Utilize Long Tail Keywords for SEO Wins
Keywords are at the center of an SEO campaign. After all, in the most basic terms that’s how SEO works. People type in a keyword or a keyword phrase into the search engine and the search engine shows results that include that keyword or keyword variation. This is why keyword research is one of the first items completed within an SEO campaign.
There are two types of keywords; broad and niche. Broad keywords are usually one or two words that are wide-ranging. The searcher could be interested in many things. For example, “SEO” is a broad keyword. What is the intent? Does the searcher want to learn about what SEO is? Find an SEO firm? Attend an SEO training session? Maybe they don’t even know exactly what they are hoping to get out of the search. This is why it’s recommended to stay away from targeting broad keywords within your SEO campaign. Because broad keywords could have a number of meanings the search volume is high, but so is the competition. Even if you were able to rank for such a broad keyword, not all of the associated traffic will want what you have to offer.
The better approach is to target the second type of keyword; the niche, or long tail, keyword. As people continue to be dependent on the search engines for information, their searches are becoming more sophisticated. Long tail keyword searches continue to be more popular, especially question type searches. For example, instead of searching for “hair styling tips”, people are typing full questions into the search box like “how do I curl my own hair using a flat iron?” There are plenty of long tail keyword opportunities within that question that you could utilize to create content that would appear for this type of search query.
If you are trying to figure out what types of long tail keywords to target, a great source of ideas is the Google search box itself. As you start typing something into the search box, Google will suggest what it thinks you may be searching for based on popular searches. Start typing in some potential questions or long tail keywords to see what comes up.
Long tail keywords, because they are so niche, typically result in a higher conversion rate. People use a long tail keyword when they know exactly what they are looking for, unlike those that are searching with an extremely broad keyword. People that search using long tail keywords typically are looking for something very specific and have already spent the time doing research and narrowing down their search.
Another reason why long tail keywords are worth including within your SEO strategy is that they help to keep your campaign natural. The best SEO campaigns today are more focused on the end user, the target audience as opposed to the search engine spiders. There are an almost unlimited number of long tail keywords that you could target, whereas there are only so many broad ones that are relevant. Incorporating many variations of long tail keywords helps to keep things natural which is what the search engines favor today.
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