Keywords have been around since the beginning of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and they’re still being highly utilized today by Internet marketers. If you have even the slightest inkling about SEO, you know that it's essential to incorporate relevant keywords in your website, blog, social media posts, and other online promotional materials. Of course, there are particular tactics you will need to apply in order to get your desired results.
Currently, long-tail keywords are all the rage. It's not enough to simply research the essential keywords that could lead people to your business when they are using search engines like Google. Online marketing specialists have been stressing the great importance and proven effectiveness of utilizing long-tail keywords more for SEO purposes. The long-tail keywords have become even more important since our dependence on smartphones because of the way users ask questions. People don’t use keywords when they ask "Siri"; they ask "Siri" questions. Say hello to long-tail keywords!
What are Long-Tail Keywords, Anyway?
If you are selling flowers online, some of the common keywords you may use are "online flowers", "flower delivery", "order roses", and "free delivery". But if you're going for long-tail keywords, you'll have to make use of more specific keywords which often consist of three to four words or even more.
One important characteristic of these types of keywords is that they’re extremely specific to what you are offering. Hence, those who use such search phrases are likely on the hunt for your actual product or service and will likely buy it as well.
In the given example above, the long-tail keywords relevant to your business may include "where can I buy roses and chocolates online", "Who has pink rose delivery worldwide", and "Valentine's gift flower package for my wife". When you target such keywords, you're more likely to draw the attention of qualified prospects. It's a great way to increase your percentage of targeted traffic as well as boost your conversion rate.
How Can Targeting Long-Tail Keywords Benefit You?
If you've been doing Internet marketing for quite some time now, you probably realize that pure traffic is not sufficient to increase your business profit. Perhaps it can help you establish a stronger brand presence and reach out to various audiences, but it’s obviously better if your website visitors actually become paying customers.
This is where long-tail keywords come in.
These keywords probably won’t increase your website traffic. However, you can be assured that the traffic that they do bring will be valuable. These site visitors are much closer to the point of purchase than typical visitors to your website. You can expect a greater and faster return on investment from them.
What's even better is that with long-tail keywords, you have a clearer shot at a higher ranking on search results. Isn't this is one of the goals of SEO? Thus, you can maximize your efforts when you target such keywords. For instance, if you are selling wedding dresses, incorporate the keywords "lace wedding dress with sleeves" and "vintage lace wedding gown" into your guest post about bridal preparations or into your article entitled "The Best Wedding Dress for Your Body Type".
Do you know that using long-tail keywords will also drop off some of the other competition for traffic? Yes, this is yet another benefit you can enjoy. With lower competition, you'll have a larger number of qualified prospective customers visiting your website. Furthermore, you won't have to pay as much when going for paid ads and paid search marketing campaigns. This is because the CPC (cost per click) is essentially lower due to lesser competition.
Regarding the competition, you ought to realize too that with shorter and more generic keywords, you may unnecessarily be taking on the giant companies in your industry. Let's say you wish to promote your new laser liposuction services. If you use broad keywords like "liposuction", "weight loss", and "fat removal", you may find yourself competing alongside WebMD.com and Health.com. More people may head over to these sites rather than to yours. But if you use long-tail keywords such as "laser lipo for arms in Chicago", "California laser lipo services", and "non-invasive stomach fat removal in Fort Lauderdale", you'll have potential customers going to your website and checking out your services.
Here's another advantage of multi-word, definite keywords--- Google's applause. Yes, you read it right. Google loves more content. When you target long-tail keywords, you'll have a longer list of keywords that you will need to write about. As a result, you will end up creating more pages and writing more blogs and articles. And when this happens, Google is more likely to give you attention and thus improve your ranking on search results, though you’ll still have come up with relevant and well-written content.
How Can You Discover Long-Tail Keywords?
You may have your own ideas for the long-tail keywords that your prospective customers may be typing in the search bar. However, there are many other ways to find the right keywords instead of wasting time racking your brain on your own.
You can utilize Google Suggestions, wherein suggested usual phrases appear once you type in the first two words. It would also be good to check out Google Trends in order to see what many people are looking for these days.
Here are two free keyword tools you should never miss out on trying--- WordStream's Free Keyword Tool and the Keyword Niche Finder. They can provide you with more long-tail keywords for you to choose from and provide you with those more likely being typed by searchers. You just have to pick out which ones are relevant to your business.
In social media, you can also try out Twitter Search and YouTube's Keyword Tool. These two programs will help you discover more keywords you can use in your SEO.
Indeed there are plenty of online resources that can help you out in this endeavor. What's important is that you set out to explore them with the goal of gathering long-tail keywords that you can insert in your various content and marketing materials. In the long run, you'll be happy with the results that this can give you.
