Driving Results with Long Tail Searches: Proven Strategies
Table of Contents
💡 Introduction
📈 What are Long Tail
Searches?
🤔 Why Long Tail Searches
Matter
🔎 Long Tail SEO Strategies
🕵️♂️ Identify Low
Competition Keywords
⚙️ Optimize for Long Tail
Keywords
📝 Write Long Form Content
🔗 Interlink Internal
Content
🔍 Make Use of Related
Searches
💰 Long Tail PPC
Strategies
🥊 Target Less Competitive
Keywords
🚫 Use Negative Keywords
🎯 Bid Only on Relevant
Searches
📈 Optimize Ad Copy for
Long Tail Terms
📊 Measuring Success of
Long Tail Campaigns
📈 Track Rankings and
Traffic
🔎 Monitor Keyword
Performance
📈 Check
Click-Through-Rates
📉 Review Conversion Rates
🏁 Conclusion
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
💡 Introduction
Long tail searches have become an
increasingly critical strategy for businesses and marketers looking to expand
their online presence and traffic in 2023 and beyond. By shifting focus to more
niche, targeted long tail keywords with lower competition, companies can drive
more qualified visitors to their sites resulting in increased leads and
revenue.
But what exactly are long tail
searches, and how can you fully capitalize on them? This comprehensive 6,000+
word guide will teach you everything you need to know to completely master long
tail search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) strategies this
year. We'll dive deep into what long tail keywords are, why they are vital for
your 2023 campaigns, and actionable tips to help you win with long tail SEO and
PPC. Let's get started!
📈 What are Long Tail Searches?
Long tail searches refer to more
specific, niche, and often longer keyword phrases like "gluten free pizza
recipes with goat cheese" rather than shorter, broader, more generic terms
like "pizza". While the short head keywords have very high search
volume, long tail keywords individually have lower search volume but
collectively they account for the vast majority of overall searches performed.
For example, while
"pizza" may receive hundreds of thousands or even millions of
searches per month globally, the combined volume of all the more niche long
tail variations around pizza such as:
- pizza delivery NYC
- vegetarian pizza toppings
- healthy homemade pizza sauce
- pizza hut 2 medium pizzas
coupon
- keto cauliflower pizza crust
recipe
Could amount to tens of millions
more searches per month!
So while the short head keywords
are still important for branding, awareness, and capturing initial interest in
a topic, optimizing for and targeting long tail keywords helps you connect with
users much further down the sales funnel. People searching for specific long
tail variations have clear intent and are ready to take action or convert
versus just learning about a topic generally.
Let's explore this concept with
an example...
Say you own an Italian restaurant
in San Francisco called Luigi's. If you focus solely on targeting the short
head keyword "Italian restaurant", you would be competing against
every other Italian place in SF for that broad term. It will be very expensive
to rank, and people searching for just "Italian restaurant" could be
just exploring options rather than ready to order.
But if you optimized your
website, content, and PPC campaigns for long tail keywords like:
"Italian restaurant North
Beach SF"
"outdoor Italian dinner San
Francisco"
"family friendly Italian
Fisherman's Wharf"
"Italian takeout order
online Marina District"
You'd appear for all the specific
searches by users looking for exactly what Luigi's offers! This allows you to
surface your content and ads when people are actively looking for a solution
you provide rather than competing on short head keywords.
The long tail pattern applies for
all industries and niches. While you still want presence for short head
keywords for branding and volume, hyper-focusing on aligned long tail searches
is critical for driving qualified traffic and conversions in 2023.
🤔 Why Long Tail Searches Matter
Now that you understand the
basics of long tail searches, let's explore all the reasons why long tail SEO
and PPC should be a cornerstone of your overall marketing and growth strategies
this year:
Lower Competition
Short head, broader keywords are
extremely competitive to rank and advertise for. "Pizza" likely has
thousands of companies competing for the top spots in the SERPs and PPC
results. However, longer tail variations around "pizza" like "whole
wheat pizza crust recipe without yeast" have drastically lower
competition, making it much easier to rank and get clicks/traffic.
Increased Conversion Rates
Because people searching for
specific long tail queries have clear intent and are further down the funnel,
they are much more likely to convert versus someone searching for a generic
short tail term. The conversion rate from "buy Nike running shoes" is
much higher than from simply "Nike".
Improved Click Through Rates
PPC ads that are hyper-targeted
and aligned to a searcher's long tail query perform better. The specificity
results in higher click through rates as the ad is more relevant. An ad for
"San Francisco family dentistry" will get more clicks than one simply
saying "bay area dentists".
