How to Maximize the Effectiveness of Your Long-Tailed Keyword Strategy | HackerNoon

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How to Maximize the Effectiveness of Your Long-Tailed Keyword Strategy by @jitendracb
How to Maximize the Effectiveness of Your Long-Tailed Keyword Strategy
October 2nd 2022 new story
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Learn about actionable tips and techniques to use long tail keywords for improving your website ranking and conversion rate.
About @jitendracb
Long-tail keywords are not a new thing in the SEO landscape but still, a very small number of businesses are using them in the right way. If we leave aside the top SEO experts and digital marketers with a global reputation, the majority is still relying on focused keywords only. Even the ones who use these keywords are not maximizing their potential.
Scarcity creates demand and value. It means that you can increase your chances of ranking higher than your competitors by using long-tail keywords the right way. In this blog, we will talk about some of the key benefits of Long-tail keywords as well as the organic ways to use them on your website. So, if you are curious about how to use keywords in your site then this post can be helpful- provided you implement and follow it thoroughly.
Why should you use long tail keywords?
While most businesses are focusing only on traditionally targeted keywords, it is the Long Tail keywords that can play a key role in boosting your SEO profile- provided you use them wisely with the focused keywords. So, regardless of your  keyword strategy , using long-tail keywords certainly helps you.
Lower search volume of long tail keywords can be a blessing in disguise for you as they are less competitive and relatively easier to rank on
What’s more, even the searchers are now moving to long-tail keywords instead of using focused keywords, with approximately 92% of the searcher community using the latter
Being more specific, the long tail keywords better express the user intent
As searchers are getting wiser they now know the unethical practice of manipulating focused keywords
Using Long-tail keywords presents you as a competent, more precise solution to searchers’ queries thus improving the conversion rate
How to use Longtail keywords in your website for the best benefits?
Identify the most trending topics in your niche with Google trends and pick the right one
Go to keyword research tools like -
Find topic-relevant keywords by entering the most generic phrase
Look for long-tail keywords in the list and see how their search intent and competition or CPC match
The ideal match should be high intent + low competition
Create and save a list of such keywords
Study these keywords to create the material that precisely solves the users’ intent users
Include Long tail keywords in Alt image texts
Al-text keywords are another underrated factor with a decent impact on your SERPs ranking as well as reach. With its accessibility-oriented approach, Google’s SEO crawlers are designed to include alt text for appropriate image indexing. For slow connections or low-resolution images, alt text enables your visitors to understand the context of your image
For visually impaired visitors the Alt text is the only way available to make sense of your image with audible description
Keep description compact and contextual to add more value to your written material
Did you ever think that many of your targeted buyers are visually impaired? So, Alt tags can help you reach them effectively and improve your conversion potential
Long tail keywords can help you improve your sales proposition if you are planning an SEO strategy for increasing seasonal sales on your eCommerce site
Add long tail keywords to your headers
Contextual positioning of keywords in your headers helps both SEO bots and site visitors to understand how best your information satisfies users’ intent. Structure your post in a way that “demands” natural long-tail keywords in headlines.
Follow the same healthy practice of identifying keywords first before creating headlines. Check your saved list of long-tail keywords to shortlist the relevant matches
Ideally, out of every 10 headlines, 4 should contain long tail keywords- but that’s not a hard and fast rule; follow “value over the volume”
Don’t ignore the user experience
Ensure that adding long-tail keywords should not interfere with the key prerequisites for a positive user experience like- speed, availability, or site structure. Dwell time is another major SEO factor and you can increase it by providing a positive user experience. So don't make the mistake of focusing only on long-tail keywords without thinking about user experience.
Uptime and Fast Speed are 2 core requirements for user experience as all other factors will only work after your page opens
Keep maximum key elements in the first fold as you only get 5 seconds to leave the most impact on the visitor. Almost all the key elements and major CTAs should be visible without scrolling.
Size, positioning, and colors are other things to consider. Don’t force your users’ eyes to struggle to find what they want. Adopt a “traffic light and milestones” approach- quick, easy, simple, and visible.
User search intent should be the key driving factor behind every image, sentence, and header in your content
Package the major relevant info in the top pane. Use the long tail keywords reasonably (along with focused keywords)
Make sure that your website- especially the first fold, is free from unnecessary traffic as it disturbs the smooth navigation and interferes with their key intent
Break your paragraphs into shorter pieces and make sure you reach the point quickly.
Use eye-friendly typography and the most relevant images to invite users for staying longer on your page
Add different formats to use longtail keywords
Increase the opportunities for using long-tail keywords by contextually adding different types of media to your webpage. It will also help in quickly delivering the key import of your page or post. Here again, it is the quality and not the quantity that matters.
Also, ensure that it should not clutter the reading ecosystem. Are there enough gaps between the elements? Are your images clear? Have you professionally edited your video? These are some important questions to ask yourself while adding different media to your web page or posts. Remember that not all types of information require different media. So, use your discretion to take the right decision.
Conclusion
Adding contextual keywords to your website is the key ranking factor for any site. However, many businesses struggle to use the right amount of keywords without stuffing them. Long tail keywords can be the precise solution to this issue. These keywords add more context to your main keywords thus increasing your chances of satisfying users’ intent. It also helps in improving conversion opportunities, increasing stay duration, and minimizing bounce rate.
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