LONG TAIL KEYWORDS: A Key for SEO Success

Deciding on the right keywords for your website provides an initial basis that you need for a strong online marketing strategy. When you choose the wrong keywords or fail to do keyword research, then you will find that your website doesn’t show up in the search engines when your customers are trying to find the type of product or service that you offer.

Long-tail keywords have become the new way to increase traffic to your site. Rankings are easier to attain because competition is lower, and it is somewhat easier to optimize for pages that target such keywords. They continue to be a powerful way to influence search traffic, especially with the growing competition around high demand after short keywords.

However, you need to have a clear understanding of how long-tail keywords will work for your SEO purposes.

What is Long-Tail Keyword?

Long-tail keywords are those three and four keyword phrases which are very specific to whatever your site is about. Whenever a customer uses a highly specific search phrase, they tend to look for exactly what they are actually searching for.

As an example, a short-tail keyword would be “Real Estate” and a long-tail keyword would be “real estate agent near Lakewood Ohio.” Both keyword phrases are about the same topic, but the long-tail keyword is more closely related to what exactly what the customer is searching for.

With this example, long-tail keywords are really important because you don’t have to make a guess at what your customer wants; you can always be certain what the customer is looking for. When you already understand what your user intent is, it will help you and will directly influence your ROI across all efforts.

Result Relevancy

Short keyword searches with high competition and search volume are not often going to gain high-value results, even if the information is complete and the quality is very high. Maybe because the short keywords are not exactly relevant.

On the other hand, long-tail keywords are more reasonable to use because it may be able to provide the relevant information to what the user is searching for as it is more specific and there is a lot less competition.

Less Competition

Long-tail keywords are less popular because people will likely search those short keywords but on the other hand long-tail keywords are more directed to detailed searches and come with less competition. Fewer competitors means a higher potential for people searching to click on your page and eventually make a purchase.

By using long-tail keywords you can possibly make up the search volume difference, you’ll push yourself toward a better content strategy, conversion strategy, and link building strategy.

3 Tips for Choosing the Right Long-Tail Keywords

When you are doing your keyword research, there are few things that you should keep in mind to increase the success of your SEO ranking:

  1. Know who your “target market” is. It is important to know who your target market is because this is your guide in choosing the right keyword. Imagine what type of phrases they would use when searching online, and base your keywords on those topics.
  2. Use “professional” tools. The goal of SEO is to connect with more customers who are interested in buying the product or service that you offer. Make sure that you are using a long-tail keyword tool such as Google’s Keyword Planner so that you will choose the right keywords for your SEO.
  3. When trying to come up with long tail keywords break them up into 3 sections: prefix, middle word, and suffix. This will help finding the long-tail keywords seamless and natural based on your business or blog. For example if you are a real estate agent in Lakewood Ohio, your prefix may be “find”, your middle word “Real Estate Agent” and your suffix “near Lakewood Ohio” making your new long tail keyword “find Real Estate Agent near Lakewood Ohio.” This is more specific to what your business is about and what your customers would be looking for.

Conclusion

With the influence of modern technology, more people are using the internet to get information with the help of articles, blog posts, and on websites. If you have a website or blog that provides important information that you know your customers need then you have to take actions to help people find your site in Google searches. In this moment you should engage in search engine optimization (SEO) and a long-tail keyword is an essential tool to use because using long tail-keywords will help you on your SEO campaign for the reason that it is more relevant to what people want and most especially you will have fewer competitors.

So, are you ready to identify the best keywords for your website? Contact us today and we will help you put together a high-quality online marketing strategy.

About the Author

Dan Mindlin is the President and Principal Consultant and has been with the Mindlin Consulting Group since its inception in 1999.