In the first part of this post, we answered the question “What are long tail keywords” and explained with examples how you can use them to climb the ranks of google. In this post we’ll lay out a 10 step plan to get you moving in the right direction.
1. Figure out your goal
If you’re trying to rank for keywords in a competitive market, you should first focus on the less competitive long tail keywords. Focus your efforts on a small section of the market or on a specific target customer or problem.
2. Make a list of keywords
Make a broad list of keywords relating to this target audience, sub-niche or small section of the market. Create a list of every likely situation or query a customer would search for.
3. Research your keywords
Use tools like the Google Keyword Planner Tool, keywordtool.io, Moz Keyword Explorer or any of the many tool options out there to research your keywords. Choose the potentials with traffic and relevance, and document all your work to save it for the future.
4. Don’t forget the long-tail
Add long tail options to each of your keywords, by expanding on them with longer phrases people might use. Turn keyword phrases into questions that people search and use Answerthepublic.com to find long tail keywords related to each of the keywords you found. You should end up with a mammoth list of keywords to use for ranking.
5. Analyze the competition
Review your competition on each long-tail keyword and see if they appear for other phrases. Find your best competition (those appearing on many long-tail results) and analyze their site to see what they are doing.
6. Inspect the search intent
Consider each keyword for intent, i.e., the reason someone might search something. For example, if someone searches a question, they are likely looking for information, whereas if someone searches using the keyword “buy” or “order” or “review” then they are further along the buyer journey and their intent is to purchase.
7. Consider Voice Search
Voice search is becoming more common than ever in todays “Hey Siri”, “Alexa” and “Ok Google” world, so consider your keywords from a voice search perspective. Are they easy to speak, and do they read the way a person would speak?
8. Answer common questions
Turn your top keywords into questions by searching them in question form online and finding out what your customers are asking. Use these questions as a basis for content and turn the question itself into the long-tail keyword you’ll target.
9. Prioritize your keyword list
From your giant list of keywords, prioritize those with the highest traffic, with the best buyer intent, answer a common question, and that fit the natural human speaking voice. You should end up with a list of ‘best’ long-tail keywords to target for your business.
10. Start constructing landing pages
Each landing page should target a unique long-tail keyword, so you’ll have to make dedicated landing pages for each main keyword. The easiest method for implementing long-tail keywords is through blogging, as each blog can focus on a different keyword target.
Building Your SEO Dominant Website
You’ll have hundreds of keywords from your research, so start slow and begin creating relevant keyword-targeted content so you can show up in the search engines.
This takes focus and a lot of effort, so if you want a dedicated marketing team to help you with this, reach out to The Archangel Group today and we’ll help you begin your SEO strategy.
