Long Tail Keyword Research Using Long Tail Pro

Long Tail Keyword Research Using Long Tail Pro When it comes to content optimization keywords are the easiest way to improve search engine rankings. But while most are already accustomed to using keywords, long tail keyword optimization still falls under the radar of many online businesses. To businesses, the practice can sometimes seem a daunting project.But searching and optimizing your use of long tail keywords doesn’t need to be a mission impossible. © Shutterstock | Honza HrubyThis guide will introduce you to a tool called Long Tail Pro and we’ll explain how it can help you optimize your content with long tail keywords.LONG TAIL KEYWORDS IN A NUTSHELLTo understand long tail keywords, you need to know what a keyword is. In the context of digital technology, more specifically search engine optimization (SEO), the word refers to “a particular word or phrase that describes the contents of a Web page”. Keywords help search engines analyze and compartmentalize web pages.A keyword can be a single word or, as the above showed, even a phrase. A long tail keyword is in fact a keyword phrase, which contains at least three words.Therefore, if you are picking keywords to your shoe business site:A keyword could be “shoe retailer” or even “shoes”A long tail keyword could be “women’s shoe retailer” or “cheap women’s shoe retailer”.Since long tail keywords include the use of multiple keywords, they can be more suited f or niche use.Advantages of using long tail keywordsThe above example of keywords and long tail keywords also highlight the key advantage of using long tail keywords: the descriptiveness of the keywords. Long tail keywords are more specific and therefore better suited for niche use.Whilst keywords are typically generic and appeal for a mass audience, they don’t narrow down the field enough. In many occasions, a narrow-definition is nonetheless needed to avoid confusion.For example, if you are a shoe retailer, but you only focus on women’s casual shoes, generic keyword such as “shoe” doesn’t help narrow your webpage. The search engine might simply consider the site as a shoe retailer, directing men to your website, even though they won’t want to buy anything.[slideshare id=50526203doc=longtailvsshorttailkeywords-150714195550-lva1-app6892w=640h=330]A specific keyword can help direct quality traffic to your site, as you won’t appeal to visitors that aren’t interested in exactly what you offer.This specific-nature of long tail keywords has another advantage. Since the keywords are more specific, they are less competitive.There are hundreds of sites out there competing for the keyword “shoe”, but less for “cheap women’s shoe retailer”, for example. The more descriptive you go, the more opportunities you’ll have to rank high in that keyword.As the above chart shows, by increasing the descriptiveness of your keywords (by adding more keywords together), you are able to reduce the cost and competition while increasing the probability of conversion.WHAT IS LONG TAIL PRO?There are plenty of tools out there for maximizing your use of long tail keywords. One such software is called Long Tail Pro. According to a number of SEO experts, the program is one of the best long tail keyword research tools you can buy.The product was first launched in 2011. It was created by Internet marketer Spencer Haws, who had been developing long tail websites for cus tomers. Haws developed the software out of frustration for the lack of quality keyword tools, especially in terms of long tail keywords.Long Tail Pro essentially operates by generating a list of unique long tail keywords based on your root keyword suggestions. You can propose a single root keyword or multiple root keywords that relate to your chosen topic and the software will generate appropriate long tail keywords for you to use. The software pools the keywords from different search engines, such as Google. The wide-use of data guarantees you get quality keywords suggested after each search.Long Tail Pro offers two separate plans:Long Tail Starter Plan $25 per month10,000 keyword searches/monthIncluding Access to Long Tail Bootcamp ($127 in Value)Long Tail Annual Pro Plan $45 per month25,000 keyword searches/monthIncluding Access to Long Tail Bootcamp ($127 in Value)You can trial both plans for 7 days for free.WHY USE LONG TAIL KEYWORD RESEARCH TOOLS LIKE LONG TAIL PRO?We’ve d iscussed the advantages of using long tail keywords, but it’s also important to understand the benefits of using keyword research tools.One of the major benefits of software such as Long Tail Pro is the speed and effectiveness it brings to your keyword research.Finding long tail keywords is much faster, as you can:Generate long tail keywords for your specific audience â€" Long Tail Pro allows you to input any keywords in any topic and it provides you with hundreds of niche long tail keywords to use.Analyze the competitiveness of the long tail keywords â€" Not all long tail keywords are competitive and software options will make it easier to analyze the competitiveness of individual keywords.Select the right keywords â€" With Long Tail Pro, you can instantly use the suggestions for fine-tuning your content with the best long