Long-tail keywords are generally at least three words in length because of their specificity, but accurate, low-volume searches of just one or two words in length are also considered long-tail keywords. To use long-tail keyword phrases correctly, most businesses do research, brainstorming about potential long-tail phrases that their customers may be searching for, and comparing these to one another for search volume and competition. As a result, researching long-tail keywords is pointless: finding the commonly searched long-tail phrases and using them on your website, word-for-word, is not going to give you the results that you are used to. Despite low search volume, you will still receive plenty of organic traffic as soon as you gain a high position in search engines for the long-tail keyword.
Long tail keywords can help you rank high in Google, boost your income from the particular keyword in your niche, boost organic search traffic, and more. By targeting the long, more specific, long-tail keywords in an AdWords campaign, you will be able to achieve high advertising rankings in the relevant searches, without having to pay a premium on each click.
There is also a fair amount of competition for such keywords, as you would guess. That is why having a more specific, less competitive keyword could be a big deal. Thus lower volume keywords are not necessarily easier to rank for compared to higher volume keywords.
If you are competing for a less popular keyword, it will be easier for you to get on the first page of the search engines. While there might be less monthly searches for those keywords, the click-through rate (CTR) could be substantial, as you can rank far higher than for competitive words. Even if each of these keywords gets just a few clicks a month, keep in mind that you will probably rank easily for them. If you are thinking such keywords/topics are not worth your time because they have a lower potential search traffic, think again.
Sometimes, they are part of a much larger theme, and Google shows you just as many results on a unpopular long-tail variant as it does on the main keyword. Basically, long-tail keywords let you rank highly on relevant keywords, and while their search volume is lower, it is very likely that they will drive an incredible amount of highly relevant, highly intended traffic to your website, by paying attention to the way that your target audience is searching.
If they are clicking on your website from the search engines, chances are that they are finding you via a long-tail keyword. Longtail keywords are specific, long-tail queries that tell the search engines not only what words searchers want to learn about the searchers, but also why they want to learn them. Search allows for the creation of valuable, evergreen content, depending on which longtail keywords they are using.
Clicks are an enormous benefit for your business, and understanding how to best integrate longtail keywords helps you to achieve that. Another reason longtail keywords can benefit content and overall search marketing strategies is the more specific a search is in getting a user on your site, the better chance you have of them becoming paying customers. While tying yourself to one specific search term might be a valid strategy under some circumstances, proper research into long-tail keywords can yield great results for your business, especially if you are in a highly competitive niche, as you can focus your efforts on the specific keywords most likely to generate quality traffic.
In addition, long-tail keywords are probably an important component of Googles algorithms, so you will want to figure out how to match them with your goals. Longtail keywords can help you accomplish different goals, so you need to determine what you are trying to accomplish before starting writing. You should use keywords throughout your content in ways that feel natural and do not come across as forced. There are some principles that you can use to generate a good list of keywords that should be tried; let us take a look at each one.
If your website is new, or you are currently not ranking well, it may take years of hard work and constant improvements before you rank well on your blog niche through the competitive search phrases. Websites often rank very highly for multiple head terms, and rank fairly well or poorly for millions of other keywords. With shorter keywords, the competition to rank may be stiff, but visits may be scattered, and the ROI may be small.
Competitive keywords typically come at higher CPCs, but keywords with lower searches or competition are cheaper and have a higher targeted intent. You do not want to spend all your budget and marketing resources on ultra-competitive keywords that have a small chance of ranking highly in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). As a result, you will be able to capitalize on hundreds of opportunities relatively quickly, instead of investing all of your time and resources on a small group of super-competitive keywords.
You can use a free tool such as Google Analytics to discover the exact keywords that people are searching for in order to find your site. Google is a great way to find the keywords that your audience uses, as well as helping you to find other topics ideas. Of course, many new keyword ideas are not going to be actionable, but Google Keyword Planner is a good way to discover new long-tail keywords, and you can use Get Search Volume & Forecast features to find out more about the popularity of a keyword.
By now, you should have more than just the basics of which keywords you should be using in your content. Now that you have got an exhaustive list of all of your potential keywords, it is time to start pruning down your list. Tools such as Keyword Generator Tool will provide you with hundreds of suggestions for keywords, from exact, high-volume words to related long-tail keywords.
Over time, this will be enough to grow your audience and benefit from the search traffic generated from these long-tail, high-specific keywords phrases. As you do, you will likely find more keyword phrases you can target, which will help you keep building up your reputation and improving your SEO on-page.
