The Long Tail Grows

More and more, long-tail keyword phrases are the key to niche marketing success on the Internet. You’ve got more chance of getting top position in the search results or sponsored listings for long-tail keyword phrases (e.g., “how to train a labrador to do tricks”). That’s because fewer sites compete for them – a quick Google search for “dog training” shows more than 23 million results, and only 200,000 results for “how to train a labrador to do tricks.” Okay, the long-tail keyword phrases certainly don’t get as many searches. But the traffic they bring in is much more targeted compared to what you’ll get if you rank for broad, general keyword phrases (e.g., “dog training”). People who use long-tail keywords tend to know exactly what they want. Tell them that’s exactly what you’ve got, and you’re a lot closer to a sale. That’s why all Internet marketers who target tightly-focused niche markets should be encouraged by recent figures from Hitwise, which show the number of long-tail keyword searches has increased over the past year. In fact, searches using eight or more words have increased 20% year-on-year, while one- and two-word searches have decreased by 3% and 5% respectively. Here are the Hitwise figures in detail: Although searches using eight or more words still only make up less than 3.5% of all online searches, the trend is clear:nnInternet users are increasingly searching the Web using more specific, long-tail keywords. (Just imagine if you had the top spot in Google for “how to train a labrador to do tricks” and the number of people searching for that term increased by 20% of the past 12 months!) So never stop doing keyword research. There might be new long-tail keywords for your niche that you can rank for. You just haven’t yet discovered them yet. The tool we recommend for this is BeBiz — it’s our all-in-one online business builder — and even if you already have a website, you can use it to collect and analyze keyword research in a simple-to-use interface. nnBottom line: Are YOUR customers using more targeted, long-tail keyword phrases to find solutions to their problems? Find out with keyword research, use those phrases on your site and in your PPC ads, and vault to the top of the results for those highly targeted searches.