Radcliffe’s is understood to be a mild form of the disorder, severe cases can make it difficult to walk up and down stairs or kick a ball.

What does it mean if you are good at word searches?

While boosting your brain, problem-solving skills and your spelling, doing word searches helps further improve language learning. It’s a great way for people of all learning abilities to learn words, increase vocabulary and make you feel smarter. Enjoy word search fun for the whole family with DRUM Word Search.

What is the best way to do word search?

Use a finger or the (capped) end of your pen or pencil to help guide your search. Do a circle search around letters to see whether they lead on to the next letter in the word you’re looking for. Use a highlighter pen or light-colored pencil if you want to mark on top of the words you find.

Do word searches help your brain?

1. Word Searches Keep the Mind Active. While word searches may not seem like the most stimulating activities, they can do some good for aging brains. Because the process for solving a word search is to look at the “clue” of a few letters to find a word, this activity can help seniors sharpen their reasoning skills.

Do word games sharpen your brain?

They found that the individuals who engaged in word puzzles had consistently better short-term memory, reasoning, and attentiveness than those who did not engage in such activities.

Are word searches good for dyslexia?

Activities involving crossword puzzles and word searches can reinforce skills taught in intervention (e.g., spelling patterns, vocabulary). I have a few of my dyslexic clients who actually LOVE word searches, “sleuth” puzzles that require spelling, Mad Libs, and other similar word-based activities.

Are Dyslexics messy?

Difficulty Being Organized Lots of kids are messy, but dyslexic children have an especially hard time keeping things tidy—from their bedrooms and closets to the their school bags and lockers.

Do dyslexics have poor memory?

Dyslexia can affect short term memory, so your partner may forget a conversation, a task they have promised to do, or important dates. They may also struggle to remember the names of people they have met or how to get to places they have visited before.

How do you test to see if you are dyslexic?

Your doctor can give you a referral for further dyslexia testing by specialists use a variety of reading assessments and instruments, including the Lindamood Test (for sound and phonetics), the Woodcock Johnson Achievement Battery, and the Grey Oral Reading Test among others to detect dyslexia.

What are the 3 types of dyslexia?

Some names I’ve heard are:

• dysphonetic dyslexia.
• auditory dyslexia.
• dyseidetic dyslexia.
• visual dyslexia.
• double deficit dyslexia.
• attentional dyslexia.

Is there a test for dyspraxia?

The Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Coordination (Beery VMI), is one of the main tests used for diagnosing dyspraxia in the face-to-face assessment. The Berry VMI is a world-renowned dyspraxia test, which is used to identify visual motor problems associated with dyspraxia.

What does mild dyslexia look like?

Nonetheless, children and adults with mild dyslexia tend to have a harder time manipulating the sounds in words, including rhyming words. Spelling ability might be below average and reading will often take them more time.

What are the 4 types of dyslexia?

6 Types of dyslexia

• Phonological Dyslexia.
• Surface Dyslexia.
• Visual Dyslexia.
• Primary Dyslexia.
• Secondary Dyslexia.
• Trauma Dyslexia also referred to as Acquired Dyslexia.

What age is best to test for dyslexia?

Around age 5 or 6 years, when kids begin learning to read, dyslexia symptoms become more apparent. Children who are at risk of reading disabilities can be identified in kindergarten. There is no standardized test for dyslexia, so your child’s doctor will work with you to evaluate their symptoms.

What is a dyspraxia?

Developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD), also known as dyspraxia, is a condition affecting physical co-ordination. It causes a child to perform less well than expected in daily activities for their age, and appear to move clumsily.

Can you grow out of dyspraxia?

A small number of children, usually those with mild symptoms of clumsiness, may eventually “grow out” of their symptoms. However the vast majority of children need long-term help and will continue to be affected as teenagers and adults.

What does dyspraxia look like?

Children with dyspraxia may demonstrate some of these types of behaviour: Very high levels of motor activity, including feet swinging and tapping when seated, hand-clapping or twisting. Unable to stay still. High levels of excitability, with a loud/shrill voice.

Is dyspraxia a form of autism?

In some instances, both diagnoses are decided upon, particularly if motor skills are significantly affected, but dyspraxia itself is not a form of autism.

Does Harry Potter have dyspraxia?

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has revealed he suffers from dyspraxia, meaning he sometimes still has trouble tying his shoelaces. Although Radcliffe’s is understood to be a mild form of the disorder, severe cases can make it difficult to walk up and down stairs or kick a ball.

Search queries – the words and phrases that people type into a search box in order to pull up a list of results – come in different flavors. It is commonly accepted that there are three different types of search queries:

1. Navigational search queries
2. Informational search queries
3. Transactional search queries

In the search marketing world, we tend to talk more about keywords than search queries (news flash: they’re not quite the same thing). But today we’re talking search queries. Let’s go into a little more detail on what these three types of search queries are and how you can target them with your site content.

Navigational Search Queries

What Is a Navigational Search Query?

A navigational query is a search query entered with the intent of finding a particular website or webpage. For example, a user might enter “youtube” into Google’s search bar to find the YouTube site rather than entering the URL into a browser’s navigation bar or using a bookmark. In fact, “facebook” and “youtube” are the top two searches on Google, and these are both navigational queries.

