The Secret Of Long Tail Keywords
Today, I bring you the secret of ‘long tail’ keywords. It’s something you can do to get ranked on the first page of Google for your keywords, so it’s powerful stuff.
I’ll show you how did it last Sunday night, by accident.
You see, being a prolific writer has it’s advantages. I’m kinda like the “accidental spy” only with search engine optimization.
Here’s the story…
Sunday night, I wrote an article about some of my favorite bloggers. Then Monday morning while I was looking for one of them, Dwayne Huggins, I was a little surprised to see my article in position number two on my search for Mr.Huggins’ blog.
This is the power of “long tail keywords”.
It turns out Google loves high content sites like Better Networker, so when you write a post with a long tail keyword it gets ranked faster than your average post…
My search term was “Dwayne Huggins Better Networker“. So it’s not hard to imagine why my article ranked so high.
The funny thing is, the article isn’t entirely about Dwayne. As wonderful as he is, the article is about five bloggers. But having his name in a link on a high profile site like Better Networker is enough to get ranked number two, for this term, overnight.
The difference between short and long tail keywords…
A short tail, or average keyword would be something like “Dwayne Huggins“. Whereas a long tail is exactly that, long like “Dwayne Huggins Private Investigator“. So less people search of that term, but less people are using it as a keyword too.
I’m sure you can see how powerful this is. I mean, it gives you a chance to rank on the top of Google for thousands of variations of high traffic keywords. It’s like everybody else is fighting for the milk, while you’re walking away with the Holstein dairy cow. All sneaky-like.
And here’s how to do it…
You pick your long tail keyword, put it in a link, a headline, or both. Then you post your article on a high traffic site that Google loves, like Better Networker. Wait a day, then search for it. That’s really all there is to it.
If your long tail keyword is popular, then you probably won’t rank for it. So it pays to do a little Google search first to make sure you’re not fighting over occupied territory.
It’s the old Sun-tzu maxim…
“Win before you fight.”
Raymond and Ferny will probably kick slap me around later for sharing my folksy SEO secrets. But that’s what I know.
And I wanted to share it with you.
What SEO “tricks” do you have up your sleeve?
If you have your own folksy search engine tricks then spark a conversation below. This place get’s rowdy at times, so watch your elbows.
See you soon,
Jason The “Better Networker”
The Jason Better Blog
P.S. Tweet me up Scottie. If you enjoyed this post then feel free to share it with your friends on Twitter so they can join the conversation. It’s real easy to do. Just find that little green “retweet” button on the top of this post. Thank you.
43 Comments
Dwayne Huggins on January 26th, 2010
I did notice that some of my articles on BN got indexed quicker than some of my actual post!
BN power. Like a rocket launcher in your business back pocket
Dwayne
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Rebecca Geiger on January 26th, 2010
“SEO articles by Jason Better on the Betternetworker” Excellent! I tried to test out the longtail keyword example but I don’t have the finesse that you easily create.
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Michael Cole on January 26th, 2010
Hi Jason,
No SEO “tricks” yet, one of the many reasons I keep coming here. To learn then apply
Michael
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Hani on January 26th, 2010
A great tool to use to determine the popularity of a keyword is the Google Adword Keyword tool.
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Part of my 7 Common Mistakes Video Series (Part 2), I briefly talk about the Google Keyword Tool. You can jump directly to the 2.5 minute mark of the video on my blog or BetterNetworker
I also discovered a slightly different tool by Google called the Search-based Keyword Tool:
http://www.google.com/sktool/#
I don’t know much about it, but I definitely will look into it.
I am definitely not an SEO expert and would love to hear what the experts say about these tools
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Timothy Willan on January 26th, 2010
THANKS JASON! I’m still learning about key word searchs, Great tip! I will try this!
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Wayne Vassell on January 26th, 2010
Hey Jason,
Yeah those long tail keywords are like gold!
I have found that if you do a ‘inurl’ or ‘allinanchor’ search in Google first you can limit your efforts to the “low hanging fruit” and make a killing!
@Dwayne Huggins – Nice to see you popping up everywhere, nice blog the way brother.
Nice Post Jason.
Wayne Vassell, signing out….
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Twila Jacobs on January 26th, 2010
Thanks Jason, Just another reason I look forward to checking my inbox daily. I always walk away with a quick lesson learned.
Twila
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Andy on January 26th, 2010
Jason, I’m kinda on the fence with this article ‘cos I’m not sure it provides a complete picture to the readers.
I’m mean it’s so easy to get ranked on the first page of the Search Engines using “long-tail” keywords.
The real issue is: “are enough people using that keyword” to make it valuable enough to spend time creating that article or video?
e.g. I could be a hardware store selling “Drills” – you know like the telephatic type where I think about a hole and the drill goes and gets the job done :O) and I create articles all about drills and drill bits like: “Drillsonic 2978 – Can any dirll bit really fit?”
