9 tips to get the full SEO benefits of long
Understanding the Long Tail SEO Approach
Search engine optimization has garnered an essential position in the marketing strategies of businesses big and small. One particular strategy among these, often overlooked but exceptionally beneficial, is long tail SEO. At its core, ‘long tail’ refers to a collection of less popular search phrases, each individually drawing little traffic, but cumulatively translating to substantial web traffic.
It emphasizes quality over quantity, primarily focusing on attracting precise leads that match specific products or services offered. This not only increases the chances of conversions but also enhances user satisfaction. More so, long-tail keywords usually have weak competition, making it easier for a website to rank higher on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
This means using more specific, longer phrased keywords that are exactly what your potential customers are likely to use when they’re closer to the purchasing clause of their buying cycle. The focus shifts from simply lots of traffic to getting more relevant traffic and better conversion rates.
Let’s say you run an online store selling handmade leather bags. Instead of optimizing for “handmade bags” (a short-tail keyword), you could aim for long-tail phrases like “men’s handmade leather messenger bags” or “women’s unique handmade leather tote bags”.
- Focus on the exactness of language
- Aim at highly-targeted, low-competition terms
- Innovate for more descriptive, less common phrases
- Maintain relevance with the product/service offerings
- Understand customer semantics and their purchase cycle
- Offer content that meets specific search queries
Utilize Keyword Research Tools
Keyword research largely influences the success of your SEO efforts. It helps identify long-tail opportunities that could bring in significant, qualified traffic. Numerous advanced keyword research tools lend a hand in finding out what these phrases could be. They offer valuable insights into search volumes, competition intensity, keyword difficulty, and more.
Using these tools, businesses can better understand the long-tail terms their potential customers are using as they near their purchase decision. From Google’s Keyword Planner to premium ones like SEMrush and Ahrefs, each provides unique assistance tailored for your business needs.
If a photographer wanted to enhance her SEO strategy, she might enter “photographer” into a keyword tool and discover phrases such as “wedding photographer austin texas” or “editorial fashion photographer new york”.
- Identify low-competition, high-value keywords
- Tap into pattern and trend reports
- Use relevant filters to refine results
- Determine profitable key phrases
- Learn from competitors’ performances
- Obtain historical statistics and forecasts
Analyze the Competition
Here’s where you delve into some detective work! Conduct a competitive analysis by searching the selected long tail keyword to find out who ranks on top. This allows you to understand how rival businesses are incorporating long-tail terms in their content and titles.
While analyzing the competition may seem tedious, it is an essential part of gaining a competitive edge. With this data at hand, you can develop a comprehensive SEO strategy that draws from the success of existing high-ranking pages while identifying areas where you can improve and innovate.
Consider a coffee shop trying to rank for “coffee shop chicago”. They would analyze competitors that come up with this search term, study their pages, and figure out ways to provide even more value.
- Spot strength and weaknesses of competitors
- Develop ways to outflank them
- Discover unexploited opportunities
- Create benchmarks to measure future progress
- Understand the competitive landscape
- Plan SEO strategy holistically
Create High-Quality, Relevant Content
Once you have identified long-tail keywords that have potential for your business and studied who else is ranking for them, you need to create the content. However, keep in mind that merely stuffing these phrases into your content will not work.
Authenticity and value provision should be at the core of your content creation process. Create high-quality content that genuinely answers the queries behind your focused keywords. The search engines are getting smarter at identifying and rewarding content that engages users.
For instance, a gardening blog could write an in-depth post on “How to create a sustainable urban vegetable garden” instead of merely summarizing points slap-dash and hoping to rank.
- Ensure clarity, brevity, and precision
- Use visuals to support text
- Optimize readability with subheadings and bulleted lists
- Incorporate authoritative external and internal links
- Regularly update content to stay relevant
- Prioritize user engagement and interaction
Optimize for Voice Search
As people increasingly use voice assistants to search online, optimizing for voice search has become significant. Typically, voice searches are longer and more conversational than written ones, making them inherently ‘long tail’.
Voice search optimization involves using natural speech patterns, considering question phrases, focusing on locally relevant terms, and enhancing website speed and mobile-friendliness. Long-tail keywords seamlessly fit into all these measures, proving fruitful for businesses across the board.
Let’s say you own an Italian restaurant in Boston. Instead of optimizing primarily for “Italian restaurant”, consider longer, voice search-friendly phrases like, “where can I find the best lasagna in Boston”.
