Please contact us by using the form below:
Using Long Tail SEO
An odd expression, but what does it mean? "Long tail" is the term given to longer phrases (search queries) which would typically contain over three words.
For example, a short tail query would be somebody searching for "SEO Norwich" - whereas "the best SEO company based in Norwich" would be a long tail search query.
Cover every angle
Many companies often report that over 70% of their traffic is from longer search queries. Deciding what long tail searches you want to focus on is a crucial part of putting together your SEO strategy. It is good to have at least 3-4 long tail queries that you optimise for, but because these terms don't usually bring in much traffic individually - having a few more isn't going to hurt!
As we breifly discussed in our recent article on Geographic SEO, the volume of traffic (amount of people searching) with more refined, long tail or localised search queries will be very few compared to people using generic short tail phrases. However, you have a much higher chance of getting to the top results for less-common, long tail search terms than you would for the popular ones (because the popular ones are what everyone else is after!).
To illustrate further, the scenario is quite similar to selling cars (the figures below are approximate):
Sell cars for lots of money + sell to a minority = Short tail phrase + reach position 15 or more.
Sell your cars at an affordable price + sell a lot = Long tail phrase + reach the top 3 results.
The beauty of SEO is that in time, you can have have a short tail phrase AND reach the top three results - but this is most definitely more of a long-term goal. There is nothing to stop you from taking both approaches at the same time and working on each goal simultaneously.
So in summary, don't just focus on getting the top positions for short tail phrases, because not only is this a long and challenging process, but you are also completely ignoring a niche of people that are potential paying customers.
In the short-term, set up your long tail SEO, start building authority and trust and slowly but surely rake in those forgotten visitors!