Why Focus on Long-Tail Keywords

It’s not easy to get a high ranking for popular keywords. Of course, this doesn’t mean you should give up trying to make your content focus on certain search terms. It just means you just have to get a little creative. One of the best ways to do that is to use long-tail keywords.

Searches usually consist of head terms (“guitars”) and long-tail keywords (“vintage fender guitars”). In the past, websites focused solely on head terms – the very specific topic that appealed to their target audience.

These days, more and more people are coming to appreciate the value of long-tail keywords. Why? SEOs have realized there are definite advantages to going this route…

When you try to rank high for more popular keywords, you are much less likely to succeed. That’s because the competition is fierce. Everyone knows these keywords are searched frequently, and that means a lot of people will try to make their website relevant for those terms.

Plus, the big dogs (who have significantly more resources than the average Joe) make it very difficult to compete.

Using long-tail keywords, however, means you’ll have less competition to worry about. It’s easier to get a high search ranking because you won’t be fighting as many sites to get that number one spot.

Another benefit of long-tail keywords is that they are more effective at targeting your audience.

Let’s look at our previous example. When people search the phrase “guitar,” you can’t be sure what they are looking for. Maybe they want to buy a guitar, maybe they want to take guitar lessons or maybe they’re looking for a place to sell the one gathering dust in the attic.

The term “Vintage Fender Guitars,” on the other hand, is very specific. You know exactly what people searching that phrase are looking for. This really helps your conversion rates because your content is actually relevant to the needs of those searching for your long-tail keywords.

Another thing to consider is people are increasingly using search engines to ask questions. This means instead of searching for “jewelry stores,” people are searching with the phrase, “Where can I find jewelry for my girlfriend?”

Google looks for long-tail keywords when answering questions that are typed in. If you want to attract the growing audience that searches in this manner, focusing on short keywords or phrases is not the answer.