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Long-tail keywords and how to optimize for them?

by jmh777
14 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Based on advice given here, I'm planning to rank for long tail keywords, being they're easier to rank for, and take less time.

But for a niche blog, how do I rank for them? I mean I can't make every blogpost focusing on a long tail keyword like "I need to lose weight fast". Or should I focus on 1 long tail keyword at a time until it's at the top?

Confused on how to long term rank for many long tail keywords, in the same niche, basically.

Thanks for any help/advice. I looked in google first and couldn't find an answer.
#keywords #longtail #optimize
  • Profile picture of the author jmh777
    Anyone have any advice on this?
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan Rush
    It all really comes down to your preference, I have a few websites that I specifically target 1 long tail keyword per blog post, and I have a few others that I target 3-4 long tail keywords per blog post. From my experience it's generally better to include multiple long tail keywords in your blog posts, but only if they fit in naturally within the post.
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    • Profile picture of the author patco
      Originally Posted by Ryan Rush View Post

      It all really comes down to your preference, I have a few websites that I specifically target 1 long tail keyword per blog post, and I have a few others that I target 3-4 long tail keywords per blog post. From my experience it's generally better to include multiple long tail keywords in your blog posts, but only if they fit in naturally within the post.
      Yes. This is a good strategy, just to say that 3-4 are more than enough to work on for about 500+ words article. If the article has 1,000+ words, the optimization would be much better. So it depends on the QUALITY of content!
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  • Profile picture of the author Icematikx
    I find that writing a well-structured and meaty post attracts both the main keyword and dozens of long-tail keywords. For example, I recently wrote a 3,000 word article on back pain. While it's not necessarily ranking yet for "back pain", I am picking up tons of long-tail traffic. Long-tail traffic will always find its way to a meaty article - just because you will naturally use related LSI keywords while writing an engaging post.
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Curran Smith
      I definitely agree with what everyone has said, a longer piece (1500 words or more) with a lot of long tails and LSI phrases will get traffic. Throw in some shorter supporting pages (you don't want these to rank, just support, throw them into a silo), and then hit your money pages with long tail anchor links very lightly (handful). As we all know, less is more right now. Unless your churning and burning, in which case...let 'er fly.
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  • Profile picture of the author molliefr
    The long tail keyword is easy to get ranks higher as they have less competition in them but it not always true. Do what ever you want to do but focus on content and some basic seo techniques like url permalink, title meta description and link building beside social sharing
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  • Profile picture of the author sudo rank
    Originally Posted by jmh777 View Post

    Confused on how to long term rank for many long tail keywords, in the same niche, basically.
    Start a blog on a subdomain of your site if you can. Then keep adding good content a couple of times a week.

    Stick some analytics on it and you'll start getting some good data you can play with to expand the blog even more.
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    SudoRanks Articles (Dylan Thomas Approved)
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  • Profile picture of the author andrewkar
    Originally Posted by jmh777 View Post

    Based on advice given here, I'm planning to rank for long tail keywords, being they're easier to rank for, and take less time.

    But for a niche blog, how do I rank for them? I mean I can't make every blogpost focusing on a long tail keyword like "I need to lose weight fast". Or should I focus on 1 long tail keyword at a time until it's at the top?

    Confused on how to long term rank for many long tail keywords, in the same niche, basically.

    Thanks for any help/advice. I looked in google first and couldn't find an answer.
    Well there is a correct formula actually. Now, you can't go only after LTKs! That would be plainly stupid and waste of your time (and resources).

    Here is what you do.

    Get one very tough to rank KW, ex "weight loss". That is your Tier 1 (later on what that means..). Research it to find out less competitive KWs, ex "weight loss for woman" etc. These are your Tier 2. Now, go and research your T2s to find out your T3s, ex "weight loss for pregnant women".

    So, you have a 3 Tier structure website. T1 main KW (homepage), T2s (secondary KWs, less competitive - main menu pages), T3s long tails (pages linking to your T2s).

    That's the basics of proper construction of the website. Now, ranking this structure is another thing, but you will have a lot easier life, if you do it the way I have described above.

    Good luck!

    P.S "weight loss" it's just an example. Don't go after this niche at this time. Test on a bit easier niches first.
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    Do what you want to do!
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    • Profile picture of the author jmh777
      Originally Posted by andrewkar View Post

      Well there is a correct formula actually. Now, you can't go only after LTKs! That would be plainly stupid and waste of your time (and resources).

      Here is what you do.

      Get one very tough to rank KW, ex "weight loss". That is your Tier 1 (later on what that means..). Research it to find out less competitive KWs, ex "weight loss for woman" etc. These are your Tier 2. Now, go and research your T2s to find out your T3s, ex "weight loss for pregnant women".

      So, you have a 3 Tier structure website. T1 main KW (homepage), T2s (secondary KWs, less competitive - main menu pages), T3s long tails (pages linking to your T2s).

      That's the basics of proper construction of the website. Now, ranking this structure is another thing, but you will have a lot easier life, if you do it the way I have described above.

      Good luck!

      P.S "weight loss" it's just an example. Don't go after this niche at this time. Test on a bit easier niches first.
      Thank you so much this is very helpful advice, if not for you I would not have thought of it this way. So thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author mateentiger3
    Long-tail keywords became accepted as a fantastic way to gain search traffic a few years ago. Rankings were easier to attain, competition was lower, and it was comparatively easier to optimize for pages that targeted such keywords.
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  • Profile picture of the author WebAssertive
    Targeting Keywords and Long Tail keywords can be done at the same time.

    Replacement Window - Broad Keyword

    If you just were to name your page or post "Replacement Window" you will be competing against everything with the word "Replacement Window".

    Replacement Window Installation Baltimore Maryland - Long Tail Keyword

    If you name your page or post with a long tail keyword, you have a chance to rank higher for searches that incorporate more keywords.

    The idea is to optimize your page to pick up more words from the searchers query.

    Wordstream has some great information on Long Tail Keywords
    Search Engine Watch has a good write up for Long Tail Keywords

    As a lot of people have suggested, write great content. Produce content that mentions different variations and possible searches for the same topic and you'll end up with a lot of "accidental" relevant traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChristopherMarti
    Making use of long tail keywords will really help you to create more similarity with google search results. but select some keyword which setto your requierments. long tail keywords are cost efficient and high performance. They are less common, but add up to account for the majority of search-driven traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author st0nec0ld
    You have to have your main keyword on your long tail keywords. I believe it is more effective that way. And also, you are more likely to get rank on both generic keyword and long tail keywords.
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  • Profile picture of the author savyeman
    Originally Posted by jmh777 View Post

    Based on advice given here, I'm planning to rank for long tail keywords, being they're easier to rank for, and take less time.

    But for a niche blog, how do I rank for them? I mean I can't make every blogpost focusing on a long tail keyword like "I need to lose weight fast". Or should I focus on 1 long tail keyword at a time until it's at the top?

    Confused on how to long term rank for many long tail keywords, in the same niche, basically.

    Thanks for any help/advice. I looked in google first and couldn't find an answer.
    You need to just include those long tail keywords on your page somewhere. Write an article and include all your long tail keywords in there including them on the page just once and make sure that page is your HOMEPAGE then all your other pages are just information pages you can include other keywords you are not targeting in them but they serve has support pages.

    You Title Tags and H1 tags are extremely important

    Remember placing the same keyword over and over on your page will not help you ranked it may trigger a penguin penalty. You need to use that keyword just once. Each keyword you have on your page should be different
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