Every single SEO specialist out there talks about using long-tail keywords but most business owners still do not understand exactly why they are needed. The truth is that it is a little difficult to explain the use of the long-tail option when the business owner is used to talking about the short keywords. Also, those that do not know much about SEO cannot realize the huge potential that a long-tail keyword can hold.

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There are many different reasons that can be mentioned when thinking about why you need long-tail keywords in SEO. In most cases the following should be seen as the most important that have to be known.

Lower Competition

When choosing a keyword like “men shoes” you go up against over 42 million Google results. When you choose a long-tail keyword, like “Spanish designer men shoes” you just go up against under 3 million Google results. The discrepancy can be huge.

When we have a longer phrase, there are fewer sites that will be identified as a match, so competition is lower. Due to this, it is simply easier to rank high for a long-tail keyword than for a short-tail keyword. Reaching the top 10 for such choices is usually simple and can bring traffic faster.

Higher Traffic

Speaking about traffic, most site owners know that people will look for specific keywords and that there are more people looking for the shorter keywords. This is correct but we need to understand one very important thing. The long-tail keyword will not bring in huge traffic but since it is much easier to optimize for it, you can target numerous long-tail keywords at the same time. As you rank for more keywords, you get traffic from numerous sources, as opposed to fighting for just one. On the long run, you simply get more traffic from the long-tail keywords.

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Better Targeting

People that look for “men shoes” do not necessarily want to buy. They have many different reasons why the keyword is put in the search bar. This is actually the big problem with short-tail keywords. Conversion rates for whatever target is in place will be lower.

When you target long-tail keywords you can choose those that fit the overall marketing campaign you run. Do you want to sell something? You can easily find long-tail keywords used by people that are actually interested in making a purchase. Do you want more sign-ups for a newsletter? You choose fitting keywords. Targeting is simply a lot better with long-tail keywords. This automatically leads to much higher conversion rates.

Easier Optimization

Last but not least, it is so much easier to work on your on-page optimization when the target is a long-tail keyword. You do not need to add them many times and they just look more natural in the copy. User experience is increased, which in turn helps increase conversions.

On the whole, choosing long-tail keywords for SEO optimization is the first thing on the mind of the experienced SEO professional. This is because he/she realizes the value of more precise targeting, together with everything else mentioned above.