At a time when it’s becoming increasingly difficult to rank a website for generic keywords because they have become so competitive, it’s essential to build your SEO strategy around the long tail.
As a reminder, the long tail consists of a multitude of keywords that attract few visitors individually, but whose combined volume can generate very significant traffic.
What remains is to find the keywords long-tail keywords for your site, the ones that can get you to appear among the top search results!
To achieve this, we offer 12 proven techniques. But before sharing our best tips, let’s briefly recap what a long-tail keyword really is, why using it in SEO is valuable, and why you absolutely must use it for your search optimization!
What is a long-tail keyword?
While a keyword can be very generic, a long-tail keyword is much more specific. It’s a combination of several words that lets you rank for more precise topics that users actually search for. Because there are so many possible combinations, long-tail keywords are far more numerous than conventional keywords. Although a single conventional keyword can bring more traffic, it is also much more competitive and therefore very hard to access for newcomers to a market.
The long-tail keyword, on the other hand, benefits from lower competition and therefore much better accessibility. It also covers a larger slice of traffic since nearly 80% of total search engine traffic is based on long-tail keywords.
You therefore need to multiply pages by targeting different long-tail keywords to make up for the lower traffic per keyword compared with a conventional keyword. However, not all long-tail keywords are worth targeting, and prior research is necessary to identify those with the most potential.
The strength of long-tail keywords lies in the number of pages positioned around the same topic. Generally, a page optimized for a long-tail keyword is a child of a parent page targeting a conventional keyword. The goal is to create synergy between pages. Each page will help the others gain authority and help search engine algorithms better identify each page’s subject and the site’s overall theme. More content also means greater impact with search engines.
Examples of long-tail keywords
As explained above, a long-tail keyword is a combination of several words that specify a search. For example, a generic term like “back pain” will be highly competitive. A long-tail keyword can take the form: “How to treat back pain after a workout?”
The phrase is much longer and answers a very specific question, giving your page an advantage in search rankings when that query or a similar one is made. A well-used long-tail keyword can be very powerful for bringing extra traffic, and it’s through multiple rankings that pages can realize their full potential.
Often, the long-tail keyword can take the form of a complete question to allow targeted positioning on a specific problem. The page is then entirely focused on answering a precise question, a real acquisition advantage. This is even more true when aiming to rank on a FAQ, which is a very popular and appreciated section on websites.
How to choose long-tail keywords?
To choose a long-tail keyword, it is essential to consider certain parameters. First, it is wise to eliminate combinations of keywords that do not make sense. Combinations with meaning are much more likely to be completed in queries.
Next, you should assess the potential of each long-tail keyword to isolate the most promising ones and those that have the greatest traffic acquisition potential. For example, you can rely on Google suggestions to identify a promising long-tail keyword after typing a keyword.
Finally, a competitive analysis for each long-tail keyword will identify the easiest-to-access ones, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of competing sites so you can develop an SEO strategy capable of outperforming them. You should then type each long-tail keyword manually and compare the different sites ranking on the first pages.
You can also rely on analytics tools that provide a large amount of data in just a few seconds. This is a huge advantage and a time saver that should not be underestimated.
Choosing the right long-tail keyword requires work and a certain discipline. Don’t forget that a page’s ranking must be maintained! That’s why the positioning strategy should be subject to continuous competitive monitoring. To save time, there are tools that automatically analyze each long-tail keyword and can even suggest similar keyword combinations with greater potential. Powerful tools are indispensable when you need to manage dozens, if not hundreds, of indexed pages. Each of them must be closely monitored to remain competitive and well placed in search engines.
The value of long-tail keywords in SEO
Increased profitability and efficiency
Long-tail keywords give you a better return on investment than generic keywords, whether in time or money. Because these keywords are less competitive, you can position yourself correctly on them more quickly, and even become a reference site on those topics.
You won’t have to spend years writing blog posts before seeing results. Likewise, if you use paid search (Google Ads, etc.), choosing a long-tail keyword will cost you less and deliver better results.
Higher potential than a short-tail keyword
Your long-tail keywords naturally match the most specific queries your future customers make. That’s why, by ranking for these keywords, you increase your chances of reaching your target and getting the coveted click you want. The likelihood of your traffic increasing thanks to good use of long-tail keywords is therefore greater than with head keywords.
The importance of integrating long-tail keywords into your SEO strategy
Contrary to what one might think, integrating long-tail keywords into your content is not that complicated or time-consuming (provided you do it properly). If you have chosen your long-tail keywords well and they are consistent with your business, services, and products, they will naturally fit into your copy and content, whether on product pages or in blog posts.
