Long-tail keywords are extremely valuable sources that can help you rank in organic SERP  to drive traffic and leads to your site. As you develop your content strategy, your keyword rankings should naturally include long-tail keywords.

 Creating long-tail keyword content helps you position your brand as a go-to resource on a particular low-competition search topic. This increases your brand’s authority and continually drives relevant traffic and even paying customers to your site. So it’s a good idea to start targeting and implementing long-tail keywords into your content marketing strategy.

In this article, we’ll find out what long-tail keywords are, how to find them and why they can help you increase targeted traffic to your website, and how to incorporate them into your content marketing strategy.

What Are Long-Tail Keywords?

Long-tail keywords are long, specific search phrases that specifically address the searcher’s intent and typically have a lower search volume and are more specific than regular keywords. The concept of “long tail” first gained popularity when it was introduced to the masses by Chris Anderson, author of “The Long Tail: Why the future of business is selling less or more” in which the author showed that there is a market for almost any product:

“From purely virtual retailers such as eBay to the online side of traditional retailing, the virtues of unlimited shelf space, abundant information, and smart ways to find what you want- Bezos’s original vision- have proven every bit as compelling as he thought. And as a result, there are now Long Tail markets practically everywhere you look. “

Long-tail keywords typically have low search volume but are often easier to rank for and result in higher conversions than basic keywords. For example, a search for “Virtual Reality” is much less clear.

 The user could be looking for more information, searching for different brands, or simply searching out of interest. Whereas a user searching for “Oculus All-In-One Virtual Reality Headset” indicates a clear purchase intent.

In most cases, long-tail keywords consist of three or more words.

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Why Should You Include Long-Tail Keywords In Your Contents?

About 70% of all search traffic comes from long-tail keywords. So if you’re not targeting long-tail keywords in your content marketing strategy, you’re missing out on valuable traffic from your target audience consumers.

Here are a few reasons why you should consider making long-tail keywords an integral part of your content marketing strategy.

-Long-tail keywords have less competition

Long-tail keywords generally relate to a much smaller niche of products and services, where search volume is low and it’s easier for you to compete. On the bright side, it doesn’t take as much effort to rank well for the long-tail keywords you are targeting.

Since long-tail keywords have fewer searches and narrower intent, they are less competitive. This helps your website rank on the first page of search results for high-value, low-competition keywords.

A long-tail keyword may only receive about 10 searches per month, while others that are just a less popular variation of a more popular query may have a much higher search volume. Since different people phrase their searches differently while searching for the exact same thing, Google will rank the same pages at the top for each of these keywords.

This means that if your page starts ranking for a popular search query like “best sports bike features” (1,250,000 searches), it will automatically rank for all long-tail variants of the query. In this case, you don’t need to create individual pages for each long-tail variation, but rather you should target them all with a single page.

– Long-tail keywords have higher conversion rates

Long-tail keywords, despite being low volume search terms, have a higher conversion rate compared to regular keywords. Users who search for more specific terms are further along in their buying cycle than searchers who use generic queries.

Normally, long-tail keywords have a 2.5 times higher conversion rate than short-tail keywords.

Using long-tail keywords will help you discover the search intent of your users. A person searching for a “smartphone” is probably exploring.  But someone searching for “best smartphone under $500” has a much stronger purchase intent and is probably one click away from making the purchase.

Because these searches are more specific, the people doing them tend to have a higher purchase intent. You can use these insights to bring highly qualified leads into your sales funnel and complement your content marketing efforts.

By targeting more relevant long-tail keywords that offer the most value to your business you can position yourself as an industry leader which leads to more traffic and more conversions.

– Long-tail keywords help you optimize semantic search

Long-tail keywords are an integral part of semantic search optimization. Compared to short keywords long-tail keywords focus on the specific intent or motivation behind a search.

Today, voice search has brought about a significant change in the way people search the web. With voice search, users naturally make long-tail search queries without needing to type words to get answers in the search results.

