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The Rising Importance of Long Tail Keywords

Many companies are familiar with using keywords to help their websites rank higher in Google searches. A certain type of keyword, known as a long tail keyword, is becoming increasingly popular to use when optimizing a website. Long tail keywords can be extremely helpful for both optimizing a website for a higher ranking in search engine results, and for increasing a website’s return on investment (ROI).

What Are Long Tail Keywords?

So, what is a long tail keyword? Long tail keywords are often derived from regular keywords. A general keyword, often known as a “head term,” is one or two words describing a product or service a business offers that potential customers could search for online. For example, a head term for an IT management company could be “IT Services.”

In contrast, a long tail keyword is a phrase, usually of three or more words, that describes a much more specific product or service that the business offers. For example, if the same IT management company from above wanted to target a long tail keyword, they might generate something such as “IT Services for Small Businesses in Texas.”

The Benefits of Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords are beneficial to target for many reasons. The purpose of this type of keyword is to help businesses become more visible to online customers searching for their products or services. Long tail keywords accomplish this goal due to two main reasons:

  • First, long tail keywords describe what a business offers more effectively than head terms. Customers often begin online searches with broad head terms. Someone that wants to purchase a new mattress might begin their online research with searches like “Mattresses.” However, once the searcher has viewed several products, they’ll often seek something more specific, such as “Adjustable Base Queen Size Mattress,” which could be a long tail keyword.
  • Second, long tail keywords often have less competition than broad head terms. Many companies carry mattresses, but not all carry adjustable base queen size mattresses. This limited competition is an obvious advantage. Once customers begin entering more specific searches they’re often ready to make a purchase. In other words, long tail keywords are made to bring in fewer overall site viewers, but more customers who will actually purchase a product or service.

Long Tail Keywords and Google Adwords

Another benefit that comes with targeting long tail keywords is through paid advertising campaigns, such as Google Adwords. Businesses that choose to target long tail keywords will often rank higher in searches for those keywords than they would if targeting a head term.

In addition, not only will businesses rank higher, but they can do so while paying less. Since long tail keywords have less competition, their cost per click is generally less than the cost for head terms that have a lot of competition.

Optimizing Content with Long Tail Keywords

Businesses and organizations that choose long tail keywords will need to optimize their websites for those keywords. Long tail keywords can have many variations. Adding new pages to optimize for the target long tail keywords and their derivatives can help boost a website’s ranking even further.

Creating pages optimized for long tail keywords can help boost a website’s ranking because of the presence of the targeted phrases, but the pages themselves can also be a benefit. Websites with more pages generally rank better in Google searches. These sites are often viewed as more relevant, and so they often rank higher than those with fewer pages.

For more information about using long tail keywords as part of your small business’s SEO strategy, or to request a consultation, visit tekRESCUE, Inc, located in San Marcos, TX.

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