Long-Tail Keywords: 2019’s Solution for Smarter Digital Marketing

Aug 22, 2019 | Digital Marketing Insights

With the digital world constantly changing and expanding, companies are focusing on integrating long-tail keywords into their content. Why? The answer is simple, long-tail keywords increase SEO traffic which increases rank. By using this technique, searches are specific and narrow and content becomes more relevant to long-tail keyword searches.

The first step to any SEO strategy is content — quality content. Today, many, if not all, businesses have an online digital presence. To maintain this presence, blogs, articles, videos, etc. are posted regularly, making the market more competitive. To stand out from the competition, you need more than quality content. You need SEO strategies that include long-tail keywords. Without them, users will not find your content and a quality article is nothing without a reader.

What Are Long-Tail Keywords?

Long-tail keywords are phrases that are incredibly specific to your product, i.e what you are selling. As opposed to using generic, single words for searching, implementing three or four-word phrases limits the scope. By limiting the scope, competition decreases and rankings increase. Using this technique is imperative in your SEO strategy as it will directly impact your conversion value.

Examples: 

Creating Content for Long-Tail Keyword Search 

Although SEO is incredibly beneficial, a generic approach won’t exactly make you the most competitive or allow you to rank better on Google. It will yield some traffic but to be truly competitive, content keyword research is everything.

This means that writing a quality blog doesn’t cut it anymore. To rise above the competition, you must write a blog based on extensive research from long-tail keywords. In essence, your blog should be centered around certain long-tail keywords.

How can you find your next blog topic? Research. Research. Research. By searching for long-tail keywords, you can create an entire month worth of content. For example, let’s say you are looking to write a blog on SEO. You could write the blog and be done, or you could continue researching and developing more content. When researching for your content, search for more than just “SEO.” Start adding words to your original “SEO” search and soon enough, you’ll find multiple blog topics.

Some tools to use are SEMrush or the Google Keyword Planner. If you don’t have access to this, no problem. Start typing away in the Google search bar on a specific topic and see what you can find.

Here are other examples you may find while researching which will result in ideas for more content.

1. Search engine optimization companies near me
2. Search engine optimization tools for beginners
3. Search engine optimization tactics to increase social media following

Once you have found your blog topic based on your long-tail keyword research, you need to include it in the URL, title tag, and body text. To further increase your visibility, implement the focus keyword in alt images and headers.

Here’s another example of creating content for long-tail keyword search: Let’s say you sell pet products and have created a blog. Chances are, the short-tail keyword term, “pet product(s)” will occur randomly at some point throughout your blog. That term will allow Google, and everyone online, to find you more easily. You will begin to rank higher as more and more people search online for pet-related products. The result inevitably, and without much effort, will be some direct traffic sent to your site.

But the thing is, not all traffic is sales-worthy traffic, now is it? Using an easy, one-size-fits-all tactic, means you will have to compete with every other “pet product” retailer online, some of whom probably rank in the top ten. Whether they offer what you do or not – if you are in the pet product world, you will need to get in line behind them. Good luck with that approach! Maybe, if you are lucky, you will see 100-1000 site visitors per month. Quite frankly, this strategy won’t have a very transformative effect on sales. In short, it will allow you to have an online presence. Google and a few people will be able to find you, although they probably did a direct search.

However, refining the search term “pet products”, and narrowing the scope, will! Implementing long-tail keywords creates for a more specific search and a higher conversion value. Although they receive less traffic, long-tail keywords account for roughly 70% of all web searches. Think about it, consumers do not search for generic terms when on the market, they type a few phrases to limit their scope, allowing them to find a product that best suits their needs.

In order to rank higher in searches, you need to stay up-to-date on and utilize the trending marketing strategies. Marketing is a race between competitors, if you want to win the race, you need a competitive SEO content str ategy that includes long-tail keywords.

Long-Tail Keywords vs. Short-Tail Keywords

Understanding the importance of long-tail keyword usage within your content marketing is analogous to understanding the difference between going out on 5^th avenue to market your business, as opposed to attending a convention of buyers who want what you sell. The latter sales strategy is all about less volume, more targeted advertising.

Online, it works like this. If someone does a search in Atlanta on “pet stores”, the result is about 5,020,000,000 hits (0.86 seconds). If you narrow that search to a more specific “pet stores that sell organic food near me”, the Google results currently yield about 315,000,000 results (.91 seconds). But… and here’s where it gets interesting, if narrowed down, even more, to “pet stores that sell organic cat food in Buckhead, GA”, the results are whittled down to about 151,000 results (0.62 seconds).

Keep in mind, as you use these specific terms in your content, i.e blog, article, video, you are doing so, to move up the page on Google. The buyer is likely going to choose from the first five competitors, maybe the first ten, that rank on the page, so page rank is essential in a competitive marketing strategy.

Short-tail keywords are a given. Of course, you must use general keywords in the content as well. But why is there such a rabid focus suddenly, specifically by marketing companies, towards long-tail? Because it works!

A recent Forbes article titled, The Long Tail and Why Your SEO Key Strategy is Wrong, points to the change in how we search online. Online searchers are getting smarter and smarter, so too is the technology used to do the searches. According to Forbes contributor, Josh Steimle, it’s more important now than ever to understand long-tail keyword SEO strategy as it pertains to your digital marketing plan, especially when users are now able to speak to Google without ever typing a single thing into the search bar. Steimle states that when adding up keyword searches, the long tail searches “can be larger than the searches in the body.”

In an extensive study performed by a SaaS company, results showed that long-tail search terms drastically improved page rank and performed 2.5 times better than their head keyword variations. With statistics like these, why would you not implement long-tail keywords into your SEO strategy?Ⓒ Copyright 2011 Search Engine Watch

Long-Tail Keywords: Must for Digital Marketing

Delivering quality content is great, but you have to do more. To improve your company’s rank, you must build a marketing strategy that includes not just keywords, but long-tail keywords.

Start focusing on long-tail keywords. Implement these into every marketing material, whether blog, article or video, use them. By combining great content with long-tail keywords, your SEO traffic will significantly increase.

Our advice? Research and implement the key search engine phrases, publish the content, and watch sales skyrocket and your company climb in rank.

Tip: One of our favorite tools for tracking and improving rankings is Uber Suggest 6.0, designed by Neil Patel. It allows you to track your website, see backlinks, and keywords, as well as your organic traffic each month. According to fortunelords.com, Ubersuggest is “an awesome free tool which can find 100s of new long tail keywords in a few minutes. It aggregates data from Google Suggest which provides keyword ideas similar and related to your searches on Google. Once long-tail keywords have been implemented into the content, we recommend registering for Ubersuggest 6.0 to track your site.

Do you utilize long-tail keywords in your content? If so, let us know how they have positively affected your traffic.

If you have any other questions or comments, please leave those below. 

For more on long-tail keywords or any information on SEO marketing, contact Hyperlinks Media today.