It should be no surprise that SEO is a crucial part of your website getting found online. If you’re trying to optimize your content for SEO, long tail keywords are the cornerstone of researching and writing useful content. By doing a little research before you sit down to write an 600+ word article, you’ll be saving yourself time and producing content that actually helps your audience. Here are some amazing free tools to find long tail keywords for your website.
What is a Long Tail Keyword?
Long Tail keywords are more specific or colloquial search terms that are usually at least 3 or 4 words long. Sometimes even longer. They are very specific to what your content is really all about. When someone searches for a long tail keyword, it’s usually exactly what they’re really looking for. This is actually great news for you, if you can answer their query in a helpful way.
What is the difference between short tail vs long tail keywords?
Because long tail keywords are longer and more specific, they hone in on your niche instead of a broad short tail keyword, like “cars”. A long tail keyword would look something like “2019 Honda Fit near me”. As you can see, it’s a longer keyword, but it’s more likely to answer your audience’s query with a useful and helpful webpage. Another plus? Highly specific keywords are more likely to rank than short, broad, or generic search terms. Another piece of good news is, Google likes sites that have more pages.
Keep in mind that if your content focuses on keywords that are a little too specific, you risk getting almost no traffic at all, so remember to try to find a happy medium between 3-5 words.
Are long tail keywords better to use for PPC than short tail keywords?
Ideally, you want a mix of both long tail and short tail keywords in your content strategy. That said, long tail keywords preform better in pay-per-click (PPC) ads and give you nearly infinite topics to write about. Because there is less competition and the user is asking for exactly what they want, you get to give it to them.
Free Tools to Find Long Tail Keywords
Google Adwords Keyword Planner
Google Adwords Keyword Planner: Are you running a PPC campaign, or thinking about one soon? Google Adwords Keyword Planner is a gem to help you organize your keyword ideas and compare them to other keywords.
Keywords Everywhere
Keywords Everywhere: This is a fantastic browser add-on that lets you check on keywords while you’re browsing the internet and find them organically. They only support Chrome and Firefox, but it’s such a helpful tool when you’re reading articles or searching for new blogging ideas.
Google Trends
Google Trends: Find out exactly how your keywords and ideas are fairing in search in real time. Google shares its vast search data with you in order to help you plan and forecast your keyword strategy.
UberSuggest
UberSuggest: UberSuggest is a free app engineered by SEO expert Neil Patel. Just type in your domain for a free SEO analysis, or use any of the helpful keyword tools.
LongTail Pro
LongTailPro: An amazing resource to help you find less competitive long tail keywords and help you place in search.
SEMrush
SEMrush: An SEO industry favorite, SEMrush remains one of the best tools to find long tail keywords
Rank Math
RankMath: Fresh out the gate, RankMath is a free SEO WordPress plugin that allows you to optimize your content for up to 5 keywords. It also suggests long tail keywords for you and grades you on how well your content supports that keyword in search.