Niche /Long Tail Keywords

Niche Keywords Bring Conversions

Use the "long tail" to your advantage

Check the referrals in your site stats for "niche" keywords - those keywords that result in only a few incoming clicks. These "unimportant" keywords are found in the "referrals" section of your site stats, at the bottom of the long list of "keyword" referrals.

Surprisingly, on many sites 70-80% of the clicks from search engines come from these niche keyphrases. Does this mean your SEO efforts are a failure? Not at all. In fact, it is a sign that your site is performing well.

A significant amount of traffic for these niche keywords results from a site that is well positioned for the long term. These niche keywords are called the "long tail" of targeted keywords. Danny Sullivan (of Search Engine Land, formerly of Search Engine Watch) defines the "Long Tail" concept for us:

"The point I was explaining in that article is that there are a large number of queries that happen far less often than the "leading" terms like "shoes" or "running shoes" at the head of the list. Most queries form the long tail that's illustrated behind the head. Tap into the tail, and you've got sizable traffic, as well as traffic that often is reported to convert better than less general terms.

When I do keyword research for a client, I invariably find a list of relevant words / phrases that will bring targeted traffic to the website if they can be included in the site text. By incorporating these new terms on the website, I am enabling the site to target "The Long Tail".

In other words, these niche keywords have a very high conversion rate because:

• They are highly specific, and searched for by buyers who are far along in the buying cycle.
• The long tail keywords are usually not targeted by many sites, because they are low volume and mistakenly considered to be unimportant.
• These pages often rank highly on the basis of the page content alone (because there aren't many competing pages).
• An additional benefit: your website can also be found for the niche keyword searched for in combination with any other word / words on the same page.

Over time, these niche searches usually amount to an extremely large number of searches. If you target the niche keywords, your site's ability to be found by customers has increased dramatically.

Here are a few points to keep in mind:

1) The more specific the search query of your visitor, the more likely you are to convert him / her.

2) The more specific the search query you are targeting, the more likely you are to achieve a top search engine ranking.

Start to target these niche keywords and track them in your site stats. Chances are that organic search traffic will greatly increase after the the optimization for these phrases. If your site stats allow, track the clicks from these searches in order to show your client how targeting these phrases brings success in lead generation and sales.

How do you decide which niche keywords to target?

When you do keyword research, make note of the niche keywords. Then target these long tail keywords with some of your site content. Use as many niche keywords as you can reasonably work into your pages.

Afterwards, closely monitor your web stats. Over time you will find new niche keywords people are using to find your website. Incorporate these new "long tail" keywords into your site.