Believe it or not, Google is old enough to buy beer!
Twenty-three years ago, Google changed the way we use the Internet and made it easier for all of us to find the crazy things we’re constantly searching for (dog psychologist - seriously). One of the major things Google - and its peers - did was shine a light on the importance of long-tail searches when it comes to finding relevant results. Think of it as the difference between searching for “ice cream shops in St. Louis” and searching for “artisanal ice cream shops selling Jasmine green tea gelato in St. Louis, Missouri.”
Nowadays, long-tail searches have become their own marketing strategy as search marketers attempt to target long-tail queries with specific tactics. The importance of long-tail search marketing resides in the way it helps brands capitalize on modern SEO and online marketing techniques. It can help an organization boost awareness of its brand, as well as work to enhance their landing page content to drive adoption.
In this digital age, the belief is that shorter is better - tweets are 140 characters long, the average webpage attention span is 8 seconds, and a catchy Facebook status update consists of a sentence barely longer than a tweet. So, why, then would anyone want to employ a marketing method that relies on more words?
Because if you’re only targeting short, “fat head” queries with your keywords, you’re missing out on 90% of the search traffic you could be targeting. “The days of content production that exclusively targets the fat head are slowly going away,” says Zach Kasperski, senior search marketing strategist at St. Louis digital marketing firm Elasticity and author of the new eBook, The New Long Tail of Search Marketing Strategy. “Organic search marketing is moving toward a more long tail approach using quality content as the driver.” A well-conducted approach to keyword research inevitably helps an organization establish popularity, competition, and relevancy for certain keywords.
60% of consumers gather product & service information from brand/product websites.
User intent also plays a massive role in long-tail search marketing, as users typically search the Internet to accommodate a specific need - navigational, informational, commercial, or transactional. Therefore, the more relevant a search is, the more conversions a brand may see because users are actually finding what they need. Jason Falls, author of No Bullshit Social Media, equates it to selling ice cream in the summer - “the environment is right and ripe for the taking.”
This new strategy for search marketing combines technical prowess, storytelling, and content production to create websites that long-tail searches can easily find. And that’s great news for anyone hoping to drive traffic and brand adoption.