How to Find the Best Long Tail Keywords To Target

Today's guest post is about a very important topic, longtail keyword research and I'm excited to introduce Sameer Panjwani the CEO of Mondovo.com to take you through what is the foundation knowledge you need to execute SEO now and in to the future! 

Mondovo.com is an online marketing toolset that helps you track your rankings, monitor your site stats and research your competitors'.

​A man of many talents, Sameer is currently on a mission hunt to help 1 million businesses grow organically through his products and services.

Without further ado, let's get in to it! 

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Long tail keywords are longer, more specific keyword phrases you can use to draw traffic to your site.

Using keywords is a highly useful marketing and SEO tactic, but long tail keywords are even more valuable because they drive better and targeted traffic.

Using a free keyword research tool can help you find the right long tail keywords and save money.

Using Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords seem counter-intuitive because they are very specific and seem not to optimize well. However, if a user searches Google for ‘shoes,’ the results will vary greatly in design, quality, size, brand and other innumerable variables.

​However, if someone searches for ‘brown suede knee-high boot,’ the results are tailored specifically to that user’s needs.

These types of users have buying power because they already know what they want. By searching for narrower terms, they expect specialized results, and they more than likely already plan to purchase an item when they find it.

Not only that but for smaller companies, it’s harder to increase traffic by generic search terms alone. There’s too much competition.

Long tail keywords are an integral part of any marketing and advertising strategy. It may take more work, but in the long run, the results speak for themselves.

Managing long tail keywords requires establishing better lines of communication between a business and the market actively shopping for their products. If you understand what people want about your product or service, you can optimize these keyword phrases to your benefit.

Benefits of Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords draw less traffic, but the traffic is more focused, committed, and desirous of the product or service.

Long tail keyword searches comprise roughly seventy percent of page views. It seems like generic search terms generate more traffic, but that’s only the case for a select few who already have a large percentage of the market voice.

Just ten to fifteen percent of searches involve single keywords, so the likelihood of a user finding your site amongst all of this noise is low.

Optimizing for long tail keywords is cheaper than single keywords because there’s less competition.

​Advertisers or marketing teams working within a budget find that running paid campaigns on long tail keywords pay less per click because there are fewer bids on these keywords.

Using a free keyword research tool also saves you money over the expensive subscription-based products.

Long tail keywords also improve search engine ranks because the market isn’t over-saturated with them and there are fewer pages that show as a result of the search.

Businesses that use long tail keywords inevitably display near the top of the results because they’re one of the only websites optimized for that keyword phrase.

How to Find Long Tail Keywords

​Getting past the same keywords everyone else uses is tricky. There are a lot of tools on the market to analyze keywords and optimize websites, but when everyone is using the same tools, it’s hard to generate unique suggestions.

Here are some ways to circumvent popular tools and find long tail keywords the competition isn’t using.

Scrolling to the bottom of the search results on Google displays related searches. If someone searches for ‘delicious coffee,’ longer phrases Google suggests might include ‘iced coffee drink recipes’ or ‘coffee recipes with pictures.’

Using close variations of the original keyword yields better results because they’re not as popular as head or body keywords. On rare occasions, may even get lucky enough to find a related term that’s not a direct variation of the original. These are keyword gold.

Brainstorm ideas by checking out industry forums or question and answer boards. These online communities host hundreds, if not thousands of people asking questions related to specific industries and products.

​If someone is asking a question in a forum, they’re also asking that question on Google. When Google didn’t have what they were looking for, they found a forum that might help.

​These are gaps in Google’s search results of which marketers and advertisers can take advantage.

​Google Trends shows high-volume keywords before Google Keyword Planner finds them. Google Keyword Planner suggestions are optimized, but the problem is everyone is using them.

Google Trends is a little-known tool, and the Google Suggest feature quickly checks a keyword’s popularity over time, providing valuable insight into which long tail keywords perform most consistently.

Keywords, tools to analyze keywords, and sites that rank using the same keywords as everyone else saturate the market. There’s no one-size-fits-all formula for how to find and use long tail keywords.

​Research is a critical piece of a long tail keyword strategy because it identifies gaps in the market where success is more likely.

By using a free keyword research tool, you can stay ahead of the curve by understanding and appropriately using long tail keywords to increase site traffic and conversions, rank higher on search engines, save money, and steer clear of the competition.

As usual please let us know your thoughts in the comments below.  Do you have a strategy for optimising your content around longtail keywords?  Do you have a specific tool you use for your keyword research?