How Google Looks at Long Tail Search Term Optimization

Posted on June 6, 2010
Filed Under Google Updates, Landing Page Optimization, Search Engine Optimization, Toronto SEM Consulting | Leave a Comment

The traffic that a website generates from ‘Google’ is mostly due to the function of the site’s content. The more high quality content you have on your site, the higher Google will rank your site in their search engine. The higher the ranking, the more traffic will be driven to your site. However, it is important to bring your targeted customer to your site, not just random searchers. Now, Google looks at more than just single keywords when indexing websites. Long Tail Search Terms have become an essential factor when Google determines a website’s ranking based on a users search terms.

Research conducted by OneStat, they found that the majority of internet searchers “use two- and three-word phrases when performing searches instead of a single term.” This means that long tail search terms are more relevant than single search terms and that most of the potential website traffic is now being driven by long tail search terms.

‘Long Tail’ keywords are the distribution of the most searched words relevant to a particular website followed by a long “tail” of less commonly searched keywords. The idea of long tail search terms is to better display more accurate results. For instance, a search of the keywords ‘credit cards’ will bring up a wide variety of results that will likely not bring up the sites a particular user needs. However, a long tail search of ‘Credit Card Approval for People with Bad Credit’ will bring up sites that offer consumers credit cards even if they have bad credit.

Long tail keywords will bring up the most relevant niche markets. This allows a company to market specific products at a lower cost. Companies are able effectively target specific products to specific consumers. The result is a large number of smaller searches with an increase in website traffic where visitors are more likely to become customers. The outcome will be an increased conversion rate. Long tail keywords are used for article titles and sub-headings within articles as well as in press release headings.

Today, the use of one or two keywords is not as effective at reaching targeted users. Using long term search terms that contain rich keywords relevant to the product or service being offered is much more effective at reaching targeted Google searchers who are looking for exactly what comes up on the first page of a search result. The result is increased website traffic through increased clicks, and most importantly, increased sales.

Check out what Matt Cutts has to say on long tail keyphrase optimization

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