The Long Tail Keyword Approach as a Solid Foundation for your SEO Strategy

When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), there are two different paths for your keyword strategy: a general, broad category approach or a long tail keyword approach. One focuses on optimization for a smaller set of keywords that are highly specific and relevant to your product and the other thrives at reaching a wide variety of prospects.

Generic Keywords

Generic keywords are typically one or two word queries. These keywords have high search volume because the terms used are very broad in category. However the competition for the top spots in search results is also much higher. Moreover, since the keyword is used in isolation, it won’t always necessarily reflect the user’s intent.

Long-tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords represent phrases from multiple words, which will usually better reflect a user’s intent. By targeting long-tail keywords relevant to your business, you are guaranteed to have a higher number of visitors interested in your product or service. With long-tail keywords, the competition to rank in search results pages is also lower since the terms are highly specific.

Long-tail SEO

Let’s say your company wants to promote its product “strawberry cakes”. Your aim is to attract users that are looking for what your company provides. This means your target audience would be people looking to buy a cake.

However, when you optimize for a generic keyword like “strawberry cakes”, it doesn’t necessarily mean that someone landing on your website searching “strawberry cakes” is actually interested in a buying your product.

It could be someone who is looking for a recipe for a strawberry cake and doesn’t have any interest in buying one. It could be someone looking for a picture of a strawberry cake or a competitor analysing their rank in the search results.

That is why utilizing long-tail keywords in your strategy will give your business an edge over competitors. In order to attract highly qualified leads, a long tail keyword like “order strawberry cake for birthday” will bring you much more effective results. The user intent is built into the search phrase.

Quality over Quantity

The competition for the top search results is fierce and a SEO strategy based on long tail keywords can give you an advantage.

High volume of traffic is not always a good indicator of effective results. It’s better to focus on attracting interested prospects that have a high chance of becoming a customer. Once you’re seeing the right traffic, then you can start expanding your efforts to broader keyword categories or additional long tail keywords.