What Is A Long Tail Keyword?
In my previous post I shared with you what a keyword is. I shared with you that a keyword is the word or phrase that you type in the search bar when you search for information on the internet.
The word “phrase” is defined in the dictionary as 2 or more words…
Most internet marketers agree that a long tail keyword is a keyword phrase of 4 or more words though some will say 3 or more words. 🙂
Thus it is a very targeted and highly specific keyword!
What Are The Advantages Of A Long Tail Keyword?
Let’s First Take A Look At The Customer Purchase Cycle- this will give you a better understanding!
There are basically four steps to the customer purchase cycle!
Step One: Awareness or Desire – The customer becomes aware of the product or has a desire for the product!
Step Two: Research – The customer begins searching for information on the product they are now interested in! Most customers are hungry for information and as the internet has become such a valuable resource for information the customer will almost always include an internet search in their quest for information.
At this point in their search they will most likely to be using general keyword phrases!
Though there are people who will buy spontaneously, statistics indicate that most customers will search at least seven times before they are prepared to purchase the product.
Step Three: Decision – At this point the customer has already made up their mind that they want to buy the product.
Now is when they will research in greater detail for the specific brand, style, model, size or color etc.
This is when the customer will often read reviews of the product and often reviews of comparison.
These more detailed and highly specific searches are the Long Tail Keyword searches.
Step Four: Purchase – This is the step we hope to be a part of as this is the step that is profitable to us as the internet marketer.
An Example
In step one we saw that the customer first becomes aware or desirous.
In the second step they begin their research, so perhaps they look at inground pools, inflatable pools, above ground pools, three foot pools, or pool maintenance as they set out to gather information to decide if this is a purchase they desire to follow through with.
They move to step three as after a lot of research they have decided they are going to purchase a pool.
Now they decide they need to compare brands, pricing, features and maybe sizes of the type of pool they have decided on.
They are likely to search pool reviews, which may lead them to search “things you should know before purchasing a pool”.
See how as the customer continues to glean information they are led to think of long tail keywords that are in greater and more specific detail?
And today’s customer is more savvy and has become more natural in their language as they type in their keyword search.
What Are The Advantages Of The Long Tail Keyword?
As the customer pursues searching for the information they desire, their keyword search will become more detailed and more specific thus they will be using Long Tail Keywords!
The Long Tail Keyword defines specifically what is on a webpage!
Statistically between 60% to 70% of all searches are Long Tail Keywords!
Though The Long Tail Keyword draws less traffic because they are highly specific, they draw better quality traffic as they are more focused, more committed and more desirous, which leads to more conversions then general keywords!
As the content of the webpage is more relevant to the customer a greater percentage of the traffic is likely to purchase!
Long Tail Keywords target a market that might be smaller then normal but has greater potential then other, larger, more exposed markets!
Long Tail Keywords are much easier to rank then general and more generic single or double keyword phrases!
The longer and more specific the Long Tail Keyword the easier it is for you to rank well for that phrase!
Long Tail Keywords narrow your niche, thus it is now less competitive and the less competitive it is the more likely the customer is to buy your product!
Since Long Tail Keywords tend to rank easily due to the lack of competition they can help your site’s ranking if your site has slipped in the the Search Engine Results Pages!
If you consistently publish quality content around Long Tail Keywords you will see an increase in search traffic!
Since there are potentially so many different Long Tail Keyword combinations that the customers may use while searching to buy the product you offer, it will give you the opportunity to create more pages of quality content with Long Tail Keywords and the search engines like more pages of quality content!
The statistics tell us that the website pages which rank in the top 5 positions on page 1 in the search engines receive approximately 75% of the search traffic for that particular query!
Long Tail Keywords help to establish better communication with your customer who is actively shopping for your product!
Thus with Long Tail Keywords the clarity of communication can be quite profitable!
For when customers arrive on your webpage having used the Long Tail Keyword search they are at the optimum step of the purchase cycle!
Can A Long Tail Keyword Be Too Long?
Remember you want your Long Tail Keyword to be grammatically correct!
Then, generally you do not want your Long Tail Keyword to go beyond 6 or 7 words, but if you have an idea for a Long Tail Keyword you feel you can create quality content for, and you feel it will attract customers to your site, I suggest checking it out with a reliable keyword tool. Then you will have an indication as to how often it is being searched.
My choice would be Jaaxy for the most comprehensive information!
How To Research Long Tail Keywords
To utilize Long Tail Keywords successfully you need to know which Long Tail Keywords are actually being searched on the major search engines.
Research is the only way to glean the information!
In the article How To Research Niche Ideas I shared with you free research tools and techniques to use for your keyword research and how to use them. These same tools and techniques can be used to research for your Long Tail Keywords:
Google Trends
Google Instant ( the one step you will want to add now that you are looking specifically for long tail keywords while using Google Instant is “Searches Related”, which you will find when you scroll to the bottom of the page)
Alphabet Soup
Ubersuggest
The Wealthy Affiliate Keyword Tool with 30 Free searches
In the post What Is A Keyword you were introduced to my personal favorite research tool Jaaxy, the Free Membership includes 30 Free searches.
You also learned in the article How To Research Niche Ideas how important it is to listen to people through the day while researching your niche idea.
Another way to listen to your customer is to find discussion threads, forums and authority blogs about your product or service. The issues and questions being discussed in these formats are the very issues and questions your customers are searching online to find the information they are seeking. This will give you great insight into the Long Tail Keyword searches they are using.
Are There Enough Long Tail Keywords?
The keyword market only continues to grow!
Every new product, service, event, news story, new discovery is a source of new keywords. There are countless new keywords and long tail keywords being brought to life every day, and unlimited new niches.
People connecting to the internet is at an all time high and the numbers continue to grow!
People are no longer limited to their desktop and the use of the internet is increasing with the convenience of the laptop, tablet, phones, e-readers, and TV internet capability.
A World Of Opportunity!
The World Wide Web according to many sources reached its first billion internet users in 2005, reached its second billion internet users in 2010 and reached its third billion internet users in 2014!
That Is An Incredible Audience To Reach!
So Do You Have Your Website?
Have You Chosen Your Niche?
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