Ever written a great blog post? Spend hours editing and researching?
And then you publish it on your site, even get your first backlinks to the post—and then… nothing happens. No one clicks on it. No one finds it in Google. It’s like it never existed at all. Sound familiar?
Well, I’ll tell you what might be going on: you’re not using long-tail keywords!
What are long-tail keywords?
Long-tail keywords are more specific and more likely to convert visitors to customers. Instead of “software development” you might use “software development companies in New York City”. Your potential customers are more likely to search for something specific.
Include long-tail keywords on your website so that Google can find them and show them in search results. The higher your site appears in search results, the more traffic and leads you’ll receive.
SEO Benefits of using long-tail keywords
Long-tail keywords can provide you with many SEO benefits. Here are our top picks:
1. More targeted traffic leads to higher conversion rates
Keywords with long tails are a great way to get targeted traffic. Targeting means finding people who are interested in what you’re offering. By choosing more specific keywords, you will reduce your competitors. Plus, it has higher conversion rates because it attracts people who already know what they want.
2. Lower competition makes it easier to rank high
There are millions of keywords out there, and it’s just impossible to rank high for all of them. But, that doesn’t mean you cannot target specific phrases. The key is knowing what to look for.Generally speaking, the longer a phrase is, the less competitive it is. As fewer people search for that keyword, there’s less competition, so targeting a specific term is easier to rank high on Google.
3. Improved CTR (Click Through Rate)
Long-tail keywords have higher click-through rates (CTR), even though they have lower search volume. So why is that?
It is easier to understand when you take the user’s point of view. When a user types in “chocolate,” there are thousands of different results. But when a user types in “dark chocolate brownies with almonds,” they know exactly what they’re looking for—and if your article is one of the few that comes up? You can bet they’re going to click on it.
Short-tail keywords have higher search volumes, but long-tail keywords lead to more clicks. Your users will find what they’re looking for, and you will get more traffic.
4. Perfect for new sites to get their first organic traffic
It is difficult to rank for short-tail keywords when you start a new website. Especially if you are competing against established sites.
You’ll compete with all the big dogs (e.g., Wikipedia) if you use short-tail keywords. Your content may be more engaging, but they’ll still outrank you by their domain authority. It’s better to focus on long-tail keywords instead.
Secondly, long-tail keywords will help you find a niche. So instead of covering every single topic in your industry, focus on one or two relevant subjects and become an expert in those areas. And as a result, you’ll become credible in the eyes of search engines.
5. Improves the ranking of short-tail keywords
It’s kind of a chicken-or-the-egg thing: when you want to rank for short-tail keywords, like “SEO,” it can be hard to get there without long-tail keywords. That’s because the long-tail keywords are usually easier to rank for. Once you start ranking for lots of long-tail keywords, you get the required authority to start ranking for short-tail keywords. So if your goal is lots of traffic from search engines, start with the long tail.
6. Reduced Google Ads costs
Google Adword keyword length matters when it comes to price. The longer your keyword, the cheaper it will be.
Why?
It calculates the keyword’s cost based on how many advertisers bid on it and their budgets. Long-tail keywords have lower competition, which means fewer bidding wars and cheaper keywords.
How to find long-tail keywords
Finding long-tail keywords isn’t enough. Your keyword must generate organic traffic for your site and be easy to rank. Use SERPtimizer to get long-tail keyword suggestions. It will show you the search volume and keyword difficulty for each entered keyword. If you choose the right keywords, you will rank in the top results on Google and receive organic traffic.
Choosing the optimal length of your keyword
Choosing the optimal length of a long tail keyword is one of the most effective ways to boost your SEO. Keywords with three to five words are general enough to have a high search volume and specific enough to have low competition. A higher rank in Google’s SERPs will result in more organic traffic.
The downside of using a keyword with a high search volume is that it’s also likely to be highly competitive. On the other hand, if your keyword has a low search volume, you’ll rank high but get no traffic because no one searches for that.
For high rank and lots of traffic, you need a keyword with a high search volume, low competition, and enough search traffic. In fact, we wouldn’t be able to rank this article in Google if we used a short-tail keyword. The keyword “long tail keyword” has a keyword difficulty of 85. 
Conclusion
Put a bit of time and effort into your keyword research. It’s worth finding the right keywords because SEO doesn’t just mean getting more traffic. Instead, you need to drive traffic to your site consistently to grow your brand awareness, build trust, and engage your audience.