Long Tail Keywords Boost Conversion Rates – Myth or Reality

What are long tail keywords?
I am sure that some of you might already know what long tail keywords are. For others, here is the definition - “A long tail keyword is a combination of 3-6 words that are specific and relevant to the products that you sell. In simple terms, any generic keyword that has product features, Model number, SKU no. price range, etc. can be taken as a long tail keyword.” (The phrase long tail was coined by Chris Anderson)

Short Keywords vs. Long Tail keywords

A general keyword can be termed as a short keyword. Example: Digital Camera, Desktop, etc…

An online user who is using short tail keywords such as "digital camera" may be looking for different brands/models available in digital camera category or might be conducting some research on how digital camera works. So it is better to make your category pages filled with short keywords.

Ranking well for short keywords is not a bad idea, but at the same time it may not work always. An online user who is using long tail keyword such as “Canon power shot digital camera 2MP“ has already done some research and may be evaluating the product price, merchants selling it, etc… and is more likely to purchase the product.

Here is an example for long tail keywords.
Canon power shot digital camera 2MP
17 inch LCD TV free shipping
Barack Obama action figure

Long Tail Keywords boost conversion – Myth or Reality

I personally feel that it is a REALITY. Long tail keywords can definitely boost conversion (but depends on various factors, we shall see this in later part of our article).

Let me illustrate why i call it as reality. Recently, I got a chance to look at the traffic data of an online retailer.

I found out Google and Yahoo to be the highest traffic contributors that gave 20,000 (approx) visitors from 13,500 (approx) search terms (12000 keywords were from Google search) but the conversion rate was just 0.05% (10 orders and $1,400 revenue), which is absolutely a little discouraging.

Out of 12,000 (keywords) search terms, 70% were long tail keywords. Good news is that the visitors who actually turned out to be potential buyers had used long tail keywords. And, bad news is that the conversion numbers for these long tail keywords were not quite tempting because these long tail keywords were not relevant to the landing page. If the keywords are not relevant to the landing page then there is a high chance of increase in bounce rate. Relevancy of the long tail keyword matters a lot on the landing page.

Now, do some home work: View your analytics tool to see for how many long tail keywords your webpage ranks in search engine.

What percentage of conversion these long tail keywords have given?

If most of your long tail keywords just give you traffic with no sales/conversion then there could be any or all of the following problems

• Irrelevant landing page (Keyword Not relevant to the landing page)
  
• Weak product description
• No extensive information product features
• No Call to actions
• No Company Logo
• No Sign of trust
• No proper content presentation format
• Poor product image
• Weak Navigation
• Sloppy website design
• No proper placement of shopping cart
• The product price might be higher
• Long checkout page and other factors.

So the fact that “long tail keywords boost conversion” is definitely not a myth, but to realize it, your site should have the above factors that persuades online shopper to take actions.

The Real Truth About Long Tail Keywords:

• Can easily rank in search engines
• Will not have too much competition
• Will not be present in keyword database because search volume is very minimal
• Can boost conversion (but depends on various factors, we shall see this in later part of our article)

So make your product pages sing with long tail keywords, but how to find them?

Here are the basic steps for long tail keyword research:

Brainstorm – Step into online shopper’s shoe and conduct an imaginary search or ask friends and relatives to suggest long tail keywords if they were to search for products.

Competitor Analysis - Peep into competitor’s product page and find what long tail keywords they have used.

Look into your log files and see what long tail keywords people have used to find your website.

Gather all these keywords and check for keyword relevancy. Ignore all those keywords that are irrelevant or too generic to define your product.

With a basic keyword research, you can tweak your website architecture, navigation and product content pages.

Here is the simple keyword strategy you can follow…

Use general keywords in the home page – Example: Camera & Photo

Use category specific keywords in category pages – Example: Digital Camera

Use brand specific keywords in brand category pages – Example: Canon Digital Camera

Use long tail product keywords in the specific product page – Example: Canon Digital Camera 7.1mp with 3x Optical Zoom

Final Conclusion:
“Long tail keywords can bring conversion only if your website (landing page) content is relevant to the search phrase along with the availability of other landing page hygiene factors.”

What are your thoughts and opinions?