tail keywords. You will be able to focus on the key metrics: long tail keywords with the lowest competition and the highest traffic.By using a long tail keywor d research tool such as Long Tail Pro, you can increase the traffic to your website enormously. Statista’s research has shown effective on-page optimization is 50% long tail keyword focused.You can understand the benefits of long tail keywords through case study examples. Neil Patel’s post on long tail keywords analyses a number of such examples. For instance, the post points out the example of River Pools and Spas. The company created a blog post targeting the longer keyword “Problems with fiberglass pools”.Whilst the company is not ranked first on the keyword “fiberglass pools”, the content post is ranked first on Google for the long tail keyword. Furthermore, the post generated 5,000 more views for the site.HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF LONG TAIL PRO TOOLWith the above benefits in mind, let’s move onto examining how you can make the most with Long Tail Pro.Setting up Long Tail ProTo start using the software, you need to head down to the website www.longtailpro.com and sign up with your chosen plan. Once you register on the website, you’ll be able to download the software. If you don’t want to download the software straight away, you’ll also receive a link to the download in your inbox.Click the “Download Long Tail Platinum Here” and you’ll be able to download and open a zip-file. Before you venture further, it’s important to ensure your computer has Adobe AIR. This is a free program, which you can download here. Follow the instructions to install the program(s).When you run the software for the first time, you should pay attention to a few special steps. Before you start creating keyword projects, make sure to:Link it with your Google account â€" Click the “Settings” button at the top right corner of the platform. You’ll see a “Link Google Account” button there. Click it and add your login details.Link it with your Mozscape API account â€" If you don’t yet have this setup, do so at moz.com (free account), as it’s a vit al element of making the most of Long Tail Pro. You’ll need the Mozscape API Key from your account in order to link with Long Tail Pro. You can find the button for linking the Mozscape API account at the “Settings” section.You only need to do the above steps once. The next time you’ll use the software, it’ll remember your logins automatically.Finding valuable long tail keywords with Long Tail ProAfter you’ve signed up with the service and installed the software to your computer, it’s time to start searching for keywords. Finding long tail keywords is easy with these four steps.Step #1: Create a keyword project in Long Tail proOn the left corner of the screen, you should see a yellow plus icon. Click on it to create a keyword project. You’ll see a pop-up, which will allow you add the following details to your project:Project TitleKeyword languageInclude adult ideasTargeting:You can choose the country for your project â€" For example, if you are creating a project in t he United Kingdom, you can select the country from the menu.Search network â€" Selects the network for generating the keywords, local or global. Again, the selection will depend on the nature of your project.Once you adjust the above details according to your project needs and preferences, you can click ‘Create’.You can create as many keyword projects as you want. This is especially useful if you have a content-rich blog and you need to juggle between different projects.You’ll be able to see all the projects you’ve created in the drop-down menu on the left corner. Once you’ve created the projects, you can pick one and begin your keyword search.Step #2: Search for valuable keywordsWhen you’ve chosen your project, you can click the “Find Keywords” button. This will open up a pop-up window for detailing the type of keywords you are looking for.Write the proposed keywords to the “Add Seed Keywords” section. For example, if you are looking for long tail keywords relat ing to “online marketing”, you’ll add this and the software will provide you a list of suitable keyword ideas.You can include a single keyword or a few seed keywords at this point, depending on your needs. At this point, you can also add filters to your results if you want. But the filtering can be done at any point, and we’ll discuss it in more detail during ‘Step #4’.Click the “Generate Keywords Fetch Data” and you’ll be provided with a list of related long tail keywords.Step #3: Assess the keyword competitivenessBefore you start analyzing and picking the keywords for your website, you’ll want to look at the competitiveness of the suggestions. You don’t want to pick any keyword, as long tail keywords also have a mix of good and bad options.The competitiveness ranking in Long Tail Pro is a crucial part of boosting your long tail keyword success. When you view the results of your search, you can see a column stating the “average keyword competitiveness”.   