SEO Benefits of Long Tail Keywords

Search engine optimisation (SEO) refers to the techniques online marketing companies use to improve a website’s ranking in a search engine’s results pages (SERPs). However, industry giants like Google don’t exactly reveal what their SERP algorithm is, so marketers use different techniques that work for them based on first-hand experience. One of these is keyword optimisation.

Nevertheless, keyword efficiency is often based on length and specificity. Most marketers deduce that long tail keywords, or those that use comprehensive words instead of general ones (e.g. “recipe for crispy pizza crust” as opposed to just “pizza crust”) are much more likely to earn a good SERP ranking.

Larger Search Volume

While it’s easy to assume that users can’t be bothered to type in longer keywords, this isn’t actually the case. According to search engine experts, searches for short keywords only comprise about 30% of total search volume. The remaining 70%, on the other hand, is made up of long tail searches.

Greater Conversion Rate

When people type in longer keywords, this usually suggests that they are farther along in the buying process. Where someone who types in “car” is probably just browsing for options, a person who searches for “used Toyota Corolla in Melbourne” is more likely intent on purchasing the said vehicle. Furthermore, the bottom 20% of long tail searches generate up to 60% of actual sales.