How to Research Long Tail Keywords for Your Small Business Niche

 

When your prospective client or customer comes looking for your product, you want to make sure they find you in a search. The problem is, the larger the search volume for a particular keyword, the larger the amount of competition to rank well for it.

 

If you are trying to rank well in Google’s search results you need to consider what that actually means. Trying to rank well for generic keywords won’t cut it. You need to learn how to research long tail keywords and implement them on your web pages if you want your content to be found online.

 

Let’s break down how long tail keyword research plays into a successful, SEO (search engine optimization) content marketing campaign and how to research the best long tail keywords for your content.

 

 

Short vs. Long Tail SEO Keywords

 

A long tail keyword is a keyword phrase of generally three words or more. Long tail keywords allow you to be more specific with the traffic and audience you want to target. More complex keywords also have less traffic, and therefor, less competition as well.

 

As a small business, it’s essential that you target only long tail keywords in your industry. If you optimize your online content for too generic of a keyword, the odds are your result won’t rank as well because you’ll be competing against more results and against bigger businesses too. Targeting long tail keywords in your web content will give your results a fighting chance in the SERPs (search engine result pages).

 

Here are a few examples to help you tell the difference short and long tail keywords:

 

Generic keywords:

• Manufacturing
• Industrial manufacturing
• Manufacturing equipment

 

Long tail keywords:

• Custom metal fabrication rochester, ny
• Industrial grade scale manufacturing
• Industrial manufacturing machine distribution

 

See the difference? Long tail keywords are more specific and will allow a searcher to find what they actually want quicker. You’ll also cut way down on the amount of non-converting traffic coming to your site and be able to focus more of your resources attracting valuable leads.

 

Ok, now that we’ve established what a long tail keyword actually is, we need to discuss how to actually research long tail keywords. Keep reading!

 

 

How to Choose the Right Long Tail Keyword

 

Getting website visits and traffic is only useful if those searchers will actually buy your products or services. And you’ll only be able to gain that qualified traffic if you optimize for the long tail keywords your ideal customers are actually searching on. You can’t optimize your website for keywords you think are important or that just have a lot of traffic. You need to develop and implement a long tail, SEO keyword strategy specific to your small business and your target audience. Don’t leave this process up to guess work! You need to conduct in depth, keyword research for this process to be successful.

 

 

How irritated are people going to be when they are searching for a specific product or service, your site pops up first, and they realize after clicking through your web pages that you don’t offer what they want?

 

Your challenge as a small business owner is to figure out what sets you apart from every major competitor in your industry. What do you have to offer that no one else does? How are your products unique? What’s the intent behind your target audiences’ search query?

 

I know, that seems like a lot of information to consider all at once. That’s where a long tail keyword research strategy comes into play.

 

At Cazbah, we use a variety of different tools to conduct keyword research and optimization work for our clients. One of the most popular tools we use for keyword research is called SEMRush. I’ll break it down for you below.

 

SEO is an all-inclusive SEO tool where you can conduct keyword research, monitor some important website metrics, schedule social media posts, and more! If you don’t yet have a keyword research tool you’re using, I recommend you take a few minutes to check it out here!

 

 

Once you decide on a keyword research platform to use, there are a few stages on how you can research long tail keywords:

 

1. Think about your niche industry. What key phrases would most people be searching under? What would their goals be and what type of information would they be looking for on your website? Brainstorm these ideas and make a list so you can easily track them.

 

2. Figure out the keywords that are bringing online searchers to your site right now! In Google Analytics, click on “Acquisition”-> “All Traffic”-> “Channels”. Then select “Organic Search” from the drop down menu. This technique may give you a few options to work with; however, a large majority of searches may be protected by Google so you won’t actually be able to see what keywords were searched.

 

3. Check out your FAQ section, social media hashtags, Google’s Auto-suggest searches, and the “Searches Related To” section to get some more ideas about popular topics, searches, and long tail keywords being used.

 

Once you have an idea of a keyword phrase, or a few, that you want to rank for, make sure you research it using a keyword research tool. You need to look at important keyword metrics like how hard it would be to rank for that keyword, the competition associated with that keyword, how many monthly searches are performed using that keyword, and so on. Remember, you want to target a lower competition keyword to get the best results!

 

 

In Conclusion

 

Choosing long tail keywords is much more than just trying to outrank your competitors on a shared key term or trying to optimize your website under a keyword you think your products or services should be found under. Researching and optimizing your website for long tail keywords needs to be a part of a larger, well-thought out keyword research plan. Take a look at the steps and tips above to help you navigate the process of selecting the perfect, long tail keyword for your small business website!

 

 

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