How to write good long-tail keywords
The expression “Long Tail” was launched in 2004 by Chris Anderson, following his observation of online sales. He observed that products that are in low demand, or have low sales volume, can collectively represent a market share equal to or greater than that of the bestsellers. Long-tail keywords are very specific search phrases that have a low search volume, and that express the search intent of the user quite clearly. Because of their specificity, long tail keywords are usually composed of three or more words. Here are some tips on how to write good long-tail keywords.
1) Go long
In the travel industry, “travel miami”, “last minute travel”, “hotel cancun” are all “priority” keywords. The long tail represents expressions like “best cheap hotels in miami”, “cheap packages for cancun”, “5 star hotel bahamas”. Stop trying to be hyper-competitive on a handful of keywords. Being a small fish in the sea is far less effective (and profitable) than being a big fish in a small bowl.
2) Go broad
If you are one of the lucky few to be listed for a short tail keyword, but your rankings are dropping on the search engine results pages, you are seriously hindering your business performance and may have a hard time recovering. By broadening your scope and including long-tail keywords, the SEO points you lose for certain expressions will not disrupt your business performance and you can regain them quite easily.
3) Target your visitors
Target quality traffic, visitors and potential customers who are already interested in your business. Of course, this also works well with service activities. The conversion rates (purchase, contact, quote request, newsletter subscription, etc.) are therefore much higher.
4) Don’t overdo it
When Google scans your page, it will realize that your lexicon includes all the words commonly used in the niche you are targeting and will therefore conclude that what you have written meets the needs of this audience. Be careful not to over-optimize for a particular expression. Google will realize this and will penalize you. Use words when they make sense “naturally” and include many variations of the same word to avoid being too repetitive.
When you write good long-tail keywords, remember: your long-term targeting is as powerful as your content. If you’re not recognized as an authority in your niche, it’s time to start creating blog posts.