Long-Tail Keywords

From Search Engine SEO SEM

Long-tail keywords are more specific in nature than short-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords present a great opportunity for search marketers to provide highly relevant ads which cater for the specific needs of highly-qualified searchers. A paid search campaign with long-tail keywords can exhibit a considerably higher CTR than one with short-tail keywords. Since paid search click prices (CPCs) vary depending on a real-time supply and demand auction, long-tail keywords can often be cheaper by up to 50% due to less competition.

The long-tail in keyword research is basically an expansion of a core, generic, high volume keyword phrase to include numerous combinations and permutations of the keywords and their associated or relevant phrases. These phrases individually are unlikely to account for a great deal of searches, but when taken as a whole, can provide significant traffic. The long-tail is unlikely ever to exceed searches for a brand name if the brand name is reasonably well established, but the volume of converting traffic these terms can generate by nature of their specificity and relevance is worth investigating. The long-tail is a type of statistical distribution where a high-frequency population is followed by a low-frequency population which gradually "tails off".

Comprehensive long-tail keyword research can be a highly effective strategy, since people making long-tail searches are arguably further along in the buying cycle (a significant amount of prior knowledge is needed in order for the searcher to know which words to use), so conversion rates can be higher. Recent long-tail keyword research has found that long-tail searches often exhibit a higher conversion rate by up to 200% compared to short-tail (generic) keywords, and can be extremely profitable for search engine marketers in terms of a lower cost per action and higher return on investment.