Mastering Long Tail Search

When marketers and SEOs decide to target a highly competitive keyword, it could take months or even years to see meaningful movement in the SERPs. But the search landscape is shifting, and more searchers are typing in long tail search terms to find what they’re looking for in search engines. Not surprisingly, marketers and SEOs are responding by shifting their attention to long tail search optimization. If you haven’t started integrating long tail keywords into your keyword research strategy or you’re not sure it’s the right move for your site, here’s the what, why, and how of long tail search.

What Are Long Tail Keywords?

A long tail keyword is a very targeted search phrase that contains 3 or more words. It often contains a head term, which is a more generic search term 1 or 2 words in length. For example:

Head term: unicorn

Long tail keywords: unicorn games online, unicorn costumes for kids, unicorn videos on youtube

Why Target Long Tail Keywords?

Better quality traffic and higher conversion rates. Long tail keywords are more specific, which means visitors that land on your website from a long tail search term are more qualified. Content targeting unicorn costumes for kids, for example, will receive more relevant traffic than content targeting unicorn costumes. And since the content on that page is more relevant to the searcher, a greater percentage of that traffic is likely to purchase the costume for their kid.
Because long tail keywords are less competitive. Everyone looking for unicorn costumes for kids is looking for unicorn costumes; not everyong looking for unicorn costumes is looking for unicorn costume for kids. In other words, the more niche you get, the less competitive it is.

Long Tail keywords

Simply put, long-tail keywords are more targeted search phrases with 3 or more words. A long-tail keyword contains the more generic “head” keyword, but it also contains a few extra words that make it more targeted to a specific group of audience.

For example, “shoes” is a very generic head keyword. It may have a lot of searches, but it isn’t targeted.

On the other hand, “best running shoes for men” is a long-tail keyword that is catering to a very specific group of audience, i.e. men looking for best running shoes.

The Benefits of Long-Tail Keywords

There are plenty of benefits of targeting long-tail keywords. Here are two of the biggest benefits:

Long-tail keywords have less competition and, therefore, such keywords are significantly easier to be ranked for.

Don’t worry about the low search volume. The “head” keywords are more generic and, therefore, shows a lot of search volume. But it is almost impossible to rank for a “head” keyword now.

On the other hand, it is far easier to rank for a long-tail keyword. And despite the lower search volume, you will still be getting a lot of organic traffic once you acquire a top search-engine position for that keyword. Neil Patel, the famous internet marketer, is generating 173,336 traffic visitors every month from long-tail keywords.

Furthermore, unlike “head” keywords, long-tail keywords have the best conversion rate.

The idea is that long-tail keywords target potential customers who are further in the buying cycle. For instance, if someone is looking for “shoes”, it indicates that the searcher is still in the beginning stages of decision making. On the other hand, if someone is specifically searching for “red reebok shoes for men”, it shows that the buyer has already made up his mind.

This is one of the main reasons why long-tail keywords have the best conversion rates.

How to Integrate Long-Tail Keywords in Your Content?

Once we have established the benefits of using long-tail keywords, it is time to learn how you can leverage them.

But before you start integrating long-tail keywords in your website’s content, it is more important to first research the right keywords. So let’s get started with that.

Finding the Right Long-Tail Keywords for Your Audience

As I mentioned earlier, long-tail keywords will have lesser search-engine volume, but this shouldn’t stop you from targeting those keywords. Don’t be tempted to target a “head” keyword with thousands and thousands of monthly searches. This is one of the most common mistakes website owners make when they are searching for keywords.

Why focus on long tail keywords?

Long tail keywords are keywords or key phrases that are more specific (and usually longer) than more common “head” keywords. Long tail keywords get less search traffic, but will usually have a higher conversion value, as they focus on a more specific product. This post explains why you should focus on long tail keywords when optimizing your site.

Integration of long tail keywords in contents