Many inexperienced search marketers will only select 10 or 20 of the highest traffic key phrases for their organic search campaign. What they don’t realise is that 1. not only are these broad, high-traffic key phrases often highly competitive and therefore difficult to optimise, but 2. they are also potentially only a very small part of a much, much bigger picture.

When you are selecting key phrases to target you should never overlook the power of long tail search. Over the last few years there has been a decline in the number of people searching for one and two word key phrases, and an increase in 3-4 word key phrases. People are getting more and more sophisticated when it comes to search, and it is these longer tail key phrases which are going to be more effective in bringing you traffic in a short space of time. There is also evidence to suggest that these kinds of key phrases are more qualified, meaning they are more likely to convert to sale.

Identifying long tail key phrases is actually very easy. Firstly, and probably the most common, is to use the Google Adwords keyword tool. This is a great resource for identifying a wide range of different keywords relevant to your business. There are some flaws though, sometimes the Adwords keyword tool will show key phrases as having very little search volume, when in actual fact the opposite could be true. This is especially important if your traffic is seasonal i.e. you sell Christmas Hampers. Google Analytics is another great resource for identifying long tail traffic which you are already getting. If you haven’t already done so, install this on your site. Google Analytics will tell you exactly what keywords people are typing in to find your site. If those keywords are not ranking in the top 5 in Google, but you are still getting traffic, you could potentially only be scratching the surface. Look at Google Analytics in detail, you may be surprised to find out what people type in! Want more resources? Try Google Insights for Search, or even just go to Google and type in the start of your broad search phrase and see what Google’s auto-suggest feature provides for you.