Long Tail Keywords - Increase Google Traffic

One of the most common errors that people make when creating their website is to ignore the potential of long tail keywords to drive traffic to their site. While it is true that more generic key phrases such as “flights”, “betting odds” or “golf clubs” would bring the highest number of traffic via searches - it will actually only be a small percentage of your overall traffic from the Google search engine.

What is a Long Tail Keyword?

A long tail keyword is a combination of keywords to form a key phrase of three words or more. These keyphrases are a great way to quickly earn number 1 rankings on Google, because you are targeting keywords that are not likely to be used by your competitors.

As an example, one ecommerce site that we work for sells football shirts. This was the main focus of their SEO campaign and the number one google rankings we achieved for this keyword meant that the phrase “football shirts” brought in the highest amount of visitors to their site for a specific keyword. However, it only amounted to 3.3% of the total traffic the website received for the month of August.

The rest of the traffic was made up of long-tail keywords such as “arsenal home football shirt”. Therefore, you can see why it is important to optimise your site for long-tail keywords where possible.

Advantages of using Long-Tail Keywords

The main advantage of optimising for long tail keywords is the targeted nature of the search. Consider the examples we gave in the introduction. Someone searching for “golf clubs” is looking in a very broad sense - it is likely that the user does not know exactly what they are looking for and will be more content to browse. Yes, it would be nice to rank well for this phrase as it will bring a high volume of traffic, but the chances of turning the casual interest into a sale is low.

In contrast, if someone has searched for a more specific term such as “callaway x20 golf irons” then they clearly know what they are looking for and are more likely to make a purchase. If you have a page of content on your website geared around “callaway x20 golf irons”, Google will view your site as relevant for this keyphrase and so, even if you don’t rank well for “golf clubs”, you should rank well for this phrase if your site is well optimised.

The result is that you have attracted a customer who has clearly already done his research into the product and is looking to make a purchase. By setting up a nice landing page, you have a much better chance of converting the prospect into a sale.

Maximising the Opportunity

As above, with long tail search phrases, you have a much better chance of converting a sale than if the user has entered a generic search term. Therefore, by identifying the best potential keyphrases for your business (this is often specific products / services that you offer) and creating a landing page for them, you would stand a good chance of increasing your sales. In the above example, you should lay your page out as follows:

Page Title - Callaway X20 Golf Clubs
Description - Buy the new Callaway X20 Golf Clubs online at the best price with [COMPANY NAME]. Cheapest X20 Callaway Golf clubs, fast delivery and customer support.

Your H1 tag should match your page title and you should then include a few paragraphs of text about the clubs, giving details, manufacturer specifications, etc.

You should then either have a prominent BUY NOW button if you are an ecommerce site, or price comparison information if you are an affiliate site.