What is a long-tail keyword?
A long-tail keyword is a keyword that is typically comprised of four words or more. A good example of this is “how to start a blog with wordpress”.
On the other hand, a short keyword would look like this: “start a blog”.
As you can see, the long-tail keyword is much more specific to a query, and using it can do wonders to get traffic to your blog. But what are the benefits of focusing on long-tail keywords?
The benefits are:
- Long-tail keywords target specific traffic
- Long-tail keywords cost less in advertising
- Long-tail keywords result in less competition
- Long-tail keywords tell people what the article is about
- Long-tail keywords hit several keywords
- Long-tail keywords have better conversion rates
Let us go through each one. By the end of this article, you would know why you need to focus on long-tail keywords, and why it is the best approach to getting traffic to your blog.
Long-Tail Keywords Target Specific Traffic
The people you want to get to your blog or website are those who are looking for your specific content. Why? Because these are the people who have a specific interest in what you have to offer.
Whether you are an affiliate marketer, a dropshipper, a blogger, or an online e-commerce operator, you want people who belong to your niche. The only way you can get these people to your blog page or product page is by using long-form keywords.
If you use the keyword “how to start blogging with wordpress”, the kind of people who will get to your site are people who:
- Want to start a blog
- Want to do it on the wordpress platform
But if you use a short-form keyword like “how to start a blog”, it is likely that you will only attract those who are just merely looking for generic information.
With the long-tail keyword, the audience who would go to your site is those who may have already heard of wordpress and want to know more about it. As such, you can easily sell them WordPress if you are an affiliate for that software company.
Long-Tail Keywords Cost Less in Advertising
Long-tail keywords cost less because fewer people pay for them. What does this mean?
Many advertisers shoot for generic terms, or short keywords. Their logic is that short keywords can reach more people.
This is true.
However, it is not as effective because Google or any advertising platform will show the ads to more people who are not interested at all.
If you use long-tail keywords, you will pay less because most advertisers do not want to be so niche-specific when they are running their ads.
As a result, you spend less on your marketing campaign, and yet get the most value out of it. It is very likely that the person who is going to click on the ad is interested in buying your product, rather than someone who just randomly thought to view it.
Long-Tail Keywords Result in Less Competition
Earlier, we said that long-tail keywords have cheaper ad costs. Another benefit is that as far as traffic and search results are concerned, long-tailed keywords are also less competitive.
Why?
Because long-tail keywords are expected to be topical and concentrated on a very specific subject.
What does this mean? As you can see, writing an article about a specific subject requires time. Many bloggers hate this and would opt for writing general articles. It is like casting a wide net, with the expectation of catching a lot of fish.
A long-tail keyword is like using a fishing rod, with a particular bait. While you can only catch one fish at a time, the fish you catch is your target fish.
Many bloggers will not spend time writing for long-tail keywords. Typically, they would write about how to start a blog in general, but not “how to start a blog with wordpress”.
Now, if you write an article about “how to blog in wordpress”, you will capture the interest of those who are leaning towards WordPress only, not those who want to use another platform like Wix or Weebly.
Long-Tail Keywords Tell People What the Article is About
Generic keywords do not really tell people what the article is about. Well, they do but the message is generic.
A blog title that says “How to Start a Blog” is not meaningful. Any reader who sees this headline would immediately think that this article is a “me too” blog post about blogging.
But if you use long-tail keywords like “7 Steps on How to Start a Blog on WordPress”, the reader who sees this headline would expect that:
- You will provide seven steps that he can follow
- That the steps are specific to using the WordPress platform
- That he will learn how to set it up from start to finish
As you can see, the long-form keyword is specific, and your headline is much more attractive. And as you know, an attractive headline is the first step to getting people to act and engage.
Long-Tail Keywords Hit Several Keywords
Long-form keywords tell Google and other search engines that the blog post has several possible topics. In our example, “7 Steps on How to Start a Blog on WordPress” would target the following:
- Steps to start a blog post
- Start a blog post on WordPress
- How to start a blog
See? One long-form keyword hits three types of search phrases. Google and other search engines are going to show this blog post to anybody who searches for these phrases. If this happens, your blog post has more visibility, and you can generate more clicks.
Long-Tail Keywords Have Better Conversion Rates
What is the conversion rate?
The conversion rate can be sales or clicks. Just imagine if a person typed “Steps on How to Start a Blog on WordPress” in Google search, and Google shows your article with the headline “7 Steps on How to Start a Blog on WordPress”, what would this person do?
He is going to click on your link because your headline has the exact phrase he was looking for. If you are using long-form keywords on your product title, then you can expect to get more clicks, too.
According to WordStream, 70% of searches are made with long-form keywords. What this means is that people use these words when searching for something online. The conversion rate of long-form keywords is at a staggering 36%, which means that for every 100 people who see it, 36 would click on it.
This statistical finding is not unexpected. People who search on Google are much more attracted to headlines that contain an exact match of what they are looking for.
Summary
Long-form keywords are difficult to generate. You need to sit down and brainstorm about ideas, and that is the first part of the marathon. The second challenge is to actually write meaningful content around it.
If you do this right, you can expect to get more traffic, pay less for pay-per-click ads, and attract the right traffic to your website. As you move along and fill your blog post at this standard, your blog traffic will grow faster, and you are more likely to make a sale because you are attracting the right people.
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