Launch your content to new heights with the help of long-tailed keywords – we’ll show you how.
Key Takeaways:
- Keyword strategy is the secret to content that performs.
- You can’t just throw in any old keywords – you have to know what types of keywords set you up for success.
- Long-tail keywords have some distinct advantages over regular short-tail keywords.
- Once you’ve picked the best keywords for your content strategy, you have to back it up with great content.
Never underestimate the raw power of keywords in your content strategy. When you put in the time to find the perfect keywords for each piece of content, you’re rewarded with leads, new customers, brand awareness, and revenue … all the benchmarks for a successful campaign.
It takes work, though. You can’t jot down whatever comes to mind and expect that to serve as your keywords. Whether you’re a new business starting to evaluate its online presence or an established brand looking to do better, keywords and SEO might seem like an impossible mountain to climb. But they’re not!
Climbing that mountain is a necessary part of your journey, but it doesn’t have to be hard. You just have to know what makes a keyword a winner (or a flop).
The secret is using long-tail keywords.
These targeted keywords take a bit more research to come up with, but it’s easier to perform with long-tail keywords than their counterpart (short-tail keywords, if you didn’t guess already).
That’s because long-tail keywords are targeted, which is what you want your content to be. The broader your content (and its keywords), the harder it is to compete. Niche keywords are where it’s at.
Don’t sweat if you’ve never heard of a long-tail keyword before. They might sound complicated at first, but they’re one of the most straightforward (and successful) tools you’ll use in your content strategy.
What are long-tail keywords?
Let’s start with the basics: "a long-tail keyword is a keyword with a narrow, niche focus. It usually takes the form of a phrase rather than a single word or two".
For example, content marketing is a short-tail keyword, while a long-tail keyword might be content marketing for small businesses, types of content marketing, or what is content marketing.
Long-tail keywords are a bit of a misnomer. They usually contain more words than their counterparts, but the name comes from the fact that 70% of all online searches use long-tail keywords. They have a low search volume, so when you look at long- and short-tail keywords on a graph that 70% makes a long tail at the left side that trails on forever (but not really).
The opposite of a long-tail keyword is – you guessed it – a short-tail keyword. These are high-volume search terms that are very competitive and usually shorter. The problem is that it’s harder to get the right people to find your content if you use short-tail keywords. That’s why long-tail keywords tend to shine in most content strategies.
It makes perfect sense if you think about it. If you’re searching for a new toy for your dog, you don’t just search for “dog toy.” You’d type in something more specific like “best dog toys for small breeds,” “dog toys for tough chewers,” or “durable toys for dogs over 100 pounds.”
"Don’t ignore long-tail keywords. If you can be the one to show up for targeted search results, you’re be miles ahead of the competition."
Why long-tail keywords shine
Before you go down the rabbit hole of integrating long-tail keywords into your online strategy, you should probably understand why you’re doing it and how they’re working for you.
Better conversion rates
Long-tail keywords convert at a higher rate than short-tail keywords. The average conversion rate for a long-tail keyword is 36%. The best landing pages only convert at 11.45%.
Why do long-tail keywords convert so well? It’s simple: they help people find the content they actually want.
Search queries tend to be specific to a niche, like a specific question or problem. . When a reader lands on your page after searching for a super-targeted long-tail keyword, they are more likely to take action on that page because the content is relevant.
Less competition
Short-tail keywords have a ton of competition. "It takes way more work to rank highly against competitors for “weight loss” (3.2 billion results) than it is for “weight loss tips for seniors” (about 1 billion results)."
Long-tail keywords are unpopular, which many websites are targeting them yet. You can rank highly with less work by incorporating these keywords into your content.
Specific context
"Google doesn’t take searches at face value anymore. Now, Google’s peeking under the surface to understand the user’s real intent." Google RankBrain is a machine learning algorithm that deciphers what a search really means to show the appropriate results.
As you can imagine, there are a lot of gaps to fill in on Google’s part when users use short-tail keywords. That’s a lot of opportunities to go wrong, no matter how smart machine learning gets.
Long-tail keywords are specific, so Google has a better idea of what users want to see and can deliver better results based on exact phrase matching and context.
This means that the search engine recognizes that people’s search terms are detailed, precise, and weird. Incorporating long-tail keywords into your website and blog lets Google understand the context of your content, giving you a better chance of ranking highly and users a better chance of finding you.
How to use long-tail keywords
OK, you get it. Long-tail keywords are great, and you should use them. But how do you get started? As with all good things in life, you need to do your research.
Hit the books
Wait, don’t actually hit the books.
If you haven’t already, set up a Google AdWords account. There, you can find the Google Keyword Planner tool, which is perfect for finding the search volume and popularity of potential long-tail keywords.
Another option is the autocomplete feature on Google. Start typing a keyword you think your customers would search for and see what Google auto-fills in the pop-up window underneath. These predictions are based on trends and personal history, and they make awesome long-tail keywords.
One more thing – try searching a basic keyword, then scroll to the bottom of the results page to see related searches. Not all of these are viable options, but they may give you a starting point.
Knowing your audience’s intent helps inform your research. Talk to your customers and get to know them so you can better understand what questions they’re asking. What problems does your product solve for them? What words would they use to search for answers to their questions?
Kickass keywords = the best content
Once you have long-tail keywords to use, it’s time to start planning content around them.
The important thing here is to write content around keywords that make sense. Don’t just throw keywords into irrelevant blogs – plan the keywords first, then create content that centers around them. Remember, Google considers context now, so your content needs to tell a story.
In addition to adding them to the body, you should also add keywords to the title, URL, meta tags, and image alt text. Keyword positioning boosts performance, but only if you drop those keywords into the right places.
Build a structure within your website by linking to other relevant blogs and landing pages. If you have other content focusing on related keywords, linking to that helps search engines understand the meaning and the flow of your content.
Your work’s not done yet
Tracking the performance of long-tail keywords is the only way you’re going to know if they’re successful. Use Google Analytics to track traffic, bounce rate, and conversions. You should tweak your keywords as you go and continue to develop content to attract potential customers.
Turn searchers into customers
Research is useless if it leads readers to mediocre content that can’t capture their attention, so don’t let that happen!
Great keywords need to support amazing content. That means content that provides real value to the reader, usually as an answer to a question or some other valuable insight. It has to tell a compelling story that keeps the reader’s eyes on it from start to finish.
There’s only one way to get great content, and that’s with a visionary writing team. Don’t let your content be an afterthought! When you work with ContentBacon, you get access to a team of writers, editors, and strategists who can write fantastic keyword-focused content that performs. We can help you build a strategy that gets your brand out into the world and turns leads into customers.
Learn more about our subscriptions, and contact us today to get started!
