When it comes to SEO, keywords are your secret weapon. They’re the key to unlocking a powerful and successful SEO campaign that can help boost your website’s visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). But while most marketers focus on single-worded keywords, there is a whole other world of keyword potential out there waiting to be explored.
We’re talking about long-tail keywords—the hidden gems of SEO. Let’s take a closer look at long-tail keywords, why they matter, and how you can find them for your campaigns.
93% of online experiences begin with a search engine. As such, having a comprehensive SEO strategy that includes long tail keyword phrases is key to increasing your visibility and search engine ranking.
What are Long-Tail Keywords?
Most Longtail keywords are comprised of three or more words. These words typically target a more specific audience and are often used as part of a longer search query.
Long tail keywords are much less competitive than single-worded ones, but they usually offer higher conversion rates because they’re more targeted and come with greater intent.
For example, “buy Nike shoes online” is an example of a long-tail keyword phrase, while “shoes” is an example of a short-tail keyword.
The length of a long-tail keyword is not the only distinction—long-tail keywords typically describe an intent or action. In other words, they’re more likely to be used when someone actively searches for something specific on the internet.
For example, if someone is searching for “buy Nike shoes online,” they likely already intend to purchase shoes from Nike. On the other hand, if someone searches for “best shoes for running,” they are in the exploration phase and have not yet chosen a brand or store to buy from.
Longtail Keyword Traits
Long-tail keywords are typically:
- Three or more words long
- Highly specific
- Low to Medium competition
- Have high conversion rates
- Generate qualified organic traffic
- More specific for a target audience
- Relatively low search volume (most often)
- Easier to rank
The Benefits of Using Long Tail Keywords for SEO
Long tail keywords have several advantages over single words or short phrases when it comes to creating an SEO strategy that can succeed in google searches. Most long-tail keywords usually have an intent in mind, helping the search results become more precise. Long tail keywords are also easier to rank because they have lower competition than single keywords or short phrases, so you’ll be able to climb up the search engine rankings faster and get your website on top of SERPs quickly.
Long-tail keywords also provide more valuable organic traffic since they talk to a specific target audience.
- They have lower competition which means less competition for higher placement on the first page of the search engine rankings.
- Long tail terms are more specific, which helps increase click-through rates because people searching with long tail keywords usually have a clear idea about what they want.
- They connect searchers with businesses more easily because the searchers know exactly what they are looking for.
While single-worded keywords may have higher search volumes in general, they also tend to be associated with higher competition levels, making it difficult for businesses to rank for them in SERPs.
That’s where long-tail keywords come into play; these longer phrases usually have less competition and can often provide better results in terms of website traffic and conversions.
Where to Find Long Tail Keywords?
The best way to find these valuable long-tail keywords is through keyword research tools like SEMrush and Surfer SEO. These tools allow you to input seed words related to your business or industry and generate dozens of related keyword ideas that you can use in SEO campaigns.
Additionally, you can use third-party services such as AnswerThePublic, which offer unique visualizations of related words and phrases that users commonly type into search engines like Google or Bing when looking for products or services like yours.
Google Trends reported that the top searched keyword in Google for 2022 was Wordle. If you wanted to create content that ranked for the word WORDLE, you’d be competing against a phrase with a search volume of 101 million and a 100% keyword difficulty. In other words, ranking for the term would be pretty much impossible.
However, using SEMrush to find specific long tail keywords with relatively low search volume, we find “how to share wordle results ” with 2,400 monthly searches and a keyword difficulty of 45%. That long tail we can rank for.
How to Use a Longtail Keyword Generator
In this section, I’ll provide three examples of keyword generators. The first is Google autosuggest which is a free tool. The other two are SEMrush and Surfer SEO which are paid subscription services.
SEMrush
SEMrush is a powerful SEO platform that offers keyword research, analytics, and competitor analysis tools. Their long tail queries search tool allows you to search for related keywords based on your seed words. You can filter results by relevance, less competitive keywords, and other criteria to find the best phrases to target in your campaigns.
Surfer SEO
Surfer SEO is a cloud-based platform that specializes in on-page SEO. The content clustering keyword research tool helps you find related long-tail phrases by analyzing the content of your competitors’ pages. You can then use these keywords to craft content that is more relevant and optimized for search engine rankings.
Google Autosuggest
The Google autosuggest feature is a great way to discover which long-tail phrases are used in your topic searches. Type in a broad keyword, and Google will generate a list of keyword suggestions you can use for SEO campaigns.
While it won’t provide search volume, keyword difficulty, or other metrics, it’s still a great tool to help you brainstorm long-tail keywords related to your main topic.
By leveraging long-tail keywords, businesses can gain an edge over their competitors in search engine rankings and attract more organic traffic to their sites. With the right keyword research tools and strategy, you can uncover valuable long-tail phrases that will help you reach your SEO goals.
If you use the Google keyword planner for advertising, you can also find long-tail keyword suggestions for targeting more specific audiences with your campaigns. By understanding which keywords are more likely to convert, you can adjust your bid prices accordingly and maximize ROI from your ads.
Overall, by using long-tail keyword research tools and strategies, businesses can easily identify profitable phrases that will help them reach their goals in organic search engine traffic and advertising campaigns.
