A long-tail keyword is a series of words that is not just a single word or two. It is often a phrase (not more than five or six words). In fact, I would define long-tail as a phrase that is three plus words in length that your audience is likely to search for when they are looking for specific content around a specific topic. Long-tail keywords will not always have a lot of search activity around them, but part of the reason for that is that is because they are so specific in nature.
Long Tail Proves that Content is Still King
Originally posted in March 2007. Note some links/articles referenced may no longer be available.
A few weeks ago Jason Lee Miller over at WebProNews wrote a great piece on writing content for the Long Tail effect entitled “Grabbing That Long Tail With Great Content”. This is a pretty good read as it illustrates some key points for those trying to write and add content to their sites. Adding content to your site, providing the content is useful and somewhat unique, is never a bad thing.
Miller’s post included some key points from Jennifer Slegg of JenSense.com who provided a useful guide for creating quality content that will help the maximizing on the enduring long tail of search, which in turn, can produce more traffic in the long run. Some of the key points include:
Unique Content
1. Takes care of duplicate content concerns
2. Creates exclusivity at your website
3. Is a source of organic (free) search engine traffic
But Free Content…
1. Often comes from free article databases and is published in thousands of other places
2. Often has required author links linking to low quality, or very spammy sites
3. Often have ulterior motives to sell products, services, or ebooks
Other key takeaways mentioned include asking questions such as:
What search terms lead visitors to my site?
Referring keywords highlight words that may not be specifically targeted on your site. “If ‘dialing from UK to Canada’ is a referral,” but was only mentioned briefly, write a new article focusing on that specifically. Link to original article.
What are your visitors asking?
Write articles based on the most common questions asked via email or phone support.
The key here is the first question “What search terms lead visitors to my site?” I cannot emphasize how important this fact is. Do not assume that your target market use the same terminology as you. Chances are they may use an entirely different lingo. Depending on the Geo location of your target market they may use entirely different terminology… car insurance vs. auto insurance?
Content development is not always easy, but it will always be important, and not just important from a search engine’s point of view but from your user’s point of view as well.
Read all of Jason’s piece on “Grabbing That Long Tail With Great Content”. It provides a great indication that Long Tail proves that Content is Still King.