Hi there: I was following a video on Long Tail KW's, and there is something I don't get. Example: Step 1: "Lower Back Pain Excercises" has12100 searches avg last month and (intitle & "") competition:1030; more than 5 Adword ads and Spyfu between $0.50 to $1.47. Step 2: I went to Yahoo for a longer tail and found "Chronic Lower Back Pain Excercises" Step 3: Repeat Step 1(with longer tail KW) and this time the search amount is lower and the rest is "Not enough data". Paradox: the longer the KW, the lower search and competition amounts! (Why do we look for longer tails KW ,then?) Thank you
Because the less competition usually means it's easier to rank for. If you can't rank in the top ten, you aren't going to get any traffic. Ranking #1 means a 42% click through rate. A number three, 9% (average). Far too many people make the mistake of picking a keyword that is too competitive and wind up never getting into the top 10. On the other hand, you don't want to rank #1 for a LT KW that no one searches for.
1) Longtail keywords are easier to get to the top in serps. If your site is new or you are targeting a very competitive keyword, you should start out targeting the longtail keywords, and your main keywords will grow with it. 2) Many say longtail keywords convert better. You may have millions of hits with the term "insurance", but if you are selling insurance through an affiliate, a searcher looking for "health insurance in California" would probably convert a sale if the page suits their needs, rather than someone finding your site through the term "insurance". These are the two main reasons I can think of. I'd prefer to have 10 longtail hits, with a few conversions rather than thousands of generic hits that don't convert.
tyler is right! conversions are important as looky loos are traffic, they just may not be very good traffic. The dilemna of long tail keywords is finding ones that generate enough traffic/conversions versus long tail keywords that lay there. On the other hand trying to compete for 1 and 2 words very competitive keywords will get you nowhere as you are lost on page 3-56 and no one, I mean no one will ever see you. With long tail keywords you have to test your keywords to see if they are producing traffic/conversions as it is not automatic..