Long Tail Keywords: The Small Business’s Secret Weapon

What are long tail keywords?

Long tail keywords are the longer, more specific cousin of the traditional one or two keyword search phrases. And they offer a unique value proposition for small to mid-sized businesses looking for more clients on the web.

Here’s why.

Unfortunately it is almost impossible for small to mid-sized businesses to compete in SEO rankings with large corporations. Large corporations spend enormous amounts of money to ensure they rank in the top of all of major search engines. And alas most of the time small to mid-sized business just don’t have the budget to compete.

However as a small to mid-sized business you do have a secret weapon – long tail keywords.

If you’re familiar with Google Adwords you know that the keywords suggested are typically short, vague phrases. And this makes a lot of sense when you think about it. Google knows that a large company (or any company for that matter) is not going to pay them large amounts of money for keywords that are too long and specific. Hence AdWords only suggests keywords that are one or two words max.

Yet consider what type of information users typically enter into search engines. When we are looking to find someone to prepare our taxes we usually don’t Google the word “taxes.” We’re probably more likely to Google “where can I get my taxes done” or “certified accountants in Philadelphia.”

But try entering a long four to five word phrase into Google AdWords.

You’ll get nothing.

However this is where small to mid-sized businesses can take advantage of these longer more specific keywords – aka long tail keywords.

As a small business owner you understand your products and/or services better than anyone. Therefore you automatically have insight into what motivates clients to purchase and/or use your services. Thus you are the most qualified person to make a prediction about specific questions your clients may type into a search engine.

This is the essence of long tail keywords. Long tail keywords are the three, four or five word phrases that are very, very specific to what you are selling. And more importantly if you can determine these longer phrases, you are much more likely to compete with the big boys for SEO ranking.

Milk Street Marketing offers small business packages that bundle many of our services into an affordable monthly payment. We offer an integrated, multi-channel marketing solution backed by a team of marketing professionals.