The Ultimate Guide to Long-Tail Keywords

It is a good SEO strategy to concentrate on long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are keyphrases or keywords that are more particular and typically longer than more widely used keywords. Because these keywords are more precise, long-tail keywords typically have a higher conversion value despite receiving less search traffic.

These keywords enable you to increase site traffic and attract the attention of new, gradually energized audiences. The internet is now the biggest source of potential target audiences, even when only a small fraction is interested.

The popularity of the internet makes niche products profitable, and long-tail keyword rankings are crucial. In today’s post, we are going to focus on what are long-tail keywords and what are the advantages of using them. If this interests you, stay tuned until the end!

What Are Long-Tail Keywords?

Android smartphone showing a Google search that reads analytics
Photo by Edho Pratama on Unsplash

So, what are long-tail keywords? Typically composed of three to five words, a long-tail keyword is a phrase. You can target particular demographics with these keywords because they are more focused than generic search terms. This makes them highly important. If you have a specific offer for a specific niche, these keywords are the main way to go.

Due to their intent to reflect users’ search patterns more accurately, these keywords are less competitive than generic ones. You can increase the amount of high-quality traffic to your website and increase the likelihood that this traffic will convert by using long-tail keywords.

Long-tail keywords are increasingly crucial as the customer journey progresses. Users typically start with a basic search and refine it as the search engines direct them toward a solution to their problem.

To distinguish your brand from the competition, long-tail keywords will become crucial at this point.

They account for a disproportionately large portion of all Google searches when taken as a whole.

Advantages of Using Long-Tail Keywords

Nowadays, people frequently use the same expressions when speaking to a friend when they enter queries into Google. We refer to this as natural language.

Use long-tail keywords to increase the likelihood that your content will attract these users to your website and launch the buyer’s journey.

Because they only contain a few words, long-tail keywords are much more specialized. This implies that both site owners and users typically experience better outcomes.

By getting more traffic, brands will be able to attract new customers. Customers are happier because their content is more closely related to their objectives.

The competition for each keyword phrase is lower for long tail keywords because they are more focused than short tail ones. Brands can more successfully match their targeted keywords to their customer services.

You should compile a sizable relevant list of long-tail keywords that you can use throughout your site. Of course, depending on the topics your site creates content around and how many pages it has.

You’ll need a running list of excellent keywords because optimizing your site for the exact keywords on every page is neither realistic nor SEO-healthy. It’s a good idea to include “near me” in your long-tail keywords. Especially if you’re a local business trying to attract customers in your area. 

You’ll rank higher if you use specific keywords like “Turkish baklava with pistachios” and “Chicken Tacos With Mole,” which are less competitive keywords. The more competitive keywords are being vied for first place.

Create buyer personas for each of your customers and map their journeys to them.

Utilize search engines for your query research by entering a straightforward query and watching as long-tail keyword suggestions appear. You should focus your optimization efforts on these keywords because they are what users are searching for.

Examples of Long-Tail Keywords & Shorter Keywords

Now that we know how long-tail keywords can provide you with better results, let’s look at some examples to show what we mean:

Hair Salons Near Upper East Side

Now let’s take a look at this long-tail keyword. Imagine you are a hair salon on the Upper East Side. How would you rate hair salons in New York by “hair salon New York” or “hair studio NYC?” No one is going to come from Long Island to the Upper East Side to get their hair done.

So, instead of taking all that competition, it would be best for you to focus on the Upper East Side. In fact, you could even get more specific and go “hair salons on Madison Avenue.” This would be a better way to snatch customers from other hair salons on Madison Avenue, which are your organic competition. 

Homemade Iced Coffee

Now, if someone is searching for this term on Google, we know a couple of things. First off, they have a specific niche in the market. These people obviously love iced coffee, but they don’t want any iced coffee.

Otherwise, their search terms on Google would just be iced coffee or iced coffee near me. No, they are actively looking, searching to see if they can make iced coffee at home. 

Now, if you were creating content using only the keywords iced coffee, you would have lost these potential clients. Because there are many people looking and searching for iced coffee. But not many of them are searching for that at home. You can see how much difference one word makes in your keywords.

Final Thoughts

When you do your keyword research, you may think you could get better results if you use a broader keyword. After all, keyword research shows that shorter keywords have the most traffic when you look, right?

Well, not exactly. You see, yes, shorter keywords do mean more traffic and search volume. However, they also have the most competition. In such a competitive environment, it isn’t easy to rank on the first page, or even second for that matter.

Even though in marketing, we advise you not to be too specific, in this case, it helps to be more specific. More specific types of keywords will likely help you get ranked on the first page of search results.

Keyword research is an art in and of itself. That’s why you shouldn’t use all the words that show up in your research and hope it works. You have to search and use specifically targeted keywords to get the best results on Google. Long-tail keywords are fantastic tools because even though they don’t get the most search volume, they are more likely to have higher conversion rates. 

For smaller businesses, long-tail keywords are great tools because their target is higher conversion rates, not the most traffic. 

In the end, looking out for the best keywords, all the while maintaining good SEO practices, isn’t an easy task. In fact, having good SEO is a difficult thing to do in the first place!

That’s why we highly recommend professional tools for your website that will help with your marketing. Not only that, but these tools will also help you with SEO and other keyword searches that will get your pages to rank higher.

We hope our guide was able to help you understand and answer the question: what are long-tail keywords? 

Abir is a data analyst and researcher. Among her interests are artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing. As a humanitarian and educator, she actively supports women in tech and promotes diversity.

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