A long tailed keywordis basically an
extension of a generic, core and high volume keyword or phrase. Generally, it
includes the permutation and combination of the keywords as well as other
relevant phrases. However, the specialty of these keywords is that they are not
significant when used individually. But, when they are taken as a whole they
make significant contribution to drive relevant traffic to the site.
Ideally, a long tail keyword can not
exceed the searches if the brand is already well established. However, it is
still a wonder how these words and phrases can increase the traffic. Technically,
the long tail refers to a statistical distribution where the high frequency
population is followed by the low frequency population that eventually tails
off.
Thus the keywords can be classified in two
broad categories – short keywords and long tail keywords. They are also called
as broad and narrow keywords respectively. Originally, the named long tail was
invented by Chris Anderson and it is targeted at the less competitive niche
market. Thus, the long tail keyword can be expressed as a ‘small business web
design’ while the short tail keyword can be ‘web design’.
As the examples show, the word web design
is very competitive and there will thousands of web sites that will be dealing
with this keyword. However, the phrase ‘small business web design’ will have
fewer competitors. Nevertheless, the last phrase is more specific and
therefore, it will have less popularity. However for people looking at specific
searches this will be a relevant keyword; hence it will drive quality traffic
to the site.
Now, the question would be why you would
use long tailed keywords in the site. The reason is obvious here – you have less
competition when you are dealing with the long tailed keywords and as a result,
you have the chance of hitting the first spot at the search result of Google. So,
the rules are simple here, the more you use the long tail keywords, the easier
it will be for you to get traffic. After all, it is easier to rank higher with
these keywords.
Another great thing with the long tail
keywords is that the visitors pulled through these have a high percentage of
buyers. Also, they are more likely to click on ads. This is because the traffic
of the long tail keywords is more specific and they are getting what precisely
they were looking at. Statistically, the general keywords fetches $5 for every
1000 impression while, the long tail keywords can earn $100 in the same number
of impressions. Naturally, they are effective and worth being used in your site.
Conclusion:
Now, if you are interested in using the
long tailed keywords, it is important that you do a lot of research in this
regard. There are SEO research tools like the Wordtracker that can be very
useful here. Keep in mind however that both short and long tailed keywords need
to be used in a balanced proportion in order to get optimum web traffic.
Authored
by: Roderick Coleman
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