How Should You Target Navigational Search Queries?

The fact is, you don’t stand much of a chance targeting a navigational query unless you happen to own the site that the person is looking for. True navigational queries have very clear intent – the user has an exact site in mind and if you’re not that site, you’re not relevant to their needs. Google, which classifies this type of query as a “go query” according to some reports, has even taken the step of reducing the total number of results on the first page to 7 for navigational brand queries, leading to a 5.5% reduction in overall organic first-page listings. However, some queries that appear to be navigational in nature might not be. For example, someone who googles “facebook” might actually be looking for news or information about the company.

Tip: Make sure you own your own brand’s navigational query. Ideally, your site will appear in both the top organic spot and as the top sponsored result in a search for your brand or company name. As Brad Geddes has pointed out, “in many cases, it is worth buying keywords even if you rank organically for them,” because your total profits will end up higher. Branded keywords tend to drive both clicks and conversions.

Informational Search Queries

What Is an Informational Search Query?

Wikipedia defines informational search queries as “Queries that cover a broad topic (e.g., colorado or trucks) for which there may be thousands of relevant results.” When someone enters an informational search query into Google or another search engine, they’re looking for information – hence the name. They are probably not looking for a specific site, as in a navigational query, and they are not looking to make a commercial transaction. They just want to answer a question or learn how to do something.

Run our free Google Ads Performance Grader today and you’ll find out which keywords are burning your budget!

How Should You Target Informational Search Queries?

Informational queries are hard to monetize. Google knows this, which is why it’s been pushing the Knowledge Graph to address these types of queries. The best way to target informational searches is with high-quality SEO content that genuinely provides helpful information relevant to the query. Wikipedia, for all its flaws, is pretty good at providing basic, reliable-enough info on an extremely broad range of topics, which is why they rank on the first page for about half of all searches (well, that and their enormously powerful link profile).

Wikipedia leaves a lot to be desired for a lot of informational searches, though. That’s where you come in! Here are some of the ways you could target informational queries to drive traffic and leads to your site through organic search:

• Write a blog post full of tips that would be useful for your prospective customers – if you’re a PR consultant, for example, you could write a blog post on how to create a press release.
• Create a how-to video that is relevant to your business (like this home improvement dude who made a video on how to build a tree house).
• Write a detailed, step-by-step guide that elucidates a process relevant to your business (for example, take SEOmoz’s great beginner’s guide to SEO).
• Design an infographic that illustrates a concept (like our infographic on how the Google Ads auction works).

There are many ways to approach informational content. Get creative. The goal is to position yourself as a trustworthy, authoritative source of information, not to try to cram your products down the searcher’s throat. This is the time to build awareness of your brand. If you can answer a searcher’s question, they’ll be more likely to think of you positively in the future if they need the kind of offerings you provide.

If you’re looking for more direction when it comes to content marketing, check out these related posts:

• Aligning Keyword & Content Types with Business Goals
• How to Rank for a Keyword in 10 Steps
• A Beginner’s Guide to Content Strategy for the Web: 10 Things You Need to Know

Transactional Search Queries

What Is a Transactional Search Query?

A transactional search query is a query that indicates an intent to complete a transaction, such as making a purchase. Transactional search queries may include exact brand and product names (like “samsung galaxy s3”) or be generic (like “iced coffee maker”) or actually include terms like “buy,” “purchase,” or “order.” In all of these examples, you can infer that the searcher is considering making a purchase in the near future, if they’re not already pulling out their credit card. In other words, they’re at the business end of the conversion funnel. Many local searches (such as “Denver wine shop”) are transactional as well.

Vertical searches are a subset of transactional search queries, and they represent people looking to make a transaction in a specific industry. These include local searches, restaurant searches, hotel searches, flight searches, etc. Google’s moves in recent years to directly target vertical searches have led to accusations of antitrust violations.

How Should You Target Transactional Search Queries?

We recommend a two-pronged approach here. There is no reason not to target transactional queries with organic content, like optimized product pages and local SEO strategies, but you should consider using PPC to target these search terms as well. Here’s why:

• These are exactly the kinds of queries that are mostly likely to deliver ROI in paid search. If people are looking for a specific type of product to buy, a sponsored ad is just as likely as an organic result to deliver what they need.
• Sponsored results take up a lot of the available space on the SERP for commercial/transactional queries. If you want visibility above the fold for transactional keywords, you should consider PPC.
• Google offers lots of bells and whistles for sponsored ads and product listings. For example, you can include a picture of your product. Your options in organic results are more limited and less controllable.
• In one study, we found that people click on paid results over organic results 2 to 1 for queries with high commercial intent. This is probably because sponsored results take up so much of the above-the-fold real estate on these types of searches, because the new ad formats are so eye-catchingly clickable, and because lots of search engine users can’t tell the difference between ads and non-ads. (NB: Commercial search queries are just a small percentage of total search query volume overall, so organic results still take the lion’s share of overall clicks. More on that here.)

These are some of the reasons we recommend using AdWords for transactional search queries. It’s a scalable and cost-effective way to drives leads and sales. However, know that if you want to drive more overall traffic, your best bet is to build out your SEO content as well, since there are more informational queries than transactional ones.

Any questions about these search query types and what they mean for search marketers? Let us know in the comments!