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The long tail of search over 25 percent of search queries
The long tail have you heard of it? The long tail in essence is unique search strings or search terms that may not first come to mind or ever show up in keyword research. Long tail search queries equate to over 25 percent of all search strings, if you are not taking advantage of this highly targeted search traffic you are missing out on customers.
When a company start down the SEO road they often optimise their site for the main keyword phrases within their market. Of course you do need to do this, but in many cases the main keyword phrases are very competitive and it could take months, or even over a year or more to rank for such terms. We hear often from new clients that have already jumped ship from another SEO company that they were unhappy because they were just not getting anywhere and the terms they wished to rank just wasn't happening.
When a business person is spending money on marketing they want and are often used to immediate results, when you do a brochure drop in your local market it often gets immediate results, the same with a viral marketing campaign. SEO on the other hand is a longer process and even when educating clients of this fact in some cases they still find it hard to understand why immediate results can not be had.
While waiting for the main search keyword phrases to come into play, the long tail can give a client just that immediate boost they have been looking for. Long tail phrases are much easier to rank for as in most cases there is no or little competition for those phrases. Most sites have pages that don't bring any search traffic, look at re-writing these pages for long tail phrases, remember to use synonyms and terms related to the main phrases for which you are optimising. For example don't just repeatedly say 'used cars' instead write about specific models, pros and cons of makes and models. Mention the finish quality of different makes, talk about the different services your car yard offers.
In February 2008, Google revealed that 25 percent of all the queries made on its search engine each month are unique, this means no one else has used that search term. Google also said that the average number of words in search queries has grown from three to four. All these factors make the long tail even more attractive.
Maps and directions are very useful for your visitors, mentioning where you are in relation to major land marks, same side as Westfield shopping centre next to Bob Jane T marts. Take the Bruce highway South change into left hand lane after Zillmere road Aspley. When people are searching for 'car yard Aspley' suddenly your business is showing up in their search results and this is targeted traffic.
If you are using a analytics program and you should be, we set all our clients up on Google analytics as part of our service. In your analytics program look for less competitive terms that are converting and write a page specifically about that term. By writing an effective landing page for that term, you should be able to gain even more conversions from that term. Make sure you link to these landing pages from other good pages within your site and make sure you add these new pages to your site map. When linking from other pages in your site, make sure you are using they keyword phrase as the linking text, for example 'Driving directions from Bruce Highway'
This is also where a blog can come into it's own, even someone with hardly any computer skills can write a blog, we suggest using wordpress and having a template made to complement your main site. WE SEO can take care of setting up your blog and designing a template that suits your business. Having a blog can build authority of your goods and services within your market and allows for the easy updating of specials, new products and a way to write link bait pages as well as market specific white pages. Becoming an authority within your market, or a information resource for your goods and services only gains you more market exposure and credibility within your market.
Free business directories and paid directories are another resource you can leverage for long tail phrases, Google maps local business listing for instance has an attributes feature which allows you to create your own categories. Hotfrog allows a good length business description furthermore allows you to add articles to your listing. Using all the free directory resources to your advantage can drive a healthy flow of targeted traffic to your business. Remember to use as many characters as you are allowed but make sure it is concise easy to read paragraphs.
If your website or blog has the ability for customers to leave reviews or comments about your goods and services encourage your clients to leave such comments, many long tail phrases are contained in user generated content. Allowing your market base to grade and leave comments about your goods and services can lift your conversion rate as the everyday person trusts a stranger with no vested interest more than a sales person or sales copy.
Use some or all of these tactics for optimising your site for long tail keyword phrases and local search terms and you will quickly be seeing more traffic and more importantly targeted traffic. Long tail keyword phrases are less competitive than high volume terms, and you will rank for them easier and in many cases will convert the traffic far easier.
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