Now, let’s say my target audience are regular folks that like DIY projects and all they are interested in are “how to make a hole”
They will never find those long-tail keyword article on my fancy drill and drill-bits.
I think there needs to be understanding of your market and that sometimes your market might only be searching with very competitive keywords.
Jason, how do we deal with this?
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Mark Bullock on January 26th, 2010
Thanks again Jason. Another quick lesson learned. Need to implement this into my articles from now on. You continue to help us all grow and I for one truly appreciate it.
Cheers, Mark
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Mitcehll Dillman on January 26th, 2010
Howdy Jason,
Yep…I’ve been playing around with some long tail key words for a couple months now and have seen some “friendly” results.
Like you Jason, I’ve also seen a few of my Better Networker articles jump right up on Google front pages. Do you think the search engines place more relevance on articles that are focused on “popular” or highly searched topics..? topics that are receiving more media attention, like health care? Or is it just the luck of the draw that makes some articles get more attention than others?
Speaking of attention…What does it mean when Ezine@rticles “publishes” your articles? Of my 40 or so Ezine@rticles, I’ve had 13 “published”. The ones marked “published” are receiving a HUGE number of readers compared to the others…Do you know what this means or where these are “published”?
Thanks some more 
for all your help!
Mitchell Dillman
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Derek Alvarez on January 26th, 2010
Hi Jason,
Like you, I am also an SEO novice —
But my wife and I have been able to dominate some long-tail keywords for some problems our MLM products solve, so that’s been cool!
The thing we always do before we devote so much time trying to rank is make sure the keywords have a lot of paid ads, which means they’re money-makers.
Then we use Google’s keyword research tool to make sure there is a decent amount of search volume.
After that, we make a capture page, free ebook, follow up emails, and a bunch of videos.
Then we blast them out through Traffic Geyser and – Voila – people calling us for our product!
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January 26th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Hey Derek,
I haven’t looked into Traffic Geyser
but man, I love hearing what’s
working for people.
It’s half the reason I read so many
blogs. To see what you guys are
up to.
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Chris Owen on January 26th, 2010
Hey Jason, I have to say, this is definitely a post I can get into.
I hit page one,ranked third with a two word phrase with high competition is six days, and had to post how I did it on my blog last night. It’s too much to write here but my synonym strategy will blow your mind. I was quoted 4 months by an SEO firm to rank for that term.
I always choose to put copywriting ahead of SEO, but SEO is definitely my favorite traffic source.
Use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool (free) to help get an idea of how much search traffic your keyword is getting.
A good way to use silo architecture on your sight is to put a broad keyword in the nav, then link short tail keyword articles to long tail keyword articles with your broad keyword in each.
Good flow for on site links helps build PR. To do this run links from page to page on keyword subjects without having those pages accessible from the nav menu.
Do your research and pay close attention to how Google views synonyms.(more on my post)
Use deep linking for inbound links pointing toward you most relevant material.
Link from your blog into your site, but not vice versa.
use synonyms for anchor text to keep things “natural”.
Spread your inbound links across different sites. Sometimes Google catches that you have 30 links coming from one server and credits only one link.
Remember that the goal is to get people to your site. Every word of text that you write should put copywriting skill ahead of SEO. Page one doesn’t matter if no one likes your site.
Chris Owen
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January 26th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Chris my friend…
You could turn that comment into
an article.
Nice.
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Ilka Flood on January 26th, 2010
Thanks for the tip, Jason! I am still learning this SEO stuff and am thankful for any information on how to rank better. I did know that long tail keywords rank better than the ‘normal’ keywords, because they are less used. But what I didn’t know was that attaching a link to them boosts your ranking. Cool! I’ll definitely try that out.
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Jason on January 26th, 2010
Mitchell,
I think it’s more to do with
the sites you post and share your
articles with
Better Networker is one of those
high content, google loved sites.
[Reply]
Jason on January 26th, 2010
Dwayne,
No prob.
I like how you don’t try to
“pull one over” on anybody.
You’re a genuine guy… and you almost
always have something cool to say.
[Reply]
Jason on January 26th, 2010
Hey Wayne,
Solid advice too.
I haven’t been in your neck of
the woods lately. I’ll have to
get my butt over there and see
what’s new.
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Keith D Shrock on January 26th, 2010
Thanks for opening the discussion. In your blog you should have the keyword in the URL (if possible, decreases traffic cost 40%–ppc,etc)and the title, the sub-title (H2); and 3-5 times in a 500 word article. Sprinkle in 4-5 synonyms and other “money-making” words. Main keyword:First sentence,middle,and last. You get a little lift if you bold etc–your keyword. Start your blog with your keywords only–10 articles. Then use long tails. with proven buyer intent (not searcher) for your next articles. This is well researched theory–now. Learn,do,teach,learn from your students–repeat–if you want to be the best teacher. I am between doing and teaching–trying to stay teachable. I caught some tips–thanks guys ! Emotion sells (85% of the people)–keywords just draw the traffic.
