If you want to succeed as a local business today, you can’t overlook the importance of having a strong online presence. The situation is such that business people and marketers are constantly trying to drive more traffic to their websites. The best way to do so is to improve their search rankings. But it’s not that easy.
Keywords are extremely crucial for ranking your website on different search engines. But most local businesses make a common mistake. They focus solely on short-tail keywords, ignoring the importance of long-tail keywords. However, especially for local markets, these specific keywords are equally significant, if not more. Enhancing the visibility of your website, attracting organic traffic, improving conversion rates – you name it and long-tail keywords do it.
If you’re a business owner or digital marketer trying to boost the search ranking of your website, understanding how to tinker with long-tail keywords can make all the difference. Wondering how? Keep reading this blog to find out!
What Are Long-Tail Keywords?
In layman terms, long-tail keywords are the more specific and localized keywords for SEO. These are longer and less generic compared to short-tail keywords. Let’s understand this with a few examples –
- Short-Tail Keywords : Digital marketing and Coffee shop etc.
- Long-Tail Keywords : Best digital marketing agency near me and Coffee shop in Thane etc.
As you can see, the long-tail keywords attempt specify exactly what the user is looking for during an online search. Naturally, short-tail keywords have higher search volume as they’re pretty generic. However, this also means that trying to rank using short-tail keywords is more difficult and competitive. Especially, if you’re a small business or local start-up, your SEO strategy must not focus on short-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords, despite their lower search volume, are easier to rank for and they bring a higher conversion rate. If you’re hiring an SEO company in Mulund, they’ll most certainly use long-tail keywords for your local business.
Why Are Long-Tail Keywords Important for Local SEO and Search Engine Rankings?
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Less Competition, Higher Rankings : Have you ever wondered why short-tail keywords are so difficult to rank for. That’s because these keywords are typically used by large enterprises and corporates with massive budgets. Spending more money allows them to create high-authority websites. If you want to rank well on the search engine result pages (SERPs), use long-tail keywords instead. You’ll definitely rank better on such specific and localized keywords. For example, instead of competing for “best laptops,” a website can target “best laptops for video editing in Pune under 50k” and stand a better chance of ranking on the first page.
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Higher Conversion Rates : If you’re using a specific keyword for online search, that typically indicates a very specific intent. Let’s take the last example into consideration again. If one searches for “best laptops,” it’s not necessarily for an immediate purchase. On long-tail keywords, however, the search intent is mostly specific. Someone looking for “best laptops for video editing in Pune under 50k” is more likely to convert into a customer. Studies have shown that long-tail keywords have a better conversion rate compared to short-tail keywords. This is also due to the fact that long-tail keywords target users who are further down the buying funnel. Our simple suggestion? Try to incorporate these long-tail keywords in your website and see the change yourself.
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Better Voice Search Optimization : Yes, you read that right. With the advancements in voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, more and more people are using natural conversational queries while searching for anything online. Typically, voice searches are longer than typed searches, meaning you need specific keywords to rank for these voice searches. Let us show you an example –
Typed/ Text Search - Best restaurants near me
Voice Search - What are the best restaurants near me for Italian food?
Naturally, if you rank for the long-tail keywords, your website will rank higher for the voice searches. This will bring you more and more customers and offer a better conversion rate.
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Better User Experience : Finally, long-tail keywords also offer a much better user experience compared to short-tail keywords. Whenever you visit a website, if you find content relevant to your search intent, how satisfactory does that get? Using long-tail keywords reduce bounce rates and even increase dwell time. Both of these factors ensure that your website performs better and brings in more revenue.
Conclusion
Now that we’ve underlined the benefits of long-tail keywords, it’s your turn to use this insight and see how it works for you. Hopefully, you can handle your SEO projects better with our guide. Keep reading our blogs to stay informed on the latest SEO trends and best practices!