The Benefits of Long-Tail Keywords
The rules of SEO are constantly changing. However, one much-discussed trend in SEO that will not lose its relevance is the benefits of long-tail keywords. Whether you’re new to the realm of search engine optimization or a grizzled veteran, their advantages might cut against some notions you have about keywords. Today, we will provide an overview of what long-tail keywords are, as well as how they can benefit your SEO.
What Are Long-Tail Keywords?
Essentially, long-tail keywords are exactly what you’d expect them to be: long keywords. But why don’t they just call them that?
The ‘tail’ part of the term has its roots in a 2004 article by Wired Magazine’s Chris Anderson. Understand what is meant by ‘long tail’ has useful applications in numerous fields—from finance, to social networks, to our topic, SEO.
But let’s start with its application in a business setting. Anderson’s theory posits less popular goods, for which demand does not appear to be so high, have the capacity to out-sell mainstream goods. A few mainstream goods, which are high in value, seem to dominate the market. But there exists a far vaster number of less popular goods, which could rival the former in terms of demand when taken as a whole.
Now let’s think about a search engine. Imagine what would happen if you searched ‘apple pie recipe.’ The vast majority of searchers would pick a recipe from the first page of results—the ‘head’ in our graph. But what about the other millions of results—the ‘tail’? How would you get your website to rise to the top and gain visibility?
The solution lies with long-tail keywords.
How Do I Incorporate Them?
Now that we have some sense of the benefits of long-tail keywords, we should begin to think about incorporating them. Recently, we covered the rise of voice search and how it impacts SEO. In a nutshell, voice searches tend to be more conversational in tone than text-based searches. Further complicating matters, they generally only return one result.
Long-tail keywords can be a way around this and other difficulties getting your sites to rank. If you hope to cater voice search, consider using significantly longer keywords that incorporate words such as articles and prepositions. For text searches, just make them longer. Consider beginning your keyword with a question word such as ‘who,’ ‘what,’ ‘where,’ ‘when,’ ‘why,’ or ‘how.’
There are numerous websites or browser extensions that can help you come up with long-tail keywords. If you have trouble thinking of some of your own, use one of these. A few noteworthy ones include the Keywords Everywhere tool or Answer the Public.
If you hope to navigate the pitfalls of SEO, it’s crucial to comprehend the benefits of long-tail keywords. Over time, you will get better at incorporating them and see more results.
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