Long-tail keywords have been the holy grail of SEO for as long as SEO has existed. Yet, even seasoned SEO professionals cannot resist the lure of the popular keywords at the detriment of neglecting long-tail keywords. But, what makes the long-tail keywords so important anyway? There’s not one, but many reasons that make long-tail keywords perhaps the most important element of an effective SEO strategy. Let’s look at some of them.
There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom
This graph shows the typical distribution of different types of keywords and the monthly searches they generate. Granted that the top 100 keywords generate the highest number of searches, but they are also the most coveted. In other words, everyone from the best businesses in your industry to a newbie blogger is targeting these blogs. However, except for the few top websites which spend an insane amount of time, money, and energy, none of the thousands of other websites will ever be able to generate traffic by using these keywords.
As you go further down, you will notice that there are many more keywords which generate less and less traffic. But, the bulk of the keywords lie in this huge category called long-tail keywords. Although they generate less monthly searches, there are a vast number of them that are either not targeted or less focused on by the other websites. By leveraging these keywords, you can reach those visitors who are completely neglected by the other websites. In fact, focus on enough number of these long-tail keywords and you end up leaving behind your competitor in terms of SEO.
This is What People Really Want
No, seriously. Long-tail keywords are what people naturally use to perform their searches. Someone who types “xbox games” is probably not looking for xbox games to purchase. They are probably just reading about the various games, checking the reviews, and so on and so forth. They are probably window shopping or researching. Buyers are using more specific keywords such as “best fps games that are like Halo”, “best deals on xbox games 2017”, and so on. Keywords like these are relatively much easier to target. So, if you manage to create a blog article or a review of a game using a good number of such keywords, then you might just hit the SEO jackpot and get a powerful boost.
This is What Google Wants
Google has never shied away from making it abundantly clear how much they value contextual relevance. Now, more than ever, Google is focusing heavily on the exact search terms that its users are using to perform their searches. In other words, Google is using long-tail keywords to give its users the exact match that they are searching for. This should be all the reason for you to start investing heavily in long-tail keywords.
Long-Tail Keywords and Blogs are Best of Friends
Blogs are the most powerful way to boost your SEO performance. However, using a limited number of popular keywords does not help your blog strategy. Their repeated usage does not add any value to your SEO. Plus, those keywords come with stiff competition as it is. On the other hand, long-tail keywords offer two major benefits. Firstly, you don’t have to use the same long-tail keyword multiple times in an article. There are thousands of long-tail keywords for every top keyword. So, you can pick a good number of them that are relevant to your content, and focus on them. Secondly, you’ll never run out of long-tail keywords. So, as you go creating more and more relevant content, you can keep using more of these keywords. Therefore, there is no risk of search engines penalizing you for high keyword density or repetitive usage of keywords across different webpages.
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