According to a study by Statista, 31% of smartphone users worldwide use voice search at least once a week. Google is now able to satisfy very narrow search intent to satisfy specific search intent quickly and efficiently.

Try to predict the intent behind the questions asked naturally and through voice search, so you can provide answers about your business and services and better target those long-tail keyword phrases.

Remember, if you target high-converting long-tail keywords, even when search density is low, these keywords can still be incredibly valuable to your business.

-Long-tail keywords include short tail keywords

Optimizing for long-tail keywords does not come at the expense of short-tail keywords since they contain at least two shorter keywords that could also be an indicator of more specific searches.

-Long-tail keywords are great for PPC

Long-tail keywords are usually given a lower price in paid search campaigns and PPC programs like Google Ads because there is less competition. This not only makes your PPC campaign more profitable but allows you to bid on more specific long-tail search phrases that better describe what you sell or offer, to attract the right visitors to your site.

How Do You Incorporate Long-Tail Keywords Into Your Content Marketing Strategy?

1.  Conduct Long-Tail Keyword Research

Researching long-tail keywords is the first step to using them in your content marketing. To do this, you need to make a list of possible keywords and phrases related to the main theme or product of your site.

For example, “online accounting courses” is a long-tail keyword, but instead of optimizing every page for the same keyword, it would be more effective to find related search terms that can also drive people to your site. Some examples include “best free online accounting courses”, “online accounting courses for beginners”, “online accounting courses with the certificate”.

Considering the goals or problems of your target audience, you can create content about:  “how to get into accounting without experience”, or “the best accounting tools for small businesses “etc.

Use Google Suggest

Google Suggest is a feature designed to give you quick access to popular search queries, but it is also an impressive source of long-tail keyword variations. There are two sections on each search results page that can help you find long-tail key phrases: “Searches related to” and “People also ask”.

Just start typing your main keyword into the Google search box and see what variations Google suggests: This is an easy way to find out exactly how people search for a given topic. If it shows up in a Google suggestion, you know it’s a phrase people are searching for.

You can also find long-tail key phrases in Google by typing your keyword into the search box and noting the suggestions Google makes as you type using the autocomplete feature. Google can also help determine how much competition there is for a given long-tail word.

Search results pages display the number of times a search term appears online, as well as the top-ranked businesses for that key phrase. If the top search results are dominated by large or well-known companies, it may be worth considering ranking for other keywords.

Use Google Related Searches

The same principle as Google’s suggestions that appear while you type your query, but these suggested related searches appear at the bottom of the SERP, below the first page of organic results:

These are queries that people are most likely searching for, but that Google doesn’t have any amazing content to show them. You can take these keywords that appear and try to develop an article, video, or any other piece of content you can think of around the topic.

Use social media

Social media, too, is equipped with keyword research tools such as autocomplete Instagram hashtags, Twitter search, and the YouTube keyword research tool, which are a valuable source for finding long-tail keywords. When you find the results of these searches, try to target the most voluminous and least competitive keywords for written content ideas or the video content you’ll be producing.

Use keyword research tools

Google’s keyword research tool is a great basic tool and a good starting point, but if you’re looking for longer keywords, try these other options as well:

Jaaxy

Jaaxy is a powerful online keyword research tool that allows you to find long-tail keywords to easily get instant rankings. It also lets you learn how competitive a keyword is and how much traffic you can expect if you choose a particular keyword and rank for it, along with many other useful features.

Read More:

 Jaaxy keyword Research Tool Review

4 Best Keyword Research Tips to Improve Your Ranking

Answer The Public

Answer The Public is an excellent freemium keywords research tool that helps you find keywords and content ideas based on Google data to show you the questions asked about your keywords, as well as related queries. The results are a valuable resource on user search intent on Google to create the right type of content and increase your chances of appearing at the top of a Google search results page (SERP) thus increasing your search traffic and conversions.

AnswerThePublic visually presents long-tail keywords in the form of questions that are classified according to the type of question (what, when, who, where, why, how, can, etc.).