Ranking Long Tail Keywords
Once you have identified the best long tail keywords for your business, it’s time to start using them in content creation. This includes everything from blog posts and articles on your website to social media updates and even product descriptions when selling goods online.
The goal is always the same—to get those relevant phrases seen by as many people as possible so that they become familiar with your brand or offerings before making a purchase decision.
Using SEMrush as a longtail generator, I typed in the phrase best makeup. Using the list of keywords, I could use the filters to find a keyword phrase with 1900 monthly searches, a keyword difficulty of 51 (I usually target a max of 50-60 with a newer website), and a cost-per-click (CPC) value of $2.73.
For me, this is a rankable, profitable keyword phrase: “best makeup for acne prone skin “. You can see how the longtail phrase changed the topic entirely. Instead of making a list of the best makeup on the market, the list will now contain information about the best make for acne prone skin.
This is the magic of long-tail keywords: they provide users with a more targeted and specific search experience. And as you can see, it is also more profitable for your business in the end.
The next step is to create an in-depth, high-quality piece of content optimized for the keyword phrase you identified. This includes using the target phrase in headlines, subheadings, meta descriptions, and body copy.
Using a tool like Surfer SEO, you can create a map that provides you with an outline for that specific longtail keyword. Surfer uses the other top-ranking blogs to find a correlation between the content and their rankings. With this information, you can better understand what kind of content to create and how to optimize it for your target keyword phrase.
By combining keyword research with a data-driven approach to content creation, you can increase your chances of ranking well in search engine results pages (SERPs) and draw more organic traffic to your website.
In this example, the content editor in Surfer SEO showed us that we needed to create a piece of content between 2,688 to 3,092 words long. It’s not an exact science, but it does provide direction on the length of content that performs better for this particular keyword phrase.
The content editor also provides us with the suggested heading count, paragraph count, and samples of titles, headings, and frequently asked questions. As we type, the score increases, and more insights show us if our content is on track to rank for that keyword phrase.
I like to bring in Jasper AI, the software I use to create data-driven content to ensure it is optimized for search engines and readers. Jasper integrates with Surfer SEO, allowing me to watch the score and on-page SEO suggestions while I use Jasper AI to help write the content.
This three-prong approach of finding longtail keywords (SEMrush), creating an optimized brief (Surfer SEO tool), and writing search-engine-optimized content (Jasper), results in content that stands out and attracts more organic traffic.
So, to increase your SEO efforts, start by finding long-tail keywords and then create an optimized piece of content to help you engage with potential customers or clients. When done correctly, this strategy can significantly improve your website’s organic visibility and the overall success of your business.
Longtail Keyword Examples
Each of these examples starts by entering a broad keyword into a keyword tool like SEMrush. SEMrush returns relevant searches. I used the filters to define long tail keywords based on keyword difficulty. The long tail searches suggested have a KD% of 50 or below and can also be sorted by search volume data to uncover long tail keywords with the highest search volume and lowest keyword difficulty. This is the ideal long tail keyword strategy.
You can also use the related keywords to find long tail variations of keywords that don’t contain the seed keyword but are similar in nature. You can work on the lower search volume phrases, create a blog post, and rank in the organic search results on Google.
While you may find phrases with high search volume, the competition for them is likely to be high. So, finding a balance between search volume and keyword difficulty when looking for long-tail keywords is important.
Example 1
Seed Keyword: Small Pet
Specific Longtail Keywords:
- Small pet turtles
- Small pet carrier
- Small pets for kids
Example 2
Main Keyword: SEO tools
Longtail Keyword Suggestions:
- SEO reporting tools
- Best SEO audit tool
- Etsy SEO tools
Example 3
Keyword entered in the search bar: baby food
Relevant keywords
- Organic baby food
- Baby food pouches
- Iron-rich food for babies
Example 4
Short Tail Keywords: Chicken Recipe
Searches Related to the seed keyword:
- Chicken tenderloin recipes
- Chicken and potato recipes
- Bone in chicken recipes
Longtail keywords are important because they are more specific and can increase conversions. When creating content, use longtail keywords to make sure your content is focused and relevant for searchers. If you better understand the long tail keywords related to your topic, you can create more effective content that draws organic search traffic.
Furthermore, utilizing the data-driven content creation tools available can help you optimize your content for SEO success.
Glossary of Terms
This glossary defines important terms used in this article:
- Answer the Public: This keyword research tool helps you find long-tail keywords related to your topic.
- Google Autocomplete: A feature that displays suggested searches as you type.
- Jasper AI: Software that writes content based on commands.
- Keyword Difficulty: The difficulty of ranking a keyword on SERPs.
- Longtail Keyword: A keyword phrase that is more specific and has fewer monthly searches than a head term.
- Related Searches: A feature that displays related searches.
- Search Intent: The purpose behind a user’s search query.
- Search Queries: The word or phrase entered into a search engine by a user.
- Search Terms: The words that make up a search engine query.
- Search Volume: Number of times a keyword is searched for on search engine.
- Seed Keyword: A keyword usually used to identify a more general, broad topic.
- SEMrush: A keyword research tool that helps you find longtail keywords.
- SERP: Search engine results page.
- Short tail keyword: A keyword phrase that is less specific and has more monthly searches than a long tail keyword.
- Surfer SEO: A tool used to create content outlines and optimize a website’s on-page SEO.
