Snakey Keywords: Using Long Tail Search Terms for SEO Benefit

Actually, calling long-tail keywords ‘snakey’ may be a bit of a misnomer. The ‘long tail’ in the term ‘long tail keyphrases’ is most often visualized as a lizard’s tail. The exact animal doesn’t make a lick of difference to your SEO success, though … your application of the long tail keyphrase principle does!

The Long tail of SEO

What is a long tail keyphrase?

In broad, overall Google terms, a long tail keyphrase is understood as any that falls outside the top 100,000 most popular searches that are made in a day, a week, or a month. Usually to people trying to determine their keyphrases, or internet marketing specialists doing so for clients, it means that the little tail of letters heading across the screen is longer.

Long tail keyphrases are much more useful in web marketing than shorter ones. Shorter search terms get a high volume of searches, but there is heavy competition, especially for large sites. You are much more likely to get good web marketing results, and therefore traffic, if you target more specialized terms.

How to help define your long tail keyphrases for best SEO results

Generally, long tail keywords consist of three or more words. You are probably used to thinking about your business in broad terms, trying to explain it to people who understand little about what you do. To define your long tail keyphrases, either you or your SEO specialist will have to get much more personal with your business!

Here are some quick ways to start defining your long tail keyphrases for SEO:

• Add your location to one of your terms, especially if you are the only business in your niche in that area. For example, you might use ‘internet marketing Melbourne‘, rather than ‘internet marketing’.
• Dust off your Unique Selling Point and pair it up with a plain description of your services. For example, ‘offset printing services’
• Use the names of your popular products or services, even if they are much more specific than your overall business. For example, ‘full colour brochure printing’ is a good choice, though your business might do all sorts of printing.