Let's say for example that your search strategy focused on "website design." This highly competitive term may be out of reach for most companies. Instead, by utilizing long tail search, a marketer can target more niche traffic-referring terms that build upon the semantic concept of "website design." Examples could be: "Website design company in NYC" or "Website design for fashion companies" or "The top mistakes of hiring a website designer." Each of these long-tail search phrases use the core keyword but with a twist.
A website that is focused on a highly competitive keyword or within a competitive industry can use long tail keyphrases to gain traction more quickly for organic search. Website pages can be optimized for derivations of your core keyword, but the additional length provides opportunities to be more specific, focused and precise--helping to build relevancy with prospects and leads. Long tail can actually help increase conversations by offering content more specific to a prospect's interest.
Searchers and prospects that visit your website from long-tail phrases generally perform better and convert easier. Many website owners and marketers struggle to build ranking for very broad and highly competitive keywords--wasting months on the fifth or sixth page. By thinking about long-tail, SEO best-practices, marketers may be able find niche phrases that are far less competitive yet still refer traffic. It's a smart, short-term move that helps build momentum for broad keywords as well.
Remember that SEO must be content centric, but a well-organized and designed website is also vitally important. When designing an SEO-friendly website, it is important to begin with a clear site map that outlines the link references between pages. Additionally by planning out editorial content early for a website and blog, marketers can help strengthen their long-tail link references to more broad keyword pages. During the design process for a website, it is important to focus on more than just the style and color attributes of a website. A website design process is also a marketing planning process. Often businesses ignore the marketing value of web design planning, which can make a website ultimately less successful in-market.