Because they are longer and more specific phrases, your long-tail keywords describe you much better than generic keywords that apply to you but also to all your competitors. That’s why your future customers will use them to search for you on Google and will find you in one click if you use them correctly.
Moreover, a customer who types "wireless noise-cancelling headphones" is more likely to visit your site because their search is precise and already advanced. They will also be closer to making a purchase than someone whose query is limited to "headphones." The latter is still at the general research stage: they don’t yet know what they want or are simply comparing…
They are not yet ready to take action! Therefore, they are the first type of internet users you want to attract to your site, and your long-tail keywords will help you do that!
11 tools to find long-tail keywords
To help you more easily identify the long-tail keyword on which you could position a page, here is our selection of 11 tools that will save you time and money.
1. Google's autocomplete
If you simply want to find long-tail keywords, open a Google page and type in the search bar the main keyword of your website.
Thanks to Google's autocomplete feature, keyword ideas are provided to you immediately. For example, if you type "recette pâte" in the search bar, Google will suggest completing your query with "à crêpe", "sablée", "à choux", etc.
Granted, their number is sometimes limited to 4 or 5, but by multiplying keyword entries (one word, several words, a phrase), you will quickly be able to get hundreds of ideas for your long tail.
2. Google's related searches
In the same vein as autocomplete, the Google search engine can provide you with long-tail keywords through its related searches.
For every search performed, Google offers some related searches at the bottom of the results page that act as ideas. These searches can help you enrich your long tail. Again, multiply searches with different keywords and you'll have many long-tail keyword ideas to use!
Product listings on e-commerce sites
Particularly interesting for those looking to to rank an online store, this third technique involves going to an e-commerce site like eBay, Amazon or even cDiscount and entering the name of a product you sell.
Perform the search and the product lists that appear as results will give you a maximum of long-tail keywords to exploit for your site's SEO. Others can be found by consulting the product pages listed there.
A thesaurus
It may be surprising, but SEO specialists often omit long-tail keywords that sometimes seem obvious. So always take a look at a thesaurus when researching keywords. That way you'll avoid missing a keyword that appears essential for your topic.
Customer reviews
You don't always have to look far to find additional keywords to position your website. In fact, simply reading customer reviews of your products or services can be enough.
By sharing their satisfaction or dissatisfaction, customers inevitably mention elements that correspond to your audience's concerns. It's therefore useful to know how to analyze them so you can target those terms. In other words, these are new long-tail expressions.
Wikipedia pages
Wikipedia can be considered an expert in natural referencing since this online encyclopedia manages to "rank" among the top results for almost any query. For that reason, consulting its pages can prove useful.
Simply consult the page(s) linked to your main keyword or theme and you will easily find the associated keywords. Not only will they be present, but they will also be easy to spot since they are often linked and therefore highlighted on Wikipedia pages.
Wordle
It's one of our "favorite" tools because it's so pleasant to use. Yes — with Wordle, simply enter your main keyword to get a keyword cloud in seconds!
Elegantly displayed with different colors and sizes reflecting each keyword's relative importance, this cloud gives you great ideas for a long-tail SEO strategy. What's more, by combining several words from the cloud you can create particularly relevant long-tail phrases.
Press release sites
Some websites have made aggregating press releases their specialty. These can be a good source for finding long-tail keywords.
Specifically designed to "sell" and "entice", press releases contain phrases you need to rank well for. So take the time to find press releases related to your site's topic and expand your keyword list.
SEMrush
The tool SEMRush is not necessarily accessible to everyone since it's paid and subscriptions are relatively expensive. However, it's impossible not to mention this tool given how effective it is at finding long-tail keywords.
Indeed, who better than your own competitors to have already done the work you're doing? With SEMRush, analyze your competitors' sites and get comprehensive reports on the keywords they're ranked for in search engines.
Plenty of ideas to exploit…
Answer the Public
A friendly tool aimed at giving an overview of the questions people ask online about a given topic, Answer the Public can suggest original long-tail keywords to build your SEO strategy.
Organized by interrogative adverb and displayed as circles, the questions will help you enrich your long tail and will very likely give you new content ideas to create for your visitors.
Specialized forums
If there's one place on the web where the topic of your website should be talked about, it's the forums dedicated to it. So don't hesitate to take a look — you're sure to find ideas for new keywords there.
By reading the exchanges between the "specialists," you'll see what interests them and what doesn't. No doubt this better understanding of your audience will help you define new phrases to target with your web showcase.
As you can see, opportunities to find new long-tail keywords are plentiful. A good idea is to always keep a notebook or an open Excel sheet with you so you can add your new discoveries to a list.
As a bonus, our video on finding the best keywords:
The article How to find long-tail keywords? first appeared on Redacteur.com.