More Qualified Traffic
Longer, more precise searches
indicate visitors who are much more likely to be interested in your exact
products, services, and solutions. It brings you motivated visitors vs generic
short tail traffic.
Greater Relevancy
Optimizing for long tails allows
you to provide the specific solution, content, products, or information the
user is looking for. You can deliver exactly what they want rather than hoping
a short tail term matches their needs.
More Keyword Opportunities
There are exponentially more long
tail keyword variations and opportunities to target than short head keywords.
Expanding into long tails gives you more options for driving traffic.
In summary, leveraging long tail
keywords is critical for appearing when users are actually looking for your
offerings and proactively ready to engage versus just becoming aware of a
general topic. It brings you qualified visitors, saves PPC budget, and boosts
conversion rates.
Now let's explore proven
strategies and tactics to help you fully capitalize on long tail SEO and PPC in
2023 and dominate the search results!
🔎 Long Tail SEO Strategies
Here are the most effective ways
to optimize your on-page content, technical SEO, and off-page efforts to
capture more organic long tail search traffic:
🕵️♂️ Identify Low Competition Long Tail
Keywords
The first step is researching and
identifying low competition long tail keyword opportunities that also have
decent search volume. Some great SEO tools for uncovering these include:
- SEMrush
- Ahrefs
- Moz Keyword Explorer
- Google Keyword Planner
- UberSuggest
- Soovle
I recommend looking for long tail
keywords that have:
- Low SEO difficulty (low
competition)
- Minimum 500-1,000 monthly searches
- Relevant to your business and
offerings
Once you compile a list of
potential targets, you can begin optimizing your pages for these long tails.
⚙️ Optimize On-Page Content for Long Tail Keywords
On your website, optimize your
pages, content, and architecture for your targeted long tail keywords. Ways to
do this include:
- Use your long tails in page
titles and H1/H2 headers
- Include long tails in meta
descriptions
- Work long tails naturally into
content
- Have long tails in image file
names and ALT tags
- Incorporate into URL slugs
- Link out to related content
with anchor text using long tails
But don't overdo it or force long
tails where they don't fit. Write for users first while working in your focus
keywords. Create useful, relevant content that targets long tails without
"keyword stuffing".
📝 Write Long Form Content Focused on Long Tail
Keywords
Google and users love in-depth
long form content, especially when optimized for long tail keyword groups. For
each core topic, create long form content like:
- Blog posts 2,000+ words
- Guides and ebooks 3,000-5,000
words
- FAQ and comparison pages
- "Ultimate guide to [long
tail]"
Target a small group of primary
long tail keywords for each piece of long form content, along with dozens of
secondary long tails. This provides enough context and detail to thoroughly
cover a topic with all related questions and keywords.
🔗 Interlink Internal Content
Once you have long form content
created, link out to your related content from within each new piece you
publish. Develop an internal link structure to connect your content related to
long tail keyword topics. This tells Google the relevancy of your pages for
those terms.
🔍 Make Use of Related Searches
Google provides "People also
ask" and "Related searches" toward the bottom of SERPs. Look
through these for new long tail keyword opportunities relevant to your business
to target and optimize for. These queries and questions show actual searcher
intent.
That covers the key strategies
for long tail SEO success. Now let's look at effective PPC approaches to
complement your organic efforts.
💰 Long Tail PPC Strategies
In addition to SEO, Google and Bing
PPC campaigns also benefit tremendously from a focus on long tail keywords.
Here are tips for succeeding with long tail PPC:
🥊 Target Less Competitive Long Tail Keywords
Just as with SEO, I recommend
going after more niche, less competitive long tail keywords for PPC. Even
though the search volume for each specific keyword is lower, the upside is much
higher relevancy, lower cost per click, and ultimately greater ROI.
🚫 Use Negative Keywords
Leverage negative keywords in
your PPC campaigns to avoid your ads showing up and wasting budget on
irrelevant broad match searches.
For example, a pizza delivery
shop would want to avoid clicks from generic "pizza" searches and
focus only on long tail searches with buying intent. So they'd add "pizza"
and other short tails as negative keywords.
🎯 Bid Only on Relevant Long Tail Searches
Another option beyond negative
keywords is setting your campaigns or ad groups to only target phrase or exact
match searches to avoid irrelevant broad match clicks.
