You may have heard of “Long-Tail keywords” — essentially they are longer and more detailed search queries that people use when looking for something very specific. Targeting these long-tail keywords can be a very effective part of an SEO or digital marketing strategy. But to best target long-tail keywords, you need to look at creating content that targets these keywords.
So, should you consider targeting long-tail keywords in your content marketing strategy?
In this article, I’m going to describe long-tail content and whether it’s worth incorporating into your marketing strategy.
What is long-tail content?
Long-tail content is content that is created to target specific keywords or phrases, which are typically longer.
The idea of long-tail content is to target very niche keywords. This allows you to create very in-depth looks at specific areas of a topic that probably won’t interest the majority of people, but it will interest a few.
So, if long-tail content is only going to get a small amount of interest from a few readers, what’s the point?
Why should you use long-tail content?
While the main aim isn’t to get a huge number of clicks to your site via long-tail articles, when a large number of hyper-specific articles are created, it can be great for SEO.
One of the reasons why long-tail content is great for SEO is because by targeting a broader range of specific keywords and phrases, your website content is more likely to show up in search engine results.
Think of long-tail content like an extensive restaurant menu — the more dishes on the menu, the more likely everyone dining is going to be happy with their choice, resulting in high return rates and customer loyalty.
Another reason why long-tail content is a good idea is that it enables you to cut through the noise of search engine results that only attempt to target short keywords.
According to WordStream, long-tail keywords make up around 70% of clicks, whereas shorter keyword searches only account for around 10–15% of clicks.
As there is typically less competition for long-tail search terms, it gives marketers a bigger chance of standing out and generating more clicks from search engine results.
This all may sound great, but long-tail might seem like a lot of work in the short term. Here’s what I’d do if I were approaching long-tail content for the first time.
How should you approach long-tail content?
First off, you need to come up with long-tail content ideas. There are many ways to find content ideas, which we’ve touched on in previous blog posts.
But one quick and simple way is to go to the Google search engine, type in your main keyword or phrase, and look at the auto-suggested results in bold text. Google’s auto-suggestions often show you what people are really searching for when looking for something specific. You can take the auto-suggested keywords and begin to create content ideas.
Still, even when you’ve found great long-tail content ideas, you might be thinking that it seems like a lot of work in the short term.
I agree. It can seem like this. But here’s what I would do.
Instead of writing long-form articles that have incredibly high word counts, you can minimize the word count you typically aim for when writing long-tail content.
Now, I want to stress that, while long-tail content can be a lot shorter than your main content, like pillar content pages, the quality of your articles still needs to be of a high standard.
However, you can still write great articles with a lower word count and get great results.
That said, if you do have the time and resources, don’t be afraid to write a more in-depth article packed with valuable information, even if it only attracts a few readers per month.
Providing as much value as possible
Building a large portfolio of well-written, valuable, long-tail content can pay off massively in the long run. Targeting very specific keywords may only get you a couple of clicks per month but the impact it can have on improving your site’s SEO can be awesome.
Creating high-quality content will help Google’s algorithm rank you higher but also help you gain the trust of readers and users who love your valuable content — helping you to build a loyal fanbase.
For more information on improving your marketing strategy, or building your business, check out the latest articles on the Intentionally Inspirational blog.
Written by Lewis James