Toronto SEO Masterclass: Long Tail Keywords and Ranking Higher

Long tail keywords aren’t generally used by search engine optimization (SEO) professionals. Only the cream of the crop know the importance of these keywords in rankings. To understand why it is so important to use long tail keywords when performing SEO, a very general idea of the factors affecting SEO is required.   In Toronto, SEO is an art form practiced by various agencies and individuals. Many of these entities have little to no real industry experience or training. They stick to older methods and ideas. Keywords, for example, are the bane of many an SEO company in Toronto. When choosing keywords, most companies stick to generic phrases. Let us take a metal fabrication company in Mississauga, for instance. An untrained SEO “pro” would probably pick “metal fabrication” as a keyword.   They would then proceed to stuff all the content on the site with this keyword. A common delusion is that Google sees the sheer density of the keyword and thinks, “Hey, this guy mentions metal fabrication a lot, so it MUST be useful!”.   Wrong. 

Google’s algorithms are incredibly complex. They use multiple factors to determine the ranking of a web page on their search engine results. It’s quite common to find a page or article that has no mention of your actual search term on the first page. 

  The usefulness of a page and its content plays a huge role in determining the ranking of the page. Alongside this are other factors like authority, backlink quality, internal link structure, navigational structure, user experience, and many more. Keywords are no longer the only factor impacting ranking. In 2017, you’re going to have to work a little harder to make it to the top. This is a concept the average SEO company in Toronto or anywhere in the country, really, find hard to grasp.   Now, let’s assume that you have everything else down pat. You have a great looking professional website, a well-structured hierarchy, and all the rest. All you want to do now is improve your conversions and drive more leads to your company. What do you do? This is where long tail keywords come in. 

If you have no SEO experience, you probably won’t understand what long tail keywords are.

 

A long tail keyword has more than just one or two words in the keyword phrase. If we take our metal fabrication example from earlier, long tail keywords would include types of metal fabrication techniques and so on. These are common searches that users perform, but aren’t being actively targeted by your site. Most companies involved in SEO in Toronto use more general, high-volume keywords. For new websites or SEO clients with little to no authority or reputation built up online, ranking against competitors that have been in the industry for years can be a chore. Imagine trying to compete with Nike for the keyword “running shoes”. It’s next to impossible. 

Long tail keywords aren’t intended to be a replacement for your currently targeted keywords. Instead, they’re supplementary. If you focus solely on your top-level, high volume keywords, you’re missing out on a huge portion of the market. While 70% of the market searches for those high-volume phrases, they’re spread across all your competitors and results. The remaining 30% are far more likely to find your site because of how specific the keywords are.

This is one of the biggest perks of using these long tail options. If you’re searching for “running shoes”, you’re looking for recommendations. You want to be presented with options, pricing, and more. Your goal isn’t to buy, it’s to decide what to buy, and if you even should. However, if you search for “air jordans extra fly basketball shoes”, it’s different. You’ve already decided what you want to buy, the only question now is where you can buy it from.

 

The same applies to your own site and products. If you’re targeting your product pages to long tail keywords that are specific, you’re more likely to get conversions and sales. The visitors landing on those pages will have been directed from those specific searches, and already have the intent to make a purchase. If we take our metal fabrication example, a potential long tail keyword would be “high grade stainless steel fabrication Toronto”.

 

The long tail keyword described above could be what a potential customer requiring metalworking performed would search for. If they were to land on the stainless-steel fabrication page of your site, they’d see the benefits and call you right away. Their intent was always to buy, not browse. This is why long tail keywords can drive your bottom line higher than ever.

From an SEO perspective, conversion rate is the number of visitors who have stayed on your site and performed an action. This action could be calling, filling out contact forms, or even making a purchase. This ties in closely to the previous point. Because the visitor’s intent was satisfied due to the specificity of the keyword, the bounce rate (how quickly they leave without performing an action) is going to be significantly lower.

The competition for good SEO in Toronto is high. Toronto is a very commercial city. Everyone has competition, and it is vicious. When you think about generic keywords, one guarantee is that they are high-volume. Thousands, if not millions of searches are run for these keywords every day. Hundreds of companies target them for this reason. You’d be competing against giants in the industry. If your site is just starting out, you won’t stand a chance against authorities in the field. Unless you build your own authority up over time, that is.

 

In terms of volume, long tail keywords are searched for far less often. Because of this, most SEO companies in Toronto and the rest of the world simply don’t target them. “What’s the point?”, we say. The result of this is a far less varied competition. Since the major companies in the field don’t need long tail keywords due to their brand power, they don’t target them on their sites. You face a far smaller base of competitors. As such, the hundreds of thousands of searches for these keywords are divided up among a smaller set of results. More visitors are driven to your site from these searches. All these visitors have their intent to perform an action already. The final result? Drastic improvements to your conversions and sales.

 

Over time, this improves your authority according to Google’s algorithms. As your authority improves, you start to rank higher for your high-volume keywords. Thanks to this, you’ll be able to compete and win against your competitors and soon be a force to be reckoned with in the field. 

If you’re working with SEO professionals in Toronto, you should already be targeted for long tail searches. If you aren’t, then you haven’t hired the professionals. Look for SEO companies in Toronto and the GTA that know what they’re doing. Long tail keywords could drive your bottom line up and turn your site into a lead generation machine.