Long Tail Keywords: What They Are and How They Help You

Social Media: The Power of Long Tail Keyword Phrases

Guest post contributed by SEO freelancer Ryan Chaffin. This is Part 2 of a three-part series on The Power of Social Media. Missed Part 1? Catch it here.

Photo Credit: floridapfe (flickr)

It is incredibly important to incorporate keywords and keyword phrases into all online marketing efforts. After all, by focusing on specific keywords and keyword phrases, it helps the search engines (and people searching) to know what it is you do and therefore what searches your site is relevant to.

Remember that it is the goal of all search engines (and people searching) to pull up the most relevant results for their searches.

That is why the keywords that you choose to market for are so incredibly important in all of your social media marketing efforts.

What are Long Tail Keywords?

All savvy online marketers should be utilizing social media tools for their online marketing campaigns. When selecting the keyword phrases to focus on in your social media marketing efforts, it is also important to realize the power of long tail keyword phrases.

Long tail keyword phrases are keyword phrases that include several words. This makes them more specific and helps the search engines to direct people to your site who specifically type in multiple keywords for a search. Typically, long tail keyword phrases have less competition when it comes to other online marketers trying to rank for them which therefore make them easier to rank for.

Using Long Tail Keywords to Stand Out and Get More Biz

Think of it this way, if you have a company that does renovations for people, your keyword could be ‘renovations’. While this is relevant to your company, there are several other companies that do renovations, too. Since that is the case, these many, many companies are all working hard to rank for that one specific keyword. Therefore, competition is fierce.

Remember that some companies do commercial renovations while still others specialize in individual home renovations. That’s why it’s a good idea use the phrase, ‘home renovations’ instead of just ‘renovations’.  This narrows down what you specialize in which makes you even more relevant for that phrase.

The thing about using the phrase, ‘home renovations’, though, is that many companies do home renovations but only in certain geographic areas. That’s why it’s a good idea to include the geographical area you service in order to reap the benefits of local search engine marketing. So if your business was located in Toronto for instance, your keyword phrase should now be, ‘home renovations Toronto’.

Now this phrase has three keywords in it and makes what you do very specific. This lessens the competition for that phrase considerably since there are far less home renovations Toronto services.  It is therefore easier to rank as there is less competition for this local, long tail phrase.

BizChickBlogs Note: To see the power in long tail keyword phrases, just check out your Google Analytics report. See for yourself the types of searches that bring traffic to your blog. Chances are, you are snagging some traffic for phrases you never imagined. To turn this happenstance into more of a planned thing, you’ll need to do some keyword research for blogging (that links to a great post you should read).

Other examples of long tail keywords for home renovations: affordable home renovations, easy home renovations, home renovations company Tucson…

As you are participating in social media marketing such as blogging, forum posting, article marketing, social networking updates, etc, remember what a powerful effect choosing long tail keyword phrases can mean. By making your phrases long and specific, it cuts out more competition for those trying to rank for these terms which means you will be able to capitalize on the types of customers who are looking for exactly the services you offer in exactly the areas you offer them.  Indeed, there is much to be said for the power of using long tail keyword phrases in social media marketing.

Your Turn – Has it paid off for you?

Have you

(1) been targeting long tail keyword phrases specifically,

(2) noticed an inflow of traffic from long tail keywords,

(3) been wondering what people meant by long tail, and now you know, or

(4) none of the above?

Stay tuned for Part 3… the Power of Consistent Activity (especially for bloggers!)

— Ryan Chaffin

Technorati Tags: long tail keywords, Power of Social Media

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