A suggestion on using long tail keywords

The search is always on for good search engine positioning and more traffic to websites. These have become increasingly more difficult to achieve because of the very high cost of running and maintaining  campaigns, and because of the increasing competition for keywords.

However, there is one technique that has been underutilized but can help in getting more targeted traffic to your website, provide a better position in the and also reduce the CPC charges this can be done through long tail keyword research.

• Long-tail keywords defined – Simply put these are the exact same keywords and phrases that a surfer on the Internet might key into the search engines when looking for something very specific. An example is the phrase “left handed Yamaha guitars”. This is referred to as a long tail keyword since it is very specific search phrase.

The phrase “guitar”, is not very specific. What this means for a me, is that such detailed and specific keywords will provide the most relevant results in the search engines so I should bear that in mind when selecting our own keywords to optimize on our site.

• Benefit of Long-Tail Keywords - The use of these detailed and specific keywords will result in the user finding the precise information they seek, and as a result, they are referred to as targeted visitors when they arrive at a site that has been optimized for that keyword phrase.

• Because there is less competition for such keywords (as compared to broad keywords) the CPC costs will also be lower, and the position in the search engines for the phrase will probably be higher.

• Manual research on keywords – An easy way to research the right long-tail keywords to use, would be to look at those being used by our competitors who are ranked higher in the search results. Also we can try using all possible keywords and see the projectd costs and estimated referral traffic on programs like Adwords.
• Use negative keywords- To reduce the cost and to avoid competing with our own keywords the use of negative keywords is of utmost importance. Usage of free software like Google Adwords and Google analytics helps gain a lot of insights. These analytics tools are a great boost to the advertiser attempting to refine his keywords and to optimize his website when using SEO and creating his long-tail keyword lists.

• Using Long-Tail Keywords – having decided on a number of long-tail keywords to use on our site, we will next position them in strategic locations on our site for best engagement. Where ever they are placed, they must be used naturally in the text and must not look as though you are writing for the search engines.

Successful long tail keyword research will become a habit after spending time on the process and going through a trial and error period. However, the technique will ensure that targeted traffic will be driven to our website, and it is the approach one should be using to keep one step ahead of their competition.