How Long is Too Long?

by nmh
11 replies
Ok, I am "attempting" to do keyword research BUT in trying to find a good keyword (long tail) for a popular niche, I have to go out to almost 6-7 words to bring the number of searches down in Google. It's crazy!!! Am I doing something wrong? HELP --- I am so frustrated it's been literally over 3 hours and I am going crazy!
#long
  • Profile picture of the author Brandon_Walker
    nmh - It is essential that you understand not all keywords are successful. Some keywords may have a high conversion rate (meaning that visitors coming to your site through these keywords often convert into buyers) while others have low conversion rates (meaning it takes hundreds of visitors just to make one sale).

    Obviously, keywords that have a high conversion rate are the keywords you want to target as they are the keywords that will generate sales on your site.

    You need to learn which keywords these are. In other words you need to understand the "buying cycle" which a typical person goes through. Once you understand the buying cycle then you will be able to target keywords will which consistently generate sales for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author nmh
    That is what I am doing but they all seem to be so saturated. When I put the phrases into Google, it is in the hundreds of thousands. Each one. I am afraid if I go 6-7 words out, it will be too long to get visitors
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  • Profile picture of the author Brandon_Walker
    nmh - don't be intimidated by the number of results in Google. It may seem quite intimidating with so many pages, but how many of them are actual targeted for the keywords in particular? I recommend you searching with the keywords in quotes "" or using this search string allintitle: keyword.

    This should give you a more accurate representation on how many sites are actual targeting that specific keyword in particular.

    Hope this helps
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  • Profile picture of the author nmh
    Ok, I will try that as well. Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author Brandon_Walker
    No problem nmh. Just keep reading and taking in the information provided here. You can sure learn quite a bit just by participating in this forum. Keep working and never give up! (I know it sounds a bit cliche, but hey it's true!)
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  • Profile picture of the author nmh
    I guess I am still having issues. I cannot tell exactly would be considered a "good" keyword based in inurl, allintitle etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author arnoldsmithh
    Well keywords must be under 8 to 10. Note more than that
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  • Profile picture of the author DogScout
    I think you want high searches, not low ones.
    it may be competing pages you would superficially want to be low
    however, in some cases the pages in the 1st 5 positions are not optimized for those keywords
    it is as if some of them just got there by accident and you may easily be able to out rank them

    for me
    (and I am no genius)
    the most important part is 'commercial intent'
    no need to rank for a keyword if those that are entering it don't have their credit cards out.

    So first I pretend to be stupid
    then I pretend to have the problem my product or e-book solves
    then I figure out what I would search for
    from there, just branch out
    if a niche or keyword appears to have a lot of 'saturation'
    look at the 1st 5 results and many times out ranking at least one is doable

    Also, if one of the 1st results is a 'how do I' forum, just answer the question and link to your site.
    automatic first place placement!
    (giving an intelligent answer and making it compelling to go to your site where you allude to a more in depth solution, helps. But if your answer grabs their interest and attention and makes them desire a solution even more than they obviously already want one...)
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  • Profile picture of the author MayaLocke
    It needs to be something that people are searching for.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Powers
    Sometimes,long does not mean bad.First,I think you should make sure that the keywords you use are popular and frequently searched.Then I think it's ok for you to use it.Of course,the shorter,the better.
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  • Profile picture of the author MisterMunch
    Long tail is not how long the keyword is. It is how many keywords you are targeting.

    Amazon use the long tail model because they have 1000's of products that only sell once in a blue moon. Still these combined outsell even their best bestsellers.

    So long tail is going for a huge number of keywords/products while short tail is focusing your attention on only a handfull.

    So if you are building an entire website on "How to make a guitar from empty soapbottles" you are not going long tail. You are very short tailed. Unless you have 2000 of these websites.
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