Long-tail keyphrases are typically related to your main strategic keywords and generally include three, four, or more words. For example, “web hosting linux,” “cheap web hosting,” and “web hosting control panel” might be typical long-tail phrases for a web-design business. Such phrases are known as long tail because the frequency with which they are searched on reduces as the length of the phrase increases (in a long tail that tends toward zero searches).
In the next chapter, on keyword attractiveness, I will show you how to assess the degree of popularity and competitiveness attached to each keyword and keyphrase. However, before we get there I can give you a sneak preview: Generally, the longer a phrase is, the more attractive it is, in relative terms. Here is a typical long-tail graph:
Long-tail analysis seeks to identify, for your most common keyword categories (or “stems”), the phrases that pay where demand is relatively high but competition relatively weak; what I call relatively under-exploited keyphrases.
As an example, consider Sam Larder, owner of a luxury, ski-in–ski-out chalet in Verbier, Switzerland. Sam has been spending a fortune on a paid advertising campaign, selecting phrases such as “ski chalet” and “chalet verbier.” Given the popularity of the resort (and the number of competing accommodation providers) he has had to pay more and more to acquire his visitors. However, after reading this book, Sam thoroughly considers his business proposition and looks at the long tail in the light of this.
Nearly all of Sam’s customers have one big thing in common: They bring their children skiing with them. This might have something to do with the fact that Sam’s chalet is right next door to the local crčche. He reconsiders his keyword selection and (from ontological analysis) goes for “ski chalet crčche,” “ski chalet child care,” “ski chalet nursery,” and “ski chalet ski school.” It may not surprise you to learn that Sam more than doubled his customer conversions while almost halving his costs! I will return to phrases that pay in the next section. However, at this point all you need to understand is that it is a good idea to have several keyword chains (that link two, three, or even four keywords together) in your optimization ingredients.
Returning to the Abakus Keyword Tool (or using your SEO software), it is now time to analyze your competitors’ sites more deeply.
This time you are looking for the most commonly repeated two-, three-, and four-word keyphrases in the page text. Add these to your spreadsheet, again in Column A. Repeat the task for different sites and for different pages within the same site. You are aiming for a list of approximately 100 keywords and keyphrases at this stage.
Brad investigates his competitors’ sites again (only this time going down much further in the rankings and trying many different searches). He settles on a group of multi-word phrases that appear most often on competing sites, of which the following are just a few examples:
" Two-word phrases: business cards, letterhead printing, compliment slips, printed labels, address labels, print design " Three-word phrases: quality business cards, business card printing, business card design, laminated business cards, letterhead stationery printing, online printing letterheads, avery address labels, printed address labels, sticky address labels, design brochures leaflets, full color printing, business brochures flyers, business printing services, online business printing, business brochure printing
" Four-word phrases: online business card printing, business card printing services, business card printing service, business form printing services, cheap business card printing, business card printing company, custom business card printing, business card design printing, business card discount printing, business card printing Idaho, business card printing Boise
Brad was interested to note that “business cards” appeared more often than “business card.” He has learnt another key lesson: Always pluralize your keywords where you can. You will achieve higher traffic this way, because of the way search engines handle queries and users perform searches. As I have said, learn from your competitors where you can!
For a typical small (10-page) site, you should now have approximately 35–40 one-word and two-word phrases and perhaps as many as 60–75 three-word and four-or-more-word combinations.
In the next chapter, on keyword attractiveness, I will show you how to assess the degree of popularity and competitiveness attached to each keyword and keyphrase. However, before we get there I can give you a sneak preview: Generally, the longer a phrase is, the more attractive it is, in relative terms. Here is a typical long-tail graph:
Long-tail analysis seeks to identify, for your most common keyword categories (or “stems”), the phrases that pay where demand is relatively high but competition relatively weak; what I call relatively under-exploited keyphrases.
As an example, consider Sam Larder, owner of a luxury, ski-in–ski-out chalet in Verbier, Switzerland. Sam has been spending a fortune on a paid advertising campaign, selecting phrases such as “ski chalet” and “chalet verbier.” Given the popularity of the resort (and the number of competing accommodation providers) he has had to pay more and more to acquire his visitors. However, after reading this book, Sam thoroughly considers his business proposition and looks at the long tail in the light of this.
Nearly all of Sam’s customers have one big thing in common: They bring their children skiing with them. This might have something to do with the fact that Sam’s chalet is right next door to the local crčche. He reconsiders his keyword selection and (from ontological analysis) goes for “ski chalet crčche,” “ski chalet child care,” “ski chalet nursery,” and “ski chalet ski school.” It may not surprise you to learn that Sam more than doubled his customer conversions while almost halving his costs! I will return to phrases that pay in the next section. However, at this point all you need to understand is that it is a good idea to have several keyword chains (that link two, three, or even four keywords together) in your optimization ingredients.
Returning to the Abakus Keyword Tool (or using your SEO software), it is now time to analyze your competitors’ sites more deeply.
This time you are looking for the most commonly repeated two-, three-, and four-word keyphrases in the page text. Add these to your spreadsheet, again in Column A. Repeat the task for different sites and for different pages within the same site. You are aiming for a list of approximately 100 keywords and keyphrases at this stage.
Brad investigates his competitors’ sites again (only this time going down much further in the rankings and trying many different searches). He settles on a group of multi-word phrases that appear most often on competing sites, of which the following are just a few examples:
" Two-word phrases: business cards, letterhead printing, compliment slips, printed labels, address labels, print design " Three-word phrases: quality business cards, business card printing, business card design, laminated business cards, letterhead stationery printing, online printing letterheads, avery address labels, printed address labels, sticky address labels, design brochures leaflets, full color printing, business brochures flyers, business printing services, online business printing, business brochure printing
" Four-word phrases: online business card printing, business card printing services, business card printing service, business form printing services, cheap business card printing, business card printing company, custom business card printing, business card design printing, business card discount printing, business card printing Idaho, business card printing Boise
Brad was interested to note that “business cards” appeared more often than “business card.” He has learnt another key lesson: Always pluralize your keywords where you can. You will achieve higher traffic this way, because of the way search engines handle queries and users perform searches. As I have said, learn from your competitors where you can!
For a typical small (10-page) site, you should now have approximately 35–40 one-word and two-word phrases and perhaps as many as 60–75 three-word and four-or-more-word combinations.
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