As I was beginning my blogging career, I was very much focused on finding high-volume keywords. The keywords that were searched most often. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out why I found any of the huge traffic. I found out, of course, that my website wasn’t ranking anywhere near the first page on a Google search result, and therefore no one ever saw my site.
From that time on I was more focused on more specific terms with few searches. For example, I started writing articles for “my sneezing and is not eating” instead of just “cat sneezing”. These are long-tail vs short-tail keywords.
Do you want to rank your blog post on the first page of Google? If yes, then you should consider using long-tail keywords in your blog. It doesn’t matter what kind of blog you have, long-tail keywords can help you get huge organic traffic. Long-tail keywords are one of the best ways to improve your on-page SEO but how you use long-tail keywords in a blog also plays a very major role.
So if you want to learn more about the use of long-tail keywords, then this article has a lot to offer. In this article, you will learn about the best ways to use long-tail keywords in a blog. Along with things, we have also mentioned some other important questions related to it to give you a better idea. So if this sounds useful, then stick to this article. You will learn:
Articles focused on long-tail keywords are answering one specific question instead of covering a complete topic area. Some best practices for writing include:
- Focus On The Headline
- Include Natural Keywords In The Introduction
- Create Subheadings Around The Keywords
- Finish With A Conclusion Targeting The Keyword
Focus On The Headline
One of the main things that everyone must do to get more traffic is to create a powerful headline. The headline of a blog is the most important part, that’s why you should make sure that your long-tail keyword is present in it. You should start the headline with attention-seeking words such as “top, best, how, why”. These words catch the attention of the readers and bring them to your post.
Now here the main step you have to do is add the long-tail keyword in the first half of the headline. This helps in improving the Google ranking because most time people unintentionally use long-tail keywords to search for an article that can solve their problems. That’s why if you place the long tail keyword in the headline, then it can give you amazing traffic. To help you understand better, here is a three-step process to integrate long-tail keywords in your blog’s headline.
- The first thing you have to do is research and collect all the good quality long-tail keywords. If you don’t know how to do it, then you should jump to the second section of this article first, then come back here
- Long-tail keywords alone are not enough, you have to look for viral headlines that have already got a good amount of shares and views. These kinds of posts are very easy to find, you will need to do a little research or you can use applications like BuzzSumo that will help you get the best viral headlines within seconds
- Now all you have to do is add your long-tail keyword to the viral headline. You have to take inspiration from the headline and create a similar one but with your long-tail keywords. For example, if your keyword is “loose bodyweight naturally” and the viral headline is “7 things to do to get rid of acne within 30 days”. Then your headline would be “7 things to lose bodyweight naturally within 30 days” or “Lose bodyweight naturally with these 7 surprising things”
This is the best way to create a perfect headline for your blog post. Now if you want to get better results, then you will have to use good long-tail keywords and popular viral posts that got thousands of views and shares. However, if you are just starting, then grow gradually.
Include Natural Keywords In The Introduction
After the headline, the next area of the blog you should pay proper attention to is the introduction.
Now just like the headline, you should include your long-tail keywords in the introduction, but make sure they are placed properly. Write at least 100-200 words in the introduction and include your long-tail keywords in between them. One pro tip to make your introduction more effective is that you should add some related keywords along with your primary keyword.
Apart from this, one major mistake that most people make while using long-tail keywords is that they try to fit them everywhere in the blog. This is an outdated tactic. It’s not beneficial in any way anymore, and it can have negative effects on your Google rankings. You should make sure to fit your long keywords in the blog in a natural manner. However, if you observe well, then you will notice that most long-tail keywords sound unnatural. And if you use them without any add-ons, then you might get a Google penalty.
For example, a keyword I’ve worked with is “cat sneezing a lot”. In the article, I would write “…this might be why your cat is sneezing a lot right now”, or “When a cat sneezes a lot, it’s because…”.
Create Subheadings Around The Keywords
Subheadings are also an important part of your blog. They help you categorize the information and give the user the information they need easily.