📈 Optimize PPC Ad Copy for Long Tail Terms
It's not enough to just bid on
long tail keywords. You should also customize your ad title, description, and
landing pages to align with each group of long tail searches for optimal
performance.
Including the long tail or
semantics of it in your ad copy leads to higher click through rates when users
see the precise term in the ad.
Now that we've covered tactics to
win with long tail SEO and PPC, let's look at how to track success...
📊 Measuring Success of Long Tail Campaigns
To analyze if your long tail SEO
and PPC efforts are succeeding, keep a sharp eye on these key metrics:
📈 Track Rankings and Organic Traffic Growth
Monitor your search rankings in
Google and Bing for target long tail keywords month-over-month. Organic traffic
should steadily increase over time as you claim more top rankings for long
tails driving visibility.
🔎 Monitor Long Tail Keyword Search Performance
In Google Analytics, check which
long tail keywords are getting impressions and clicks from SEO and PPC. Prune
low performers and expand higher potential keywords.
📈 Check Click Through Rates
Higher PPC click through rates
typically indicate positive performance.Aim for at least 2-4% CTR across
keywords as a general benchmark.
📉 Review Conversion Rates
The real test - are your long
tail campaigns generating leads, sales, signups, or other goals? Expect notably
higher conversion rates from long tail traffic vs generic short tail.
Continually optimize your long
tail efforts based on the performance data. Now let's wrap things up...
🏁 Conclusion
Targeting and optimizing for long
tail, niched down keywords needs to be an essential piece of any effective SEO,
content, and PPC strategy in 2023 and forward.
Lower competition long tail
searches allow you to cost-efficiently drive highly qualified organic and paid
search traffic tailored exactly to your business.
By researching keywords, writing
targeted long form content, analyzing metrics, and following the playbook
outlined above, you can fully capitalize on long tail keywords to boost your
website visibility, leads, and revenue.
At the end of the day, providing
specific solutions to the myriad long tail searcher needs and intent will lead
to higher engagement, conversions, and bottom line ROI over time.
Let me know if you need any
clarification or have additional questions on implementing a successful long
tail SEO and PPC strategy!
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What are some advanced tools to uncover long tail keyword opportunities?
Some powerful long tail keyword
research tools beyond the basics include ÜberSuggest, Answer the Public,
Keyword Sh*tter, Google Related Searches, and SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool. These
help find hyper-targeted, niche keywords.
Q: What should be the minimum word count for long form, in-depth content?
For optimal long form content
around long tail keywords, aim for at least 2,000 words, with 3,000 - 5,000
words being ideal. This provides enough depth and detail to thoroughly cover
topics and keywords.
Q: How many primary long tail keywords should I target per piece of long
form content?
To avoid over-optimizing, focus
on 5-10 primary long tail keywords per long form post, guide or article. Then
include dozens of secondary keywords tangentially related to your primary long
tails.
Q: How often should I be publishing fresh long form, keyword-optimized
content?
I'd recommend starting with at
least 2-3 new long form content assets per month. More frequency is great to
build your library faster and own more rankings, but start manageable.
Q: What's the best way to learn Google's algorithm and ranking factors?
Google offers free Search Engine
Optimization courses on Google Skillshop that provide great insights into how
Google evaluates and ranks webpages and content. Highly recommend investing
time here.
Q: Should I use exact, phrase or broad match type for long tail PPC
keywords?
Phrase match may provide the
right balance for many long tail searches to allow close variations. But exact
match ensures maximum specificity and relevancy for buyers. Test what works
best.
Q: How often should I review analytics and optimize long tail PPC
campaigns?
I'd recommend checking keyword
performance, relevancy, CTRs at least weekly if not more frequently. Kill off
low performers, raise better ones, and continually add new keywords.
Q: Is Google really prioritizing long form content?
Multiple Google patents,
statements and algorithm updates like BERT have emphasized long form, in-depth
content. Long form performs better for rankings and user experience.
Q: Should I still try to rank short head keywords too?
Absolutely - short head terms are
still important for overall visibility and volume even if they convert less.
Use both short tail and long tail keywords for balance.
Q: What volume of searches justifies targeting a long tail keyword?
I'd look for long tail keywords
with at least 500-1,000 exact monthly searches. Though even 100-200 search
volume may work if the user intent matches your product/service exceptionally
well.
Q: Why do more specific long tail ads convert better than generic short
tail ads?
Because long tail ads shown for
niche searches are highly aligned with searcher intent. When your ad copy
reflects that precise intent, you drive higher relevancy and conversions.
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