Chase the Long-tail, Not the Wrong-Tail

Running in circles while chasing the "long tail" of search? Read below and learn how to work it without over-working yourself!

In Volume 1, Issue 5 of "The Net Effect", Dan Thies wrote a great article where he talks about how you can pull in more free traffic from "long tail" search terms, page by page.

Today, I want to share with you some of Dan's points on what chasing the "long tail" is really about, how some people get it completely wrong, and why it gets an UNFAIR bad reputation.

Plus, you're going to learn the right way to go after the long tail traffic. If you follow this plan, it's impossible to fail.

The Argument Against...
Some SEO "experts" will tell you that targeting the long tail is a waste of effort, because it's "too hard" to target, or that it takes "too much work".

Of course, some of these same guys will tell you that you should use "broad match" in your PPC (which is a great way to lose money, if you're into that). So what do they really know, anyway?

You may also hear that it's not worth it to pursue the long tail because the results fall off the deeper you go. And that's true, but the "shape" of the tail is different in every market.

The fall off rarely happens as fast as most people think, and there could be 20 or 30% more traffic just waiting to be scooped up from under your competitors noses.

The fact is, the long tail can be difficult to go after if you try the usual SEO tactics. (More on that below.) But if you use a slightly modified and smarter strategy, paired with a little extra effort up front, you can grab that extra chunk of traffic hiding in the tail with ease.

What You Do Not Need To Do...

The reason some less experienced SEOs think this is hard is because they approach it like you would target your top-tier keywords. I'll show you why that won't work here.

False: You need to create a ton of extra web pages...

Fact: The fastest and easiest way to go after the long tail is to broaden the "keyword profiles" on your pre-existing popular pages. Check your analytics and see what pages are getting search traffic already.

Then, fold in those long tail keywords to fatten up those pages. Don't go crazy over it - you can simply go through the existing copy and add them in where they make sense.

Now I said above you don't need to create a bunch of extra pages just to target these keywords, and that's true. But you should add the long tail words in when you create new content as you normally would.

Note: There's no need to force them in. Just work them in naturally, wherever you can. Don't make the quality of the content suffer in service of the keywords. Remember, people might (hopefully) read this content and want to give you their money.

You'll probably begin seeing results faster than you think, even if you're doing all the work yourself. That's why we go after the pages that are already getting traffic first - so you can see results as you work.

Cool, right?

False: You need to create a bunch of new backlinks with those keywords...

Fact: Just as with content, you don't need to create a lot of new links just to get this to work. You don't need more backlinks, just start using your long tail keywords in anchor text when the context allows.

That way you're simply folding your long tail linking efforts into your regular link-building activities. All you need to do is carry on as usual.

You may even find it easier to come up with creative copy and anchor text when you have so many word choices and variations available to you.

In fact, I often find the same thing to be true when I'm creating new content. Before you turn to a thesaurus for some copy spice, check your keyword list and see if you can't get a little bit of search love while you're at it.

False: You need to do ROI analysis for all these long tail keywords even though they may only send 10 visitors a month...

If you've been paying attention, you should already know why this is false. When you have a sensible list of related long tail keywords, you don't need to do competitive analysis.

If a word might bring you some visitors, and it's easy to work into your mix, just do it. It's easier and faster than wasting time figuring out how much traffic this one phrase might bring in over another.

When you're in the long tail, it's about the quantity and variety. It's about a lot of keywords contributing cumulatively to your traffic. There's not that much difference between one and the other.

It's very likely that as long as you've gathered your long tail keywords in a sensible way, they'll all help to some degree. Toss them in and if you see them in your analytics, you know they're working.

Bonus Tip: While you're looking at your analytics anyway, grab the keywords that people found you with accidentally, and start targeting those, too.

Those are the really valuable ones, because they're ones that your competitors have no way of discovering. They aren't going to be in any keyword tool anywhere, so target them when you find them, and keep them secret and safe.

Your Mileage Will Vary...

In Dan's article, he says that in his experience, extraordinary results are not that extraordinary. But like I said earlier, the SHAPE of that long tail will be different in every market.

This means that it will be fatter in some markets, and some of you will make a TON more money from a TON more traffic. But also, some of you will simply see modest improvements.

But notice that it's impossible for you to do any worse than you're doing now. And if you follow the advice above, you're really not even doing more work than you were already doing.

And in the cases where you DO put in a little extra work, you only need to do it once, and it's a pretty small project, all things considered.

The End of This Tail...

That's it for today's Cheat Sheet from the pages of "The Net Effect". We hope you enjoy these insights I'm sharing from the pages of our subscriber-only journal.

Well, enjoyment is good, but I want you to profit from these reports as well. If you follow the advice here you should, and I have good news.

I have many more of these "Cheat Sheet" reports in the works, so get ready, and stay tuned.

Until Next Time,
Keep Stomping
~Andy Jenkins and the
StomperNet Faculty and Staff

P.S. The preceding report is taken from only a small portion of a larger article by StomperNet Faculty Dan Thies. It's not even the whole article, and that issue comes with over a dozen more, all by StomperNet's Elite Expert Faculty.

You can find Dan's article "Go Wide" in Volume 1, Issue 5 of "The Net Effect", StomperNet's monthly "action journal" for online business. You can browse the full table of contents here, and find out how to get instant access by visiting www.trcb.me/snblog.

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