The importance of long tail keywords for SEO

Long Tail Keywords: The What, Why & How

Fact:

Google has in excess of 90% of the market share of the search engine market place.

What does that mean?

It means that 90% of online searches are being done directly on Google (as opposed to other search engine sites like Bing etc.)

Why is that important?

Well, if 90% of your potential customers are using Google to search for products & services they want and need, it makes sense to focus your attention on getting your website organically onto the first page of Google so that you can get a share of the business that’s being generated for those businesses who hold the top positions?

Now that we’ve established that, the next question is:

How are these people (your prospective customers) searching?

Glad you asked! Can you believe that more than 50% of search queries are 4 words are longer. This is what we in the industry call:

Long Tail Keywords

Gone are the days of simple, broad searches. Users now search specifically, using more words.

So for example for Canterbury Website Design & SEO one of the long tail keywords we’ve focused on is “seo services in canterbury” where we rank in the top 3 on both:
The  Google Map pack, and organically, under the map pack:

Go on, test it for yourself.

So why are long tail keywords so important?

The main reason is because they are shown to have the highest conversion rate.

Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors to your website that complete a desired goal i.e. buy online or contact you to buy/order/enquire.

And why do they have a higher conversion rate? In a nutshell, its because the intent of the user is higher which is why they are being more specific (and thereby using more words in their search). A higher intention is a higher interest in the specific product or service, and it therefore follows that this increases the likelihood that the person will contact you to do business or make an enquiry.

Do you know where your website ranks for the long tail keywords your prospective customers are using to find the products/service you have to offer?

If not, click here to fill out the quick SEO ranking check form and we’ll get back to you with the results, obligation-free.