One of the most important – if not THE most important – concepts of SEO revolves around the mystery of keyword research.
Many start-up businesses don’t understand the importance of keywords, and they end up wasting advertising money on words or short phrases that customers will never search for, let alone see. Long tail keywords can present excellent SEO opportunities, but many businesses often overlook them when conducting keyword research.
Why are Keywords Important to the Consumer?
To explain the importance of keywords, let’s imagine that you are in the customer’s shoes. You start up your favorite internet search browser, and you want to find out why your eyes are so dry when you wake up. As a customer, you might type in: “Why are my eyes dry in the morning?” or “Why do my eyes hurt when I first wake up?”
You, as the customer, may not fully understand what you are looking for; you’re simply looking for an explanation for why your eyes are dry and irritated.
How to Capitalize on Keywords
Switching back to the business perspective, you might know how to answer this question; in fact, you may have even written articles about why someone might suffer from dry eye. However, if you don’t have keywords that target that specific search, your content won’t reach those consumers.
In order to make the most out of your advertising money, you need to put your product (or answer) where the consumer can see it. This is where long tail keywords come in to play.
The Difference between Short Tail and Long Tail Keywords
Now the answer you’ve all been waiting for: the difference between short tail and long tail keywords. As its names suggest, short tail keywords are short whereas long tail keywords are long.
For example, a short tail keyword might be “eyes” or “dry eye.” This may attract consumers if you already rank in the top two or three spots in a search engine’s organic search. However, if you are a small business that sells more obscure products, it will be very difficult to rank for “eyes” or “dry eye” because nearly every eye business would target that word.
A long tail keyword like “why are my eyes dry” would target those consumers who ask specific questions that your content answers. If you target keywords that consumers search for, those consumers are more likely to become customers or loyal supporters of your brand.