4 Reasons Why You Should Use Long Tail Keywords To Boost SEO
Keywords are the building blocks of content and they help the searcher/user locate your site with the help of the Google search engine.
In simpler words, let’s say you have just started a website/business that focuses on Dog products. Do you think that was the hard part? Think again.
Creating a website is just the start of the process. Once you have done that, you need this website to be well-optimised to make it easy for people to find you- or else, there are already thousands of Dog blogs on the internet and the Google search engine would be more than happy to rank them above your site. For all the hard work that you’ve put in, you wouldn’t want that, would you?
SEO Keywords are one of the most important aspects of Search Engine Optimising your website. Before we move onto the Long-tail keywords, I would advise you to go through this piece first, if you are looking to learn more about SEO Keywords and Keyword research.
Types of Keywords
Basically, there are 2 types of keywords:
- Short-tail keywords
- Long-tail keywords
What is the difference between Short-tail keywords and Long-tail keywords?
So, let’s say on your website about Dogs, you want to write about Dog food. Now, the ‘Dog food’ is what we would describe as a short tail-keyword.
Generally, Short-tail keywords are referred to as general inquiries or very broad topics instead of a particular or specific one. They have a higher search volume (in millions, perhaps), but they have an equally high competition to rank on the search engine.
However, instead of focusing on a broader term like ‘Dog food’ say you would rather focus on the keyword ‘Foods that make your Dog healthier’. Now, this is what we refer to as a Long-tail keyword.
Generally, Long-tail keywords are very specific inquiries about a particular topic and that’s why they have a comparatively lower search volume (way lower than the Short-tail keywords, in most cases).
Instead, more often than not, they have very low competition that can be exploited with a little bit of planning and patience.
4 Reasons Why You Should Use Long-Tail Keywords To Boost SEO
- Lower Competition
As we explained above, Long-tail keywords consist of very specific inquiries about a particular topic or genre.
For example, a big firm or company that sells dog products would most definitely want to rank for keywords like ‘dog food’ or ‘dog food online’ because of their massive search volumes.
Now, being a new, up-and-coming business, you could go for similar keywords, owing to their higher search volumes, but keep in mind that it would take you a lot more time and work to rank for the Short-tail keywords. More so, if you don’t have the budget of these big firms to invest in google ads and are looking to grow organically.
Instead, this could be an opportunity for you to formulate your content around long-tail keywords, for the most part. A keyword such as ’10 best dog food of all time’ would be considerably easier to rank for and even though it would have a lower search volume, it could bring you ten-fold more conversion rate than a generic short-tail keyword.
This brings me to my second point.
- Better Conversion Rate
Think about it. A million people might search for ‘Dog food’ every day on the internet, but how many of them actually buy a product?
A Short-tail keyword is classified as a broad topic because the intent of the searcher isn’t always to spend money/buy a product aka conversion.
Most of the time, a searcher is just a prospect browsing the internet, procrastinating, comparing deals for future reference, hence the high search volume but lower conversion rate.
However, if someone inquires about ‘10 healthy dog foods for German Shepherds’, there’s a greater chance that the searcher has an intent to spend money to buy the product, hence the higher conversion rate.
The more specific the query of a searcher, the greater is the chance that he/she is looking for a solution or answer to his problems. So, if you focus on the Long-tail keywords as your content strategy, you do sacrifice a chunk of the search volumes, but what you gain is a way higher conversion rate at a considerably lower competition. Sweet, right?
- To Outrank Your Competition
‘To outrank your competition’ - Isn’t this the primary goal/ambition of every business/firm/website on the planet?
Using Long-tail keywords can actually help you to outrank your competition.
Again, as I mentioned before, most of the ‘big players’ focus on the keywords with higher volume thanks to their higher advertising budgets and manpower to churn out quality content in high quantity.
However, this does mean that the Long-tail keywords with comparatively lower volume but higher conversion rates are there for the taking. Make use of that to outrank your competition!
- Save Yourself Some Money
What business wouldn’t want to save as much money as they can, wherever they can?
If you can get better conversion rate, that too organically, with little to no competition, isn’t that the ultimate holy grail of Content Marketing?
Long-tail Keywords can turn out to be the holy grail you are actually looking for if you could be a little clever with your keyword research beforehand.
Just opt for the keywords in your domain with low difficulties even though they might have 1/10th of the volume you were actually hoping for. Believe me, it will actually pay dividends in the longer run!
As a small organisation/startup, there are immense benefits to mix and match your Keywords, as far as your Content Marketing strategy is concerned.
However, my advise would be to mainly focus on the Long-tail Keywords with the higher volume Short-tail Keywords with higher Difficulty taking up only 20% of the slot. Follow this strategy, and with time you will reap the benefits that comes organically!
