Long tail keywords are major traffic contributors to most websites. Easily 20% to 50% of all the queries on the Web are in a long tail. The number of monthly searches ranges from 10 to 50 in this category. But that’s not all as this is an ever-growing category with new long tail searches, that Google has never seen before, on-boarding every day.

Not all webmasters realized the potential of long tail keywords. And not all business owners are willing to invest efforts in growing long tail keywords due to the low monthly search volumes and traffics it brings to their site. Many of them are drawn towards competing in the highly competitive keyword as they feel that it is more likely to bring them phenomenal results.

But many business owners did not know the true potential of long tail SEO and the many benefits it can bring to their business.

Let us take a look at the following infographic from HitTail, which illustrates the ‘hidden value’ of long tail SEO. Long tail keywords help in getting a better ranking potential, higher conversion rate and click-through rate.

If you were to take a look at the Organic Search Traffic from Google Analytics, you will notice that most of the traffic usually comes from long tail keywords.

Webmaster Tool – Search Query

Google Analytics – Organic Keywords

After serving several clients and helped them achieve their desired results through SEO campaigns, I came to realize 3 important business lessons and how you can apply the concept of Long Tail SEO in your business and achieve success too.

#1 – Big Fish in a Small Pond

I came across this phase in Tim Ferriss’s first book, author of Four Hour Work Week. He mentioned that:

It is more profitable to be a big fish in a small pond than a small undefined fish in a big pond.

The concept of Long Tail SEO is the same, avoid competing with the big guys (e.g. Tuition Singapore) and choose a less competitive long tail keyword (e.g. Secondary Math Tuition Singapore).  By performing such action, you increase your ranking potential and position yourself as an expert in a niche area in your industry. It is also much easier to convert customer who is looking for the specific kind of product or service you are offering given your domain expertise.

#2 – Product & Service Expansion

Optimising your website using long tail keywords has its benefits. It helps you to discover new business markets as well as finding out what are the current market trends.

Now let’s say you own an e-commerce shop selling shoes and are trying to optimize your site to achieve a higher organic ranking. As you are researching for long tail keywords to target, it is likely that you may discover several high-search-volume keywords for products that you currently don’t carry. This can prove to be an excellent business opportunity for you if the products can complement your current offerings.

Which is why, by focusing on long tail keywords, it can bring you the benefit of better organic reach, and may also help you to expand your current market.

#3 – Understand Customer Intention

How does a visitor land on your website via the search engine? The answer won’t be the same for every customer because every customer goes to your site with a different intention. If your website can fulfil their intention and give them what they want, they will give you what you want. Period.

I’ll try and illustrate this with an example. Let’s use the same keywords:

• When a customer searches for “Tuition Singapore”, you may have a very little idea what the user has in mind. Is he or she looking for a tutor? Or is the person looking for general information about tuition? Perhaps he is trying to compare which one is cheaper? In this case, we may provide them several solutions such as price comparison tool, contact form or general information about what tuition is, but we will have a lesser chance to sell him such services

• Whereas, when a user searches for “Secondary Math Tuition Singapore,” it’s much clearer what he is looking for – secondary maths tuition. Plain and Simple, with no room for guesswork. Thus there is a higher chance of being able to sell him this service or motivate him to take note of the call-to-action (e.g. filling up the contact form).

Conclusion

In a nutshell, IMHO, hot keywords are important in opening the floodgate of traffic, but you need to earn it. For new business, competing on highly competitive keyword should not be the top priority, as it could take months or even years to see meaningful movement in the SERPs. Instead, they should focus on ranking for long tail keywords and build up the traffic from there.

I hope this article helps to give insights into how long tail SEO can be used to create an impactful business. Feel free to comment below or find me on Twitter if you ever want to chat more about long tail SEO.