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool from Google that gives you access to many different features that can help you optimize your website. It helps you track the keywords that are already driving traffic to your domain.

In the “Search Analytics” section and you will see which keywords are bringing clicks to your site. By comparing the number of impressions of each term to the search volumes of the sector listed you will discover hidden opportunities to create more content around unknown topics that already have appeal to your audience.

 Google Trends

Google Trends is a great tool for staying on top of information and news that interests your audience. It is especially useful for seasonal content. Google Trends gives you insight into not only what people are searching for overtime, but also what they’ve searched for recently.

Search popular forums:

Popular forums Quora, Reddit, Facebook, and other Q&A sites like Yahoo Answers, Answers.com, Askville by Amazon, and LinkedIn Answers are good sources of long-tail keyword ideas where you can learn what consumers and businesses want to know.

Do a competitor analysis

Looking at how your competitors approach long-tail words and how they gain customers for their business can give you insight and ideas for yours.

2- Consider User Intent 

After conducting extensive research, make sure to use your long-tail keywords to show that your content matches user intent. By having a clear picture of your target audience you can guess what they are looking for in your products/services, why they are looking for them, and how you can answer their queries.

As you move forward make sure you create new high-quality content for each long-tail keyword by understanding how your audience searches. With Google’s emphasis on user experience and intent, and the rise of conversational search and applications such as voice search, you need to take this approach to get the most out of your long-taill SEO strategy.

3. Write Your Content

Creating content is the most natural way to subtly use long-tail keywords to your advantage, and will become the home of the majority of these detailed terms and phrases. Create long-tail keyword content that matches the user’s intent, while developing a content strategy that targets each stage of the conversion funnel.

For example, for people at the top of the funnel, it would be helpful if your content focused on the questions, pain points, or passions of your target customers. On the other hand, if they are at the bottom of the funnel and in the buying phase, the online reviews, comparison charts, etc. could help them find what they need before making their purchase.

4. Optimize Your Content

It is essential to optimize your content for long-tail keywords in order to rank in the search engine results pages. Your content should provide an answer to a user’s search, and be easy to read.

Remember to optimize your content by including your long-tail keyword in the first paragraph of your text. It is also essential that variations of your long-tail keyword appear naturally throughout your content. Consider these few key elements as well to ensure your content is optimized for the long tail keyword:

– Title tag:

Titles and headers are essential parts of your content, so it should include your long-tail keyword so that it hooks users, enticing them to click through to your website. It is also essential that your title tag is no longer than 60 characters.

Meta Description:

Your meta description serves as a summary of your content that must include your long-tail keyword so that it convinces users to click. You can also include other long-tail keywords in your meta description but it must not exceed 160 characters.

– URL:

Your long-tail keywords should appear in your URL. However, you should remove unnecessary prepositions.

– Images:

It is essential that you optimize your content with images or videos to enhance the visual experience of users and add descriptive alt text.

– Internal links:

Don’t forget to include internal links in your content to include some of your long-tail keywords.

Read More:

On-Page SEO:10 Essential Factors for Ranking on the First Page

12 Best Tips for Creating SEO-friendly Content

5. Analyze Your Results

It’s always a good idea to analyze your top-ranking pages for your long-tail keyword and look for opportunities for improvement.  This is the best way to improve your ranking for these long-tail keywords.

By monitoring your website’s ranking in search results for certain long-tail keywords you understand which web pages are generating the most traffic for your website, as well as the source of that traffic. Also, you can understand which of your long-tail keywords are bringing you a noticeable increase in conversions like gaining more newsletter subscribers or generating more online orders or revenue.

Conclusion

I hope this article will help you to discover long-tail keywords and use them to your advantage. Long-tail keyword research should be an important part of your content marketing strategy. Implementing the long tail keyword strategy in your content will allow you to match user intent and provide your visitors with a great experience, which approves your SEO and accelerates search traffic growth to your website.

It’s up to you.