Long tail keywords are three or four keywords that are specific to the thing what you are selling.
When a person is trying to find something on Google he doesn’t just input one word into the search, he enters a question or a specific phrase. And this is what long tail keywords are – specific phrases a person would enter into a Google search. So, if you use long tail keywords, it is more likely that a person with a specific interest would come to your website and buy your product or service.
As you may know by your own experience, ranking for a specific keyword can be a challenge.
But, with the use of specific longer multi-word keywords, you can easier get better ranking on Google. But, there is also a downside to this approach.
If you focus too much on phrases that are too specific, your website won’t get that much traffic. Yes, visitors that come to your website through long tail keyword will be spending money on your website but you need it all nowadays – traffic and profit.
Profit to make your business sustainable and traffic to rank better or search engines.
So, considering everything, the best approach would be this:
– have pages that target one-word keywords that will bring you traffic from people how are just doing research and not ready to make a purchase yet,
– and have pages with long tail keywords – that will bring you, specific customers, how have already done their research and are now ready to place an order.
“Visitors that come to your website through long tail keyword will be spending money on your website…”
And if you don’t know what keywords are and where/how to use them, read my earlier post – What are keywords and how to use them to increase traffic to your website.
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Long-tail keywords are a bit challenging for me, I try to rank for certain words but it’s difficult to rank for both. This article is just what I needed to get to work. Thanks for sharing.
Also still a bit challenging for me but I am playing around and also entering a specific phrase that helps alot. Very beneficial though 🙂
Karmen,
For each post do you suggest we use a combination of both? Or should some posts be just long tailed keywords and some be just keywords? I have a hard time figuring up long tailed keywords myself. I think of maybe 2 but I know I should have more than that. Also, how many key words per post do you suggest that is the best for SEO optimization? Thanks for the insight! Loved this
Very valid tip on keyword/keyphrase usage, Karmen! I see content where they simply stuff the one keyword making it hard to read and a little annoying. It makes sense to use long tail keywords because logically, we seldom search with a single word – we always type a string in Google search. So it makes sense to use what people might be looking for–and just a little research can really help. Also variations of the keyphrase makes the content readable! Thank you for the great tips!
I’ve never really though about using long-tail keywords. I think I better start , thanks for sharing your knowledge.
I find keyword research fascinating and fun to do. Yes call me a geek or strange but when you know what people are searching for, how many people are searching for those keywords and how many people are competing for those keywords you have a lot of great information on hand.
You are so right that people type a search term into search engines, they don’t just type in one word. I’ve found great success with “how to” long tail keywords.