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Long Tail Keywords - How to Find and Use Them for SEO and PPC

What is a Long Tail Keyword?

Keywords are the foundation of search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. Used in digital marketing, affiliate marketing, Google Ads, and many other areas, keywords often determine page rankings on search engine results pages (SERP) and the success rate of PPC campaigns.

As of 2016, Google was processing 5.5 billion searches per day, this number should be even bigger today.

A keyword can be either a short or a long tail keyword. Keywords that have over two or three words in it can be considered a long tail. If a search term has less than three words, it is often regarded as a focus keyword or a short tail keyword.

When you perform keyword research and analyze search volumes of various keyword lengths, chances are short tail keywords will have a higher amount of monthly searches in comparison to long tail search terms. Despite being seemingly less popular, long tail keywords often can bring more targeted traffic to your website that will convert better compared to shorter keywords or focus keywords.

The reason is long tail keywords articulate more specific search intent and often used by people that are further down the conversion funnel. For example, a person that might eventually buy a phone case might start his or her keyword research with a search query "phone cases", then use "best phone cases 2019", then continue with "black thin silicon case for iphone xs", and so forth.

In the example above, searchers move further down the conversion funnel as they start to understand what exactly they are looking to buy. It is the main reason why so many people that produce content, sell software, goods or services online work hard to find long tail keywords.

By understanding the type and intent of search terms that your target audience uses when searching online, you can create content that targets these long tail keywords. It will enable your content to rank higher on Google results for the corresponding search terms and attract the right audience to your web properties.

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How to Find Long Tail Keywords on Google?

There are several ways to understand what Google keywords people use when searching for information online. One of the most popular sources for this data is Google Keyword Planner tool. Unfortunately, it is an instrument tailored to people that create Google Ads campaigns and rarely shows long tail keywords. Instead, the main source of long tail keywords is Google Autocomplete (formerly known as Google Suggest).

Autocomplete search suggestions are generated by Google algorithm that produces the most relevant suggestions for a user query. Although it is possible to type keywords manually into Google search box and copy the phrases that show up in the autocomplete function, it is much easier and quicker to get these long tail keywords using Keyword Tool.

This useful SEO tool will take your search term and place it into Google search box along with different letters and numbers. It then copies the generated long tail keyword suggestions that can result in a list of over 750 long tail search phrases.

Keyword Tool is the Best SEO Tool for Long Tail Keyword Research

Keyword Tool is one of the best SEO tools for long tail keyword research. It generates only real keywords that are obtained from Google search suggestions in real-time. When you do a regular keyword search on Google, the maximum amount of suggestions you see is limited to five. Keyword Tool, on another hand, will pull up to twenty keywords for a single search term on Google.

The free version of Keyword Tool will show you up to ten long tail keywords for every search term. The paid Keyword Tool Pro will generate up to twenty keywords from Google autocomplete for a single search term. More importantly, it will help you analyze keywords by providing statistics that are pulled from Google. You will see the search volume data for the last 12 months, cost-per-click, and keyword competition level for long tail keywords on Google Ads.

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How to Use Long Tail Keywords for SEO and PPC?

One of the proven best practices for creating content and copywriting for SEO and PPC is to use long tail keywords. It ensures that your content answers real user queries.

When using long tail keywords for SEO, you should include the keywords in the title and meta descriptions of your articles. You should also consider including the relevant keywords and their synonyms (or semantic keywords) in the main body on your page, headlines, and image alt tags. Do not worry about keyword density. Instead, take into consideration that Google keywords should only be used when it makes sense for people that read your text.

If you are running PPC advertising, you can benefit a great deal from using long tail keywords. If your niche is competitive and the cost-per-click (CPC) is high, you can create laser-focused ads that will target the selected long tail keywords. Quite likely, this tactic will result in higher click-through-rate (CTR) and quality score for your ads.

Another tactic used by many experienced advertisers to excel in competitive niches is to find long tail keywords from Google autocomplete and add them as negative keywords to advertising campaigns. As a result, you can assure that unwanted impressions and clicks will not affect the performance of your ads.

Frequently Asked Questions

A long-tail keyword will usually have more than 2 words in it. Short-tail keyword generally will contain only 1 or 2 words.

We believe it is Google autocomplete. Google gets a huge number of searches every day. The most popular and relevant of them appear in their autocomplete.

Usually, people that use long-tail keywords know exactly what they are searching for or have some very specific request in mind. In most cases, these people are more willing to consume your content or buy your products and services.

Use Keyword Tool! It will give you hundreds, thousands or more great keyword ideas for free!

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