Long tail keywords (LTKs) include the phrases that you and your clients use regularly, that uniquely identify your business. In a search-driven world, they are important for three reasons:

1. Disambiguation
2. Low search volume
3. Motivated searchers

Let’s use a car sales yard as an example. More specifically, let’s make this a second-hand vehicle dealership, specialising in MG products in the Hawkes Bay region. *

If a user searches Google for “car,” they return over 12 billion results. Our dealer’s website should be among them, but we have no idea what the user’s intent was, because “car” covers an enormous swathe of information and industry.

A search for “used MG dealer in Napier” returns some 432,000 results, which is still a large number, but now we can infer a little more intent on the part of the user—and so does Google. To return to our three drivers:

This latter search is unambiguous: the user is looking for a dealership who specialises in second-hand MG vehicles in Napier.

The search volume is lower, which means there is less competition. While “car” is a term every car dealer in the world would like to rank for, there are only so many second-hand dealers specialising in MGs in the Hawkes Bay (three, as it turns out).

For our dealership, a single search result for “used MG dealer in Napier” is far more valuable than thousands of less focused searches for “car”. Specific searches are more motivated searches. And motivated searches are far more likely to generate leads.

So what do you do about it?

Make sure your site reflects your subject matter expertise.

Avoid generic descriptions or manufacturer supplied copy, and make sure the language you use on your website is complementary to the language you would use in person or on the phone.

People making relevant searches are already looking to give you value. Meet them halfway by considering your long tail keywords.

Use your data! Keep an eye on your analytics and search console, and use them to get a handle on the types of long tail content that are working for you.

Pay attention to divergences between your language and your customers’ — if every second client uses the wrong word for a product type, it’s worth unpacking that (gently) in your copy, which will incidentally and authentically capture those searches.

The next level: A professional site audit will analyse your copy and ensure it offers maximum value to your customers (which is the primary reason for monitoring your long-tail keywords), and correctly guide more motivated eyes to your site by improving your search presence.

LTKs are not about gaming the system: they are an accessible metric that can help you focus and improve your content online.

* This example was completely random, and we did not expect to find not one but three dealerships matching that description!

Source

We specialise in stepping past the jargon and helping you to focus on what matters for your organisation.

Search optimisation and marketing is often presented as a complex and evolving field, but we prefer a first-principles approach we call customer-centric optimisation, making use of your existing assets to obtain the key benefits of all those acronyms without chasing diminishing returns.

Still sound a bit jargony?

Here’s how it works:

1. We listen to you: You are the expert in your organisation. We ask about your customers, your products and services, your values and your objectives.
2. We look at your existing channels: We audit your website and social media content and technical capabilities, using our expertise in Search, Web Development, User Interaction, Writing and Editing. We make recommendations to improve each of these.
3. We map your processes: We examine your workflow and data for low-hanging opportunities to improve your search visibility and connect more easily and consistently with customers.
4. We fix what’s broken: We repair (or help your vendors repair) any technical problems with your channels, edit your revised content, and configure any relevant channels and reporting systems that are missing. We also make recommendations about relevant third-party services and any opportunities to reduce duplication and cost.
5. We provide a framework: We give you a set of clear steps that you can prioritise going forward on your own terms, without disrupting your existing mission, and ways to measure your success. This might include some paid search marketing, depending on your sector and objectives.

For those rare creatures who prefer the TLAs, we can do those too:

1. SEO: Search Engine Optimisation is about understanding the ways Search Engines like Google and Baidu organically find and interpret website structures, content, and relationships. Pure SEO is an ever-changing field, but the core principles remain the same. SEO, done properly, is not about chasing the latest algorithm announcements for quick boosts in visibility, or trying to game the system (these are both detrimental and costly, not to mention unethical) but about making sure your content is well-structured, represents your UVP (unique value proposition) fully, and serves your clients.
2. SEM: Search Engine Marketing is the apparatus of inorganic, i.e. paid and directed, search presence. Google Ads (formerly AdWords) is the largest example of this, and provides the page-topping advertised results when a Google search is performed, indicated by the subtle “Ad” box beside the url.
3. PPC: Pay Per Click is a common method by which SEM services charge their clients. An automatic auction system is often used, where bids are placed for relevant keywords, apportioning ad placement between competitors based on demand and daily budget.
4. LTK: Long Tail Keywords are the highly specific phrases consisting of multiple words and unique to your organisation, product, or sector. Authentic, original content that represents your UVP will naturally contain LTKs. SEM, when used, should take advantage of these to capture the lower volume but highly motivated clients who are searching with such specific strings. When factored into SEM, LTKs provide better lead generation with a lower cost per click (CPC) because increasingly specific phrases encounter less competition.

Source