What are long tail keywords and how do they work?

LONG TAIL KEYWORDS: WHAT IT REALLY MEANS

Long tail keywords are those three or four keyword phrases that are very, very specific to what you sell. You see, whenever a customer uses a very specific search phrase, they tend to search for exactly what they are actually going to buy. In virtually all cases, these highly targeted searches are much more likely to turn into sales than general generic searches, which tend to be more geared towards the type of research consumers typically do before making a purchase decision.

To help illustrate this phenomenon, let’s take a look at the typical step-by-step shopping path that a customer travels to make a purchase.

1. The consumer notices a product.

2. The consumer seeks information about that product in preparation for a possible purchase.

3. The consumer evaluates alternatives to the product (characteristics, prices, etc.).

4. The consumer makes his purchase decision.

5. The consumer takes out his credit card and completes the transaction.

6. The consumer then evaluates the product after purchasing it and decides whether to keep or return it.

Using the six-step path above for a purchase like our model, you can probably already see that you want to target the consumer who is somewhere around step four …

The consumer makes his purchase decision.

… because once they’ve made the decision to buy something, that’s when they start using very specific search phrases to find their target purchase.

Now the good news …

Very specific multi-word phrases tend to be much easier to rank for than more generic single or double keyword phrases.

Here is a specific example. Let’s say your site sells guided mountaineering tours in British Columbia. At first, you might consider targeting a generic phrase like travel. After all, an adventure tour is generally the type of excursion that people like to participate in while traveling on vacation.

However, if you tried to follow that phrase, you would face direct competition from really big sites like Trivago or Tavelocity etc, you get the idea … It is unlikely that you will be able to beat any of those sites. off the top unless you are willing to invest a lot of money and a mountain of time.

But, more importantly, traveling is not the best phrase to aim for anyway. This is because many people searching with that phrase are looking for items like airline tickets, ocean cruises, or are just doing very general research on where they would like to go. They’re probably not saying to themselves … “I’m looking for someone to sell beginner’s tours to climb Grouse Mountain while I’m in Vancouver so I can take my family on a fun adventure this summer.”

If they were, they would be getting into something other than traveling.

That’s the concept of long-tail keywords …

Here are some very specific key phrases that relate to customers who are much later in the buying cycle, at least step three, probably step four, and possibly step five:

• Mountaineering tours in British Columbia

• Beginner mountain climbing in British Columbia or British Columbia

• guided mountaineering tours

• Family climbing tours on Grouse Mountain

Of course, these are just a few examples. I’m sure you could think of many more. However, the point is twofold;

1. Long tail keywords are much easier to rank for.

2. People who search using long-tail keywords are much more likely to become buyers!

More good news …

Of course, this suggests that you should create pages that target search engines hooking and using long-tail keywords. And since there are potentially so many different long tail combinations that search engines can use to buy what you offer, that means you will likely create more pages.

Well, the good news is that Google likes sites that have more pages. It makes the site appear more substantial, more natural, and even more real in the eyes of the world’s most popular search engine. Keep in mind that your “unique” pages should only be variants of your top offers, but should be focused on a specific long-tail niche.

So each and every page will have a unique title, description meta tag, h1 heading tag, and content body that emphasizes your bid by using the long tail keyword of your choice for each page. specific. It’s not rocket science, but it sure works well to lure consumers into the optimal stage of the buying process!

So instead of targeting just two or three highly competitive general keywords, aim for the dozens or even hundreds of easy-to-rank long-tail keywords.

However, also keep in mind that the downside of putting too much effort into the long tail is that if you target phrases that are too specific, you may not get enough traffic to sustain your business. That is why it is better to have:

• a few pages that send you large amounts of less targeted traffic, and

• a large number of pages, each of which sends you small amounts of highly targeted traffic.

But in general, it is better to think of it this way; Would you rather rank for a keyword that sent you 1000 visitors a day or 200 keywords, half of which sent you 1 buyer a day?

After doing the math, you will see that 100 buyers are much better than 1000 site visitors who are just researching. And there is no doubt that the use of ultra-specific keywords demonstrates a greater purchase intention on the part of the customer. This simply leads to more sales, which is of course what you are really looking for.

I hope this is helpful to you as you refine your digital strategy!