How To Research Long Tail Keywords
Some of you might have heard about long tail keywords, others might have not. For those who are unsure about the meaning of long tail keywords I will try to explain them to you. First of all we all know what keywords are right? So what differs a normal keyword from a long tail. If you take writing for example. Writing is a very popular keyword. To find a long tail keyword with this subject you will need to go to a popular keyword research tool such as Free Keywords.
Type your keyword into the search box. In our example we are going to type the word “writing”. The search tool will return many assimilated keywords in regards to your main keyword.
The way to determine a long tail, first you will need to scroll down and look for those keywords that contain at least 3 words. Preferably you are looking for 4 or even 5 words. Something like “writing farewell speech” or “writing letter of retirement”. If you think you found a great long tail that might work for your business, then great, but before you get too excited, there are a couple more steps for you to complete the whole process.
Open up a new browser window and go to Google. Type the long tail keyword you just found into the search bar and see how many competing websites you would have on this term. If the number is less than 5,000 sites and there are ads displayed, then you might have just hit on a undiscovered gold mine.
Sometimes it also pays to do your searches with inverted commas. This isn’t relevant to the potential searches of your targeted niche, but it helps to determine, whether you have hit on a truly great long tail keyword.
About the Author: I'm a passionate freelance writer and problogger. To further build my business I'm also in the process of building my own niche empire which pays me residual income.
Heather Masson | Sep 12, 2007 | Reply
Monika – Great Information. Especially when writing in a niche, using the long tail is essential. Of course the keyword does not get as many searches on it, but those searches are much more targeted.
geekwriter | Sep 13, 2007 | Reply
You are welcome Heather,
That’s correct. Also this is why it is called a niche too. The popularity f searches is a lotless but the traffic is worth more.
Monika
Muhammad Alfian | Dec 21, 2007 | Reply
But sometimes its almost impossible to find long tail keywords with less than 5000 sites..
Do you have any probable advice on maybe the “OK range” with which a long tail keyword is considered useable or marketable?
Jasa
Finola Prescott | Sep 1, 2009 | Reply
when you “say scroll down and look for keywords with at least 3…”, do you mean to where it says “searches related to”?
This information is very helpful – just want to make sure I’m using it the right way!
Finola Prescott | Sep 1, 2009 | Reply
To clarify that; or do you mean looking at the search results headings?
Also, I’m getting the impression that if there are too few results, it would imply your niche might be too small; what’s your opinion on the lower end of search results worth working with?
Monika | Sep 1, 2009 | Reply
@ Finola: The tool I’ve used back then when I made this post is the free keyword tool at WordTracker. However, I have since switched to Google’s free keyword tool because I find it works for me.
In regards to searches per months I’m looking for a minimum of 5,000 to get a strong enough niche. Having said this, it is possible to make good money with smaller niches too if the payout is good enough per lead. It really depends what you sell. Does this help?
Finola Prescott | Sep 1, 2009 | Reply
Yes, that does – thanks:)
Monika | Sep 2, 2009 | Reply
@ Finola: Great stuff! That makes me happy.
If you ever need more clarification on something please just ask.