Hi guys, How possible is it to get a great ranking (1st page of google search results) for long-tail keyword, if the competition is strong for shorter variation of that keyword? Example / explanation: - I'm doing SEO for accommodation website. My plan is to use long-tail keyword, like "best apartments for rent near town_abc", or "best place to stay near town_abc" ... any longer phrase like that. (possibly wider keywords also - like "best family vacation in/near town_abc") - The idea is to use that exact long phrase KW (along with its variations) in URL, text, headings & subheadings, alt tags etc (in appropriate / natural way of course, so it fits in the sentences). If the competition (strong local agency websites + tripadvisor + booking com + airbnb, or popular travel blog sites like lonely planet etc.) is strong and unbeatable on short keywords - like "apartments town_abc", "where to stay in town_abc" ... how likely is it for me, to get to first page for above mentioned long-tail version of keywords? Is it possible, or the google will always rank those stronger websites above me even for long-tail variation also, regardless of the fact that those big sites don't have that exact long-tail phrase (and its variations) used in their URL, text and subheadings, like I have? I appreciate any advice and suggestions; Thanks in advance and have a good day!
the bast way to know is try, make a post and tell google to index it and then search for the keyword in google
The Long tail keywords are more beneficiary for ranking the keywords in the backlink. Still this process is one of the best practice of backlink ranking in Google. Also some other factor also work with this.
The key to long tail keywords is that the search volume has to be good (in the high thousands). If it is and your content is relevant, and you are applying good SEO, then there is no reason Google should not rank your site. It might take time, especially if you site is newer, but you still have a chance to rank.
I'm late to the party here but some feedback on the actual phrase you're planning to use. Get rid of the word "near" and use "in" when talking about towns and cities. I'll want an apartment near a concert venue, or a specific place but I'll want one in the town. I've just been to a music festival in a small city called Taupo. I used AirBnB to find somewhere to stay but lets say I used Google. I wanted to be in the centre of Taupo, not "near" it, so that we could walk everywhere. I'd use "in Taupo" on the search. Or I could have targetted the venue and searched "near Tongariro Domain" which is a lot more explicit
In my case, the location (the actual town - lets call it T1) is too small, and it has no searches in google. But a nearby town, T2, has enough searches - that's why I use "best apartments for rent near T2"