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Chris Owen on January 26th, 2010
Thanks Derek, Sorry Jason
I didn’t realize that ran so long.
I think Gravatar is mad at me.
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Marcus Baker on January 27th, 2010
Woah so size does matter after all??? Well when it comes to keywords by the sounds of it. Ha.. Thanks for the tip. I don’t have much to add other than when it comes to keywords it makes more sense to me to be on the first page of results for ten lower traffic keywords than page 66 of one high traffic keyword.
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January 27th, 2010 at 9:48 am
Hey Marcus,
Your comment cracked me up this morning.
Yes, size does matter in keywords.
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Jose on January 27th, 2010
Jason, thanks for the good tip. I will definetly put it on practice. Thanks God I found this awsome place BetterNetworker.com and also your page JasonBetter.com This happened to me not long ago, I was loking for something and all of a sudden I saw a comment made by me on BetterNetworker, probably because of certain words I used, and there I was in Yahoo. Thanks again for those good tips. Blessings
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January 27th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Jose,
I’m always happy to hear good things
about BN… that site is rocking up the world.
More free content than most paid products.
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Keith D Shrock on January 28th, 2010
Sorry about my big block paragraph.
Like you say on BN–that does not make anyone want to read it.
That’s true of articles we write also. I just heard from a fellow that is getting 30%+ click throughs with 2 sentence paragraphs.
That’s off-topic a little–but most people reading this write articles and blog posts. I’ll let BN know if I get similar results.
Also I was wrong, about bolding etc keywords, per Stompernet (great free training). Google does not give extra points to keyword bolding.
I believe it helps in sales though–by telling the customer–this is what you searched for.
[Reply]
January 28th, 2010 at 9:07 am
Hey Keith,
No worries, I though that was a little too
good to be true… I wanted to believe it too.
Hah, but then everybody would be bolding everything
they post.
[Reply]
Chema Barboza on January 28th, 2010
Thank you!!!!
your content is great and free!!! wow!!!!
I love it !!!
Chema Barboza
Ensenada Baja California Mexico
[Reply]
January 28th, 2010 at 9:07 am
Hey Chema,
It’s happy comments like yours that
make giving stuff away so much fun.
Thanks man.
[Reply]
Dwayne Huggins: How To Get The Edge In Network Marketing on January 28th, 2010
[...] I have remained consistent, focused and strong minded about what I have to do to be successful. The biggest pay off for me doing that has not been the leads I have been getting or the sales I have been making. They are both great. They are what I have been working towards getting, so I knew that they will come. But the biggest reward for my consistent action so far has been getting my name mentioned in a blog post by one of network marketing’s most read blogs JasonBetter.Com. [...]
Peter Grimes on January 30th, 2010
Jason,
I have had great success with posting article with longtail keyword in title and then repeated 2-3 times in the body. On sites that allow, linking the keyword also helps. The real problem is to hold the ranking long term! I discoveder that the niche I was chasing was way too competitive and that I wud never have sustained good rankings. I then discovered Wordtracker and this is brilliant. it allows you to conduct keyword research on your niche. In a nutshell, we need a longtail keyword that has search volume, low competition, good 24 hours traffic and high KEI. You use those sort of keywords and watch the rankings hit the top of page 1 and stay there.
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Peter Grimes on January 30th, 2010
Mitchell,
In answer to the Ezine articles published, I am pretty sure that it means your article has been published on an Ezine of one of the companies that goes to Ezine Articles for content. It pretty cool, eh!
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Dee Light on January 31st, 2010
So much to learn!! Head. . . is. . . .spinning. I need to get a glass of SEO—-er—I mean water. This newbie has much studying to do. whew
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January 31st, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Dee,
Some days I feel the same.
Don’t be afraid to give your brain a break.
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A Guide To Attraction Marketing by Dwayne Huggins on July 1st, 2010
[...] Me on Jason Better’s Blog – totally awesome that Jason did this. [...]
Nathan The Online Marketing Expert on August 7th, 2010
Hey Jason,
My secret that I use right now is the Cherry Picker software from Ryan Deiss. This is an incredible tool to find out what markets I should rank for, and what ones I should not even try. Also his Authority codes was an incredible book.
I also try to find the keywords that are not often searched, maybe as low as 500/month. It may be a small number, but if you get quite a few of these keywords, they tend to add up. You also have less competition.
Thanks for the great post and I will see you later
Nathan Isaac
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Hey Jas,
I’ve tried really hard to rank for certain keyword phrases before – putting it in headlines, titles, meta, etc, etc. It wasn’t too effective in the beginning.
As time went on, I focused more on writing good articles and posting regularly (once every 1 – 2 days) and less on keywords.
I’m finding now that my articles are ranking well for keywords that I haven’t even thought of. Which is great.
We can spend a lot energy trying to optimise for keywords and this can sometimes limit our creativity.
My advice is before you optimise, develop a content rich site first.
Cheers,
Wayne
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