Long tail keywords - A definitive guide.

1. What are long tail keywords?

We can define long tail keywords as normal keywords which:

• Have low search volumes (normally).

• Have over 3 words in it.
• Have low competition levels.
• Are specific.

Let us go through each point and discover more about long tail keywords.

• Have low search volumes

You can’t differentiate between a head keyword and a long tail keyword just by looking at them. The
head keywords contain 1-2 words and long tail keywords have over 3 words but that doesn’t mean
every phrase with over 3 words is a long tail keyword. Why? The answer is simple. If you want to
identify a long tail keyword, you would have to look at the search volumes data.
Here is an example of the same.
When you search the term “Marketing” on a keyword research tool you will see it gets a massive
monthly search volume whereas “Marketing for blogging beginners” will have a low monthly search
volume.
Every time you try to identify a long tail keyword just look at the MSV data.
But there is a twist. Sometimes long tail keywords have high MSV’s. Why?
Because of the parent topic. Every long tail keyword has a parent topic of its own.
For example: Marketing is the parent topic and Marketing for beginners falls under the parent topic.
So how do you find the parent topic of a long tail keyword?
You can look at the SERP’s to get an idea about the parent topic.

If the parent topic has large search volume, then even if the child topic is a long tail keyword it would
be very difficult to rank for it.In that case you can target the head term and produce a better content
than what is already available.

• Have over three words

Again you can look at the example of the head keyword - “Marketing” or
“Digital Marketing” and notice how it contains one or two keywords whereas the term “Marketing for
beginners” or “Marketing for new website owners” contains three or over three keywords.

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 • Have low competition levels

It is clear from the search volume data that the long tail keywords are searched less than compared to
head keywords.
So wouldn’t it be good to target the head keywords and get maximum traffic?
If you do a thorough keyword research.You see that the top five pages who rank for the term
“Marketing” have high “domain authority, “back links” and “referring domains”. It can be very
difficult to get these stats when you have a new website. But if you target the long tail keywords with
fewer search volumes, than you can easily rank for those terms and start building your back links and
then slowly move towards the head keywords.

• Are specific

When you look at head keywords and long tail keywords side by side, you would observe that the long
tail keywords are very specific. The head terms are generic and represent a broad category of several
micro niches.
For example, the term “SEO” is a vast topic which contains several child topics like : Local SEO , On-
page SEO, Off-page SEO, etc but the topic: “On-page SEO for new websites” is very specific.

2. Why focus on long tail keywords?

• Less competition

Long tail keywords are like goldmines for beginners and Professionals. Not only you can easily rank
for them but also they provide a medium to boost your authority when you are just staring out. You can
easily find long tail keywords with low search volumes but high potential and target them. You should
focus on them because if you are not targeting the long tail keyword, then you would be against a
tough competition for head keywords. In addition to that Ranking in the top 10 SERP’s is difficult and
takes a lot a time. According to a study by Ahrefs newbie websites don’t get to top 10 within a year,
only a few lucky ones get to rank within 2-6 months.Hence it is crucial that you should target the right
keywords and optimise your online content around it. Long tail keywords can be a great help.

• High conversion rate

Wherever your audience goes a step further in its buyers journey, it’s called a conversion. How does
long tail keywords fit in it?
Long tail keywords are specific and provide a great way to understand your searchers intent. You
wouldn’t want to work on a blog post(say) for days and then realise your audience wanted to know
about a different thing than you have written.
Let me explain.

” Nike shoes”: It is an informational searchers intent. Why? Because the searchers intent might be
searching for reviews of Nike shoes or want to look at Nike shoes. The searcher has not decided yet

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whether to buy a Nike shoe rather is seeking information that would help him/her to decide.
But the keyword “Nike stores near me” is a whole new story. Here the searcher has already decided to
buy a Nike shoe and is looking for nearby stores. It’s called navigational searchers intent.

Most people fall in to this trap. If your audience is looking for a content with a different intent than
you are providing, then the content wouldn’t reach your targeted goals.

Knowing your searchers intent is massive in keyword research. If you understand the intent, then you
can optimise your content around that intent and hence help your audience and move a step forward in
converting them.

Pro tip: When looking for long tail keywords, check the intent by studying the top 5 SERP’s.

3. Where to look for the long tail keywords?

There are different places where you can long tail keywords.Let us discuss.

• Google autocomplete

You must have noticed whenever you enter a search query, the search inbox suggests various iterations
around that query.
Here is an example.

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This is the autocomplete feature.So basically, the iterations it suggests are the terms or topic that
people have already searched.
Hence you can easily find specific long tail keywords by observing the autocomplete suggestions.
How is this data reliable?
This data is not likely to be wrong because it comes directly from google.

• Google “Related searches,”

Type in a query and scroll down to the end of the results page. You will find a section called “Related
searches”.

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These topics are related to your search query that people also search. Again this data comes from
google and you can find good long tail keywords.
Do this : Click on a topic from the related to section and then scroll down again to find more related
topics.

• Google “people also ask ”

In the results page there is a specific section called ””. It shows what are some other questions people
ask about your searched query. How is this helpful?

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You can look at these questions and find out about what people want to know about a particular topic
and optimise your content around it.
Pro tip: You can click on one question and google will suggest you with related questions.
This feature is a great help when you are just starting out.

• Forums
Internet is a vast place where people continuously ask questions and online forums are go to place for
most people. You can easily find lots of questions based on your niche on these platforms.

You can search for forums in google: “Keyword + Forums/ Board.”

Tip: Look for active groups and the latest threads.

• You can visit platforms like reddit and Quora and find lots of questions and related keywords.

• Answer the public

It is a great keyword research tool and very easy to use. To go answerthepublic.com and search for
your topic, brand or product. It will scrape the internet and suggest hundreds of keywords based on
questions, prepositions , comparisons.You can select your country and language for best results. You
can also arrange the keywords in alphabetic order.

4. Advanced tips:

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 • Look for what’s trending

Google trends is an excellent tool for look for trending topic.

Search for the keyword you want to rank for and it will tell you its trend over time.The tool offers
various filters like region and time period of the trend.

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Why look for trends?

If you choose a topic and people aren’t searching about it, then creating content around it isn’t going
provide the best results.

Tip: You can click on a particular region of a country and look for the trend data in that region.You
can scroll down to look for related queries that people ask on google.

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• Balance is important

You should always try to have a mix of head, mid-tail and long tail keywords.
Why? Because long tail keywords help when you are starting out. They can help you boost your
rankings, but if you only focus on them, the long-term goals will be compromised.
Landing in the top 10 SERP’s is going to matter if your traffic wouldn’t convert. A mix list not only
helps in reaching the short-term goals but also the long-term goals.