Studies indicate that 70% of all searches are made using long-tail keywords. This is especially common in this age when people are doing searches using mobile phones. Therefore, if you would like to attract visitors to your site, you will need to use long-tail keywords.
But for even better SEO results, you need to align long-tail keywords with the user search query. This article will delve into long-tail keywords and guide you on how to find them.
What are Long-tail Keywords?
A longtail keyword is a search query consisting of more than three words. These terms are more specific, allowing you to attract high-quality traffic to your site. The keywords are mostly used in the later stages of the sales journey.
In the first stage, users tend to make a simple search. As they get more details on their search, they start looking for specific and more detailed search answers that will solve their pain points. This is where long-tail keywords become essential.
Importance of Long-tail Keywords
Here are the benefits of using long-tail keywords:
More Specific
The keywords are usually more specific, enabling you to reach your target niche. For instance, when someone searches for the keyword weight loss, it can be hard to pinpoint what they need. It could be that they want to know how to lose weight, get inspired on other people’s journeys, or even buy weight loss products.
That’s the challenge with short-tail keywords. On the other hand, when someone searches for the longtail keyword “best weight loss pills when breastfeeding,” it’s clear that they need pills for pregnant women.
Better Conversion
A visitor who finds your site using longtail keywords is more likely to convert than another using the short tail keyword weight loss. Going by our earlier example, someone who finds your site using the keyword “best weight loss pills when breastfeeding” is likely to convert as they are specifically searching for that product. When you target these keywords, you will get traffic more closely aligned with your goal.
Low Competition Level
Another benefit of longtail keywords is that they have a lower competition level. Shorttail keywords have a high search volume, and therefore, many authority sites with big budgets target them.
When we check the search volume of our previous example, “weight loss”, the keyword has a search volume of 86K, according to Ahrefs tool shown below.
The keyword tool also gives it a keyword difficulty score of 90, which is extremely high. But in the same image, we have a longtail keyword “alpine ice hack weight loss,” which the tool indicates has a keyword difficulty score of 4, which is extremely easy. That’s the benefit of longtail keywords.
How to Research For Long-tail Keywords
There are several steps you need to follow when researching long-tail keywords. These are:
Determine Your Buyer’s Persona
To succeed in SEO, you need to go beyond hard data and understand fully who your customers are. You need to know who your customers are as a people, their interests, how they communicate, and their pain points. When you understand this, you can speak to the customer’s specific needs in a familiar language. Once you understand their persona, you can align it with the customer’s journey.
Identify the Topics To Use
Using the buyer’s persona, you can now research the topic they need at each stage of the buying process. You need to write optimized content for each stage of the buying process.
Top Funnel
Buyers in this stage of the buying process are focused on awareness. You can optimize for that stage of the sales funnel by writing informational articles, how-to guides, and video tutorials. People in this stage are often new to the buying process and require guidance, and When you show them you are knowledgeable about their issues, they are likely to trust your products.
Mid Funnel
This stage also focuses on visibility. However, the buyers in this stage are usually more knowledgeable and have passed the top funnel stage. They also know your brand and are considering buying. For this group, you should focus on writing:
- Comparison blogs
- Email newsletters
- SEO case studies
Bottom Funnel
This stage should focus more on engagement instead of search engine visibility. This is because users in this transactional stage are ready to buy. You should, therefore, focus on promoting your brand to them. Ensure you know how to write persuasive and well-optimized landing pages. Add a call to action to your product pages.
Find Long-tail Keywords
You should now find longtail keywords for each stage of the sales funnel in our previous stage. You can use third-party pastry tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, and Uberssugest. You can also type your seed keyword on Google and see the phrases that will be auto-filled. Check also at the bottom of the search page for the “people also ask” section. You can check out our guide on how to do keyword research for content marketing.
Monitor Your Success
Now that you understand how to align your long-tail keyword research with search intent, your next step is to determine if your strategies are working or not. For instance, when you notice a high bounce rate on your blog, you should check if you are responding to the search query.
If you find a low clickthrough rate on your service page, add more transactional keywords to your title pages while creating valuable CTAs. This will pull the top and mid-funnel to learn more.
Final Thoughts
Long-tail keywords are becoming more important as people search on mobile devices. Since they provide better results for both search engine users and site owners, you can’t afford to ignore them. By following this guide, you can align your long-tail keywords with the user search intent.
