Long-Tail Keywords And Their Importance In Any SEO Strategy

Digital marketing strategies focusing solely on stand-alone, broad keywords are a thing of the past. As of 2021, Google’s shift towards user experience and intent and the popularity of voice search and other conversational search and applications mean that long-tail keywords are more crucial than ever for current SEO strategies. Back then, searching for these keywords that generate low search volume may have seemed like a waste of time.

But now, long-tail provides an untapped opportunity to engage with more potential customers, and brands can see volumes grow by investing in them. In other words, those who neglect to work on a long-tail SEO strategy will miss out on a lot. Thankfully, it has never been easier to target high conversion, low competition keywords and hunt for long-tail keyword opportunities that can boost your content. Read on to learn the whys and hows of long-tail keyword strategy to target intent for SEO.

A Brief Overview of Long-tail Keywords

A long-tail keyword is a highly targeted search phrase that specifically serves searcher intent and, as such, has low search volumes and low competition but high conversion rates. These keywords are called long-tail since they would be on the “long-tail” end of the demand curve when plotted against other keywords according to search volume.

But despite the much lower search volume of these keywords, they are generally easier to rank for and lead to higher conversions than seed or short-tail keywords. This is because long-tail keywords clearly communicate the customer need that brands can solve, i.e. they are intent-driven.

By understanding search intent, brands can make content that addresses queries more specifically, resulting in conversions. For instance, a search for [iPad 2022 (10th gen)] is more indicative of the user’s intent to purchase compared to a search for [tablets or iPad], which is far less clear. Users that make these queries may be looking for additional information about the product or service, searching for or comparing different brands, or simply searching out of interest.

The length of long-tail keywords is not that important, but their specificity means they are generally at least three words long. However, searches that are one or two words long (like brand names) can also be considered long-tail keywords due to their high precision and low volume.

The Importance of Long-tail Keywords in SEO

Backlinko analysed 306 million keywords and discovered that of all search queries, 91.8% were long-tail keywords. One can only imagine the possibilities should those highly-targeted queries funnel new leads to high-converting assets. To paint a clearer picture, here are the core benefits of targeting precise, long-tail keywords.

1. Little to no competition

Long-tail keywords have low search volumes because they are specific to a brand’s niche or business. It takes much less effort to rank high for your targeted keywords, requiring only basic link building and on-page SEO to catapult landing pages into prominence, provided the targeted terms are specific enough.

2. Higher conversion rates

A bit of long-tail keyword investigation helps brands immensely in discovering search intent. With search intent, one can identify queries that denote buyer intent or a need for extra information. Using this knowledge can usher new leads into the brand’s sales funnel and complement their content marketing effort.

3. Optimises for conversational, semantic, and voice search

Optimising for semantic search involves long-tail keywords as an integral part of the process. Approximately 55% of millennials use voice search daily with long-tail keyword phrases as their primary queries ([best Japanese restaurants near me]).

As explained with all these benefits, targeting high-converting, long-tail keywords can be incredibly valuable even when their search density is low.

Tips on Finding Long-tail Keywords

Researching new long-tail keywords is pretty straightforward, and one can create a big list in minutes. First and foremost, select those from your Search Console you know you rank for and download the same information from your social media pages, PPC campaigns, and other metrics that might reveal new terms.

Next, hunt for new long-tail keywords specific to your niche that you may potentially rank for. Below are the steps to manually create a list of potential long-tail keywords.

• Make a list of seed keywords

  Prep a list of seed keywords using a keyword planning tool but avoid Google AdWords. Although this free tool is for making a target list of commercial terms, it intentionally avoids long-tail terms with low search volumes, rendering it useless for our purposes.

• Check Google’s autocomplete suggestions

  Input each seed keyword into the search bar and list down the autocomplete suggestions that show up.

• Gather all the related search suggestions from Google

  Scroll down to the very bottom of the results page and list down all related searches

• Do the same for Bing Search suggestions

  Rinse and repeat the steps for Bing and any other search engines you wish to optimise for.

Improvements in SEO services and technology make these research steps easier than ever. Programs can sort through numerous search engines to find long-tails and even include those you may have overlooked.

After making a comprehensive list, the last step is trimming it by weeding out the terms that do not clearly communicate user intent. Once you are down to the strongest long-tail candidates, you are ready to add them to your content and start optimising your pages.

Conclusion

It is important to note that despite the advantages of targeting long-tails, it is only as strong as your content. Suppose you are yet to be recognised as an authority in your niche by Google and other search engines. In that case, you will need to create more high-value assets and informational blog posts about your industry and better communicate your unique value proposition to potential customers.

Also, it is vital to stay on top of measuring your traffic and rankings while making content and optimising pages around the new long-tail keywords. During the process, you may discover even more targetable keyword phrases that further build your brand reputation and improve your on-page SEO.