Secondly, as the Google algorithm starts to rank subheadings and subparagraphs, this becomes even more important. Before reading the article, most users first scan the article and check whether the subheadings are related to the content or not. That’s why it is recommended to create powerful subheadings that resonate with your content as well as the keywords.
Here are some tips that will help you make powerful subheadings:
Use an LSI Strategy
LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) Keywords are conceptually related terms that search engines use to deeply understand your content. In simple words, LSI strategy means using the synonyms of your specific long-tail keyword to prevent keyword stuffing. After the release of the Google Hummingbird algorithm, the LSI strategy has become important for search engine optimization. So use synonyms of your keyword to create a subheading.
Now you don’t have to stress about the synonyms, you can use whatever you want. Just make sure they are getting along with the content naturally and the flow is not robotic.
Stay Related To The Content
You should try to keep your subheadings relatable to the actual content – more specifically to the question the searcher had coming to your article. For example, if you are writing about “losing weight”, then your subheads should be relatable to that, and not deviate to strength building or anti-inflammatory dieting.
I common mistake I see is when a writer adds paragraphs on “the history of…” or “related products…”
Finish With A Conclusion Targeting The Keyword
The last thing that you have to do is write a comprehensive conclusion revolving around your targeted keywords. Now first you have to understand what exactly a conclusion is. A conclusion is a mixture of all the main content. You have to give the user a summary of the things you have discussed. And while doing that, you have to highlight your targeted keywords.
To make a conclusion more effective, you should include all the main things that users must remember. It’s like a revision of the content along with a warm leaving note. Though it depends on you, how many words you want to write in the conclusion, just try to cover everything briefly.
How Do You Research Long-Tail Keywords?
After discussing the basic details regarding the use of long-tail keywords in blogging, it’s time to talk about the ways to research long-tail keywords.
Take Help Of Google Related Searches
This is the best way to find long-tail keywords for people who don’t have a paid keyword research tool. All you have to do is search for a query and then scroll to the bottom of the page. There you get different search suggestions related to your original query, which can be used as long-tail keywords.
Use Keyword Research Tools
If you want to make keyword research easier, then you should opt for a keyword research tool. Though it will cost you some money, it can help you get high-traffic, low-competition keywords. You just have to type a keyword that you want to target, and it will show hundreds of keyword ideas along with the competition rate and search volume. Just remember, “search volume” in tools is always inaccurate, so only use them as guidelines.
Analyze Your Competitors
Another great way to get high-traffic long-tail keywords is by analyzing your competitor’s blog. There are many tools such as Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, and Keywordtool.io that can help you do this. All you have to do is paste the URL of your competitor’s blog and it will show all the keywords that he is ranking on.
A word of caution though. Don’t just go after the same long-tail keywords on your blog. The topics might not be relevant for your exact audience, and you have to write something better on a question your competitor has already answered. Instead, try to use your competitor’s keywords as inspiration for your research – don’t just copy.
How Many Keywords Should A Blog Post Have?
Now some of you might be thinking about how many keywords should we put in our blog post.
Well, the fewer the better.
It also depends on how many words you are writing in the article. For example, if you write a 2500-word article, then you should maintain a keyword density of 3-4% (each keyword), which is around 75 to 85 keywords. However, you should focus more on the LSI strategy to avoid keyword stuffing and use some other related keywords to optimize your content properly.
What Are Long-Tail Keyword Examples?
Long-tail keywords are those keywords that have more phrases and target a specific niche. These keywords are very straightforward, so the users can understand them easily. There are two main categories of keywords, which are head (short-tail) keywords and long-tail keywords. So here are some examples of both:
- Head (short-tail) Keywords look like this: lose weight, make money, get clear skin, best mobile phones. In simple words, they are generic with a bigger search volume and high competition
- Long Tail Keywords look like this: lose weight within 30 days, make money online without any investment, get clear skin naturally within 1 month, best mobile phones for gamers. These keywords carry meaning and they have a very specific nature
The Final Words
If you research and use long-tail keywords properly, then you can get amazing results. You should use different keyword research techniques to find keywords and then analyze them on keyword tools.
Once you get the right keywords, you just have to use them in the article naturally. All the necessary information is mentioned above, hope you will get some valuable information in this article.
