What are Long Tail keywords?

When applied to websites and search engine traffic/marketing,
it simply means that most websites are likely to receive most
of their search engine visitors through a variety of low-volume
search queries instead of a handful of major keywords.

Therefore focusing on developing the keywords which receive
lower volumes of search traffic will lead to an increase in
the overall amount of visitors from search engines to your
website.

Long tail keywords are simply multi-phrase search queries which
visitors use on search engines to arrive at your website. These
longtail keywords are much more targeted than the general or
main keyword topic and they literally embody a visitor’s need
for specific information.

Here is an example. ‘Credit Cards‘ is the general keyword topic
and long tail keywords within this niche includes terms such as
the following:

- credit cards for people with bad credit
- list of low interest credit cards
- benefits of small business credit cards
- good canadian credit cards for students

These long tail keywords are actual search queries, therefore
optimizing your site and creating content to match these search
queries will allow you to attract visitors who search for
information via these and similar search terms.

Benefits of Long Tail keywords

Here are four main reasons why you should consider optimizing
your website for long tail keywords:

- Long tail keywords lead to higher conversions. Visitors arriving
through multi-phrase search queries might be more likely to make
purchases or convert on affiliate programs or recommendations.
By targeting these longtail phrases, you are effectively targeting
a market of potential buyers.

- Long tail Keywords are Easier to rank. It is much easier to make
your website rank well on search engines for longtail keywords
because of the generally weaker competition.

- More Visitors to your website. Targeting long tail keywords will
gradually lead to more search engine traffic because you’ll have
a lot of pages indexed and ranking for specific phrases related to
your website/business. This means increased visibility and therefore
a much larger amount of search engine traffic.

- Higher monetization potential. Search engine visitors are very
valuable because they are targeted individuals who are seeking
specific information and hence are more likely to click on contextual
ads or subscribe to your site newsletter or blog feed. This grows
your audience and allows you greater monetization potential in
the long run through product sales or the use of third-party
ad networks.

Branko Rakic