Long Tail Traffic – What It Is and How to Get It

Long Tail Keywords

This is a guest article by Kirsty LaVier, editor for Shopping Cart Review. You too can get in front of our readers by taking a look at our guest blogging guidelines.

If you’re looking for web traffic that converts better (and who isn’t?!), you should be targeting long tail traffic.  It takes some work on your part, but there are some huge benefits to getting long tail traffic.

What is long tail traffic?

Long tail traffic consists of the visitors you get from long tail keywords.  Long tail keywords are longer (at least 2 or 3 words) and are more descriptive than head terms.   For example, “headache” is a head term, while “stress headache remedy” is a long tail keyword.  People are more likely to search for long tail keywords, because it’s easier to get the results you need that way.  Searching for the term “headache” will bring back millions of results – from different types of headaches, to what causes headaches, to how to treat headaches.  If you’re looking for a way to get rid of your stress headache, you may never find what you’re looking for that way!  But, if you search for “stress headache remedy”, you will have much fewer results pop up, and it will be easier to find the information you need.

Since long tail keywords are more descriptive, you know that the traffic you’re getting from them is much more targeted.  For example, if your website sells a remedy for stress headaches, someone who found your site by searching for “headache” may or may not need your services.  But, if someone searches for “stress headache remedy”, your site is exactly what they’re looking for – and they’re a lot more likely to buy from you.

So, how do you get long tail traffic?

Through your content.

Your content tells the search engine spiders exactly what your website is about – and what keywords you’re trying to target.  The more descriptive your content, the more likely you are to rank well for your targeted long tail keywords.

And, when it comes to content, you have to work on more than just your homepage.  After all, every inner page should target different long tail keywords, so you’ll need good, descriptive content on all of them.

As an added benefit, it is much easier to rank well for long tail keywords, because they have a lot less competition.  The only downside is that they also have a lower search volume.  But, remember, those searches are also a lot more targeted.  You could get thousands of visitors every day, but if your site doesn’t give them what they’re looking for, they’ll never convert.