- Focus on conversational tone and natural language
- Optimize for local SEO
- Incorporate question phrases
- Consider the intent behind voice searches
- Design mobile-friendly websites
- Ensure fast loading times
Share on Social Media
How do we spread the word about our fantastic, long-tail keyword optimized content? Through social media, of course! Social platforms bring along a vast audience pool that can be tapped to drive traffic to your website and amplify your online presence.
Create valuable, share-worthy content and link it back to your main site. Not only does this create good-quality backlinks (which Google loves), but the often casual, conversational tone of these posts align well with the naturalistic temperament of long tail keywords.
A fitness trainer might write a blog post called “14 Day Workout Plan for New Moms”, then share this post on her Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts encouraging new mothers to embark on an appropriate fitness journey.
- Create interesting, shareable content
- Promote your blogs/posts via multiple social profiles
- Incorporate hashtags strategically
- Engage with your followers regularly
- Keep track of post performance
- Invest time in understanding each platform’s algorithms
Measure Your Results
You’ve done your keyword research, crafted engaging content, and shared it across several platforms – Don’t forget to measure how well you’re performing! Use analytics tools to keep track of your site’s visibility across search engines, measure organic traffic, and monitor keyword rankings.
This is immensely important for revising strategies and making changes to enhance performance. Capturing metrics over time gives you a longitudinal view of how well your long tail SEO strategy is playing out.
For instance, an e-commerce website might monitor its traffic for longer-phrased keywords such as “women’s waterproof hiking boots size 8” to assess which products are performing best in searches and why.
- Use Google Analytics or similar tools
- Keep track of keyword rankings
- Measure both volume and quality of incoming traffic
- Identify high-performing content/pages
- Analyze bounce rates
- Equip yourself to make data-driven decisions
Test, Learn, Repeat
Just like everything else in digital marketing, long tail SEO is not a one-and-done deal. It requires consistent effort, testing, learning from errors, implementing changes, and re-testing.
This iterative process allows businesses to understand what works best for them and continuously refine their strategies. By applying what you learnt from the performance insights, teams can maintain agility and flexibility in navigating this ever-evolving digital landscape.
A travel agency may run A/B tests for two variants of long-tail titles on one of their blog pages about solo backpacking destinations in Europe. They would then learn from user responses and implement the more successful version.
- Always be ready for change
- Regularly perform A/B testing
- Leverage performance data for enhancements
- Stay agile and adaptable
- Remember: what worked today may not work tomorrow
- Never stop learning and experimenting
Endnote
Embracing a long tail SEO strategy can significantly improve your online presence, simultaneously boosting the quantity and quality of your web traffic. Harness the power of less competitive, highly targeted keywords to drive potential customers who are close to making their purchase decisions.
Remember, this is not an overnight task. The key is to stay consistent, patient, and agile in your approach. After all, the ultimate goal of SEO is not just achieving higher rankings but delivering quality content that attracts and retains visitors.
Summary Table
| Strategy | Main Actions | Key Advantages |
| Understanding Long Tail SEO | Focus on highly descriptive keywords, understand customer search tendencies, offer relevant content. | Better conversion rates, lower competition, targeted traffic, enhanced user satisfaction. |
| Utilize Keyword Tools | Identify profitable keywords, tap into trends, learn from competitors’ performance. | Informed decision-making, tailored strategy, competitor insights. |
| Analyze Competition | Study competitors’ strategies, exploit unmet opportunities, understand the competitive landscape. | Competitive edge, opportunity identification, holistic SEO planning. |
| Create Relevant Content | Ensure clarity and precision, use visuals, create engaging & fresh content. | User engagement, updated relevance, improved readability, better SERP ranking. |
| Optimize for Voice Search | Focus on a natural, conversational tone, enhance website speed and mobile-friendliness. | Adapting to modern search tendencies, local SEO benefits, improved user experience. |
| Social Media Sharing | Promote on multiple social profiles, engage with followers, make shareable content. | Greater reach, improved online presence, quality backlinks for SEO. |
| Measure Results | Keep track of keyword rankings and traffic, identify high-performing content/pages. | Data-driven decision-making, performance insights, opportunity to enhance growth. |
| Test, Learn, Repeat | Perform constant A/B testing, learn from insights, stay adaptable. | Improved user experience, ability to respond to changes, continuous learning and refining. |
