January 10, 2024
Ever feel like you're shouting into a void online? You craft content, pour your heart into each word and hit 'publish'—only to watch it vanish in the digital abyss. Frustrating, right?
Instead of casting too wide a net with common keywords that get swallowed by the internet's vast ocean, start fishing with precision.
Welcome to the world of long-tail keywords—the key to a great SEO content strategy that generates higher conversion rates.
Long-tail vs Short-tail keywords
Before diving into long-tail keywords, let's take a moment to differentiate short-tail keywords from long-tail keywords.
What Are Short-Tail Keywords?
You're in a crowded market, shouting to sell the same apples as ten other vendors. That's what using short-tail keywords feels like in the vast digital orchard of search engines. Short-tail keywords are typically one to three words long and incredibly generic—think 'shoes,' 'marketing tips,' or 'fitness.' Because they are so broad, these tiny but mighty phrases pack a punch in volume yet often lack when it comes to precision targeting.
In rare cases, they might get you loads of eyes on your page—but not all those eyes belong to people who want what you're selling. In most cases, short-tail keywords will be challenging to rank well for, given that more prominent and more established websites have been creating content related to your keyword. For example, if you are in the energy industry and want to rank for "green energy" as a short-tail keyword, good luck competing directly with the Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Clean Energy States Alliance, and more on the first page.
Moz's guide suggests that while these terms account for lots of searches, they don't promise much beyond that—they're competitive and can be as tough to rank for as climbing Everest in flip-flops.
What Are Long-Tail Keywords, Exactly?
Think of long-tail keywords as the internet's hidden gems. They're those specific phrases that are longer than your average keyword and often pack a punch in terms of specificity. Imagine you're searching for "shoes." That's pretty broad, right? Now think about typing in "women's black leather ankle boots size 8." You just used a long-tail keyword.
Why Long-tail Keywords Are Important in SEO
A long-tail strategy is like choosing specific, less crowded spots where you know certain fish gather, instead of casting a wide net and hoping for the best. It's about targeting search queries that are more detailed and often longer than typical keywords.
Less Competition
In an online world brimming with competition, standing out gets tougher by the day. But here's where it gets interesting—long-tail keywords are your secret passageway to visibility on search engines. They're akin to finding a niche market within a bustling city marketplace; fewer people sell what you offer, so those looking for it find you easier.
A great way to see this in action? Look at how smaller businesses carve their path through giants by specializing in unique products or services. With long-tails, your website can become that specialty store on Google's main street—the one everyone talks about because nobody else quite matches what they need as perfectly as you do.
Higher Conversions
Diving deeper into specifics paints clearer pictures—and clear pictures draw interested viewers who stick around longer than confused window-shoppers do. The beauty of specificity lies not just in being found but also being chosen.
People punching specific queries into their search bars have likely moved past casual browsing; now we're talking potential buyers hunting something precise down with laser focus.
Studies have shown that pages optimized for these targeted searches enjoy conversion rates 2.5 times higher than generic single-word terms as reported by Moz.
It Helps You Optimize for Semantic, Conversational & Voice Search
Semantic search engines strive to understand searcher intent rather than blindly matching query words. Here comes the power play: Long-tails naturally align with how people speak or ask questions when using voice-activated devices or engaging conversational AI.
Gone are the days of robotic commands like "weather New York"; we're now asking our smart devices casual questions such as "What's the weather forecast for New York next weekend?" When your content mirrors real talk—it gets real traffic.
Future Proof your SEO Strategy
Implementing an effective SEO is not a short-term strategy. Great SEO Strategies can take six months and up to a year to show a significant return on investment. As such, you need to pay attention to search trends and how search is evolving both from a search algorithm (hello, Hummingbird update) and user perspective.
We now chat away with devices like we do old friends at coffee shops, using natural language full of context-rich sentences rather than choppy robot talk—and this shift has made optimizing for semantic meaning critical. Crafting content around meaty descriptive keyphrases allows Google's smart algorithms, such as RankBrain, an easier time figuring out user intent so it can serve up your site on a silver platter.
From a user perspective, just as mobile devices transformed how people interact with websites and being mobile-friendly went from a "nice to have" to a requirement for websites, voice search is the next evolution. As of 2023 close to 50% of people are researching products using voice search. And, over 1 billion voic searches occure each month via mobile and voice search devices.
