Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific keyword phrases that online searchers who are seriously considering to make a purchase are more likely to use. If your business would like to more effectively reach potential customers who are just a few clicks away from making a transaction online or checking out your physical location to visit your store, target long-tail keywords instead of competitive keywords and phrases.
Think about it: if you were a searcher using a very broad keyword such as “dress” when searching on Google, would you be someone who would eventually click through to a sale? Now, if you Google “black knee-length dress” instead, you know exactly what you’re looking for and you would probably be prepared to pay for it then and there.
Using long-term keywords would most probably drive less traffic, but this will be a better, more focused, and more committed set of visitors who would actually purchase your product or service. Here are some basic SEO Training tips on how you can find valuable long-tail keywords to help your business attract the right online searchers towards your website.
Use the Google Search Box
This is the simplest yet the most effective way to generate long-tail keywords. Simply go to Google.com and start searching a term which is related to your business or market. Google will then start suggesting search terms, which is the same scenario for actual online searchers. Choose from these terms as Google users will are likely to use these during their search for your product or service. While these keywords do not necessarily have high search volume, they will drive more quality traffic compare to general keywords.
Check Your Search Query Report
The search query report is a list of search terms your website showed up for based on your broad, phrase, and broad match modified keywords. This report is a great resource for spotting long-tail terms that converted or have a good volume of clicks to leverage. You can access this report for the keywords in a campaign or an AdGroup or, if the keyword has enough traffic, at a per keyword level.
Use the Keyword Tool
The keyword tool is very useful in finding new long-tail keywords. The key is to use the correct settings for this tool to work effectively. First, add a few terms which you will base your research on. Take out terms that you do not want in your long-tail keywords and include those that you want. This will help Google determine and exclude all irrelevant suggestions.
Google will be generating a lot of new keywords ideas and while not all of them will be relevant, this would be a great way to discover new long-tail keywords for your website.
Check the Organic Terms You Rank For
You can get a lot of ideas from organic traffic coming to your website. Create a list of these long-tail keywords, create variations of these, and add them to your keywords list on AdWords. You can also use the webmaster tool to retrieve organic keywords.
Think like a Local Searcher
Local users tend to look for nearby services using the city or town name, which makes it very important for local businesses to start thinking like a local customer and consider the advantages of using long-tail geo targeted keywords. This technique will prove to be very helpful in driving traffic to your website and your store if you are targeting one or more niche geographic locations.
Run Your Competitors’ URLs
Running a website using the keyword tool will give you a list of keywords that Google considers effective for that particular website. This would be helpful in determining long-tail keywords that are related to your business and expand your list with terms you might not have thought of.
Without a doubt, keywords are one of the most important elements of online marketing, and a great optimization strategy for local businesses is to always include the research of long-tail keywords so you can drive more qualified traffic.
Michelle Rubio is an experienced SEO copywriter and blogger since 2010. She has been working with various businesses, big and small, in the United States, UK, Canada, and Australia. You can see more of her works and experiences in her LinkedIn profile.