This should be the key part of your focus.The software calculates the keyword competitiveness with the following formula: page authority +/- page title factor +/- keywords in domain factor +/- domain length. The competitiveness average is presented with a number ranging from 1 to 100.To analyze the competitiveness, look at the following chart:0-10 non-existent competition10-20 very low competition20-30 low competition30-40 moderate competition40-50 relatively high competition50-60 high competition60-70 very high competition70-100 extreme competitionWhen selecting your keywords, you should aim for keywords with an under 45-competitiveness average. This is due to these keywords being relatively free from competition, but not obscure enough to not generate searches. You’ll be able to find keywords that are in use (meaning they are popular), but aren’t too competitive (making it harder to rank at the top with them). In short: the lower the number the easier it is to rank for it.Be mindful of the fact that a lower competitive ranking doesn’t automatically guarantee the keyword is worth using.Overall, it is a good idea to balance the keywords you choose to use. You should aim to pick keywords with a competitiveness average of 30-45, but you can also add a few 45-65 keywords with a selection of lower competitive keywords.Step #4: Select the keyword you want your website to rankWith the above in mind you can start selecting the suitable keywords. It’s easy to add your chosen keywords to your project by marking it favorite. If you are a bit unsure about a keyword, you can even include notes. This will allow you to revisit keywords later.Aside from the average competitiveness rank, you can also find more about each keyword. When you click a chosen keyword, you can view:Top 10 results of the keyword on Google, including:The websitePage authorityPage linksIf you find a keyword with a profitable keyword competitiveness ranking (25-45), you should favorite it and c heck the above information to understand your current competition a bit better.Furthermore, you can also add further filters to your limit. These can help define your long tail keyword search even further. We already mentioned that you can filter your search based on the specific location (country) and adult-based themes.Aside from these, you can include other filters such as certain keywords. For example, if you are looking for long tail keywords to increase sales at your website, consider adding filters such as “best”, “review”, “cheap” and “buy”. People often use these when they are already committed to making a purchase.For example, if you are selling leather sofas and you’ve used this as your seed keyword, you can also filter it for “cheap” and “best”.Favorite your chosen keywords and you can find them under the favorites bar. You can return to your project at any point and manage the favorite keywords by removing and adding keywords as you conduct fur ther research.Check out more tips for filtering from the below YouTube video: HOW TO OPTIMIZE YOUR CONTENT TO BENEFIT FROM YOUR LONG TAIL KEYWORD RESEARCHAfter you’ve chosen your long tail keywords for your projects, you need to add the keywords to your content. When optimizing the use of long tail keywords in your content, consider the following tips. You should add the chosen keyword or keywords to your content:The post’s title should feature the keyword â€" “The best â€"insert keyword- in town”The URL should highlight the keyword â€" http://examplewebsite.com/your-keyword-hereThe META description of the postUse the keyword in the first sentence or the first paragraph â€" you could even use bold or italics to emphasizeInclude the keyword to at least one sub heading with an ‘heading 2’-tagFeature the keyword in 1% or less of the content â€" in a 700-word long post, you should have the keyword used a few times, but no more than seven mentions.If you include an image to y our post, use the keyword in the ALT-tag of the image â€" it’s a good idea to make the ‘Title’-tag and the image-file name the same.Use the keyword as a tag for the post â€" If you are using WordPress, you might find the keyword already has its own Category.Finally, if you are using WordPress, then consider adding an SEO plugin to your site. The Yoast SEO plugin, for example, helps you go through the above points in an instant and guarantees you don’t miss using long tail keywords in your content.THE FINAL VERDICTAs the above has hopefully shown you, Long Tail Pro is straightforward and simple long tail keyword research software to use. It uses plenty of data and the competitiveness analysis of each keyword will quickly show you, which long tail keywords are worth your time and effort.Although Long Tail Pro costs around $25 per month, it is worth the cost in terms of enhanced traffic generation and improved content. You’ll be able to focus your content creation on areas th at are guaranteed to provide higher traffic to your website and you’re sure to come across keywords you didn’t think would suit your site well!For any business, the ‘following’ it is able to attract is perhaps the most important factor in figuring the value of the product or service. With Long Tail Pro, you aren’t just taking our word for the benefits it could provide to your business; you’ll join over 70,000 online marketers who vouch for the software. That figure says plenty about the effectiveness of this method and the software itself.