When is the last time you went to a search engine and typed in a very generic term like “sports” or “basketball”? Probably not something you have done since you first started using the internet?
The truth is even Google doesn’t want you to search for such generic terms.
Try it… head over to Google and search for “basketball” and you will probably see something like this.
If you do end up searching for “basketball” you will also notice that no ads appear in the search results.
Why? The answer is simple. When you are using the search engines to find something, you don’t want generic information and web sites, you want exact results.
The same holds true for Google and their advertisers. It would cost way too much money to advertise on such a generic keyword with no specific focus and millions of people searching for it every day.
Instead you should be focusing your efforts on long tail keywords, which is what Google recommends when you search through their site. Click here to see what long tail keywords are all about.
Long tail keywords are generic keywords scaled out, which means they are much more direct and have less competition. This is exactly what web site owners are looking for when they are building content and sites to rank better in the search results.
Instead of searching for “basketball” you would want to look for something like your favorite team or the players on it.
Let’s say you went a step further and searched for “basketball scores”.
This is a million times more targeted than just “basketball”, and Google will actually post the latest scores right in the results.
They will also provide you with more recommendations at the end of the search results… which you can see are more variations of long tail keywords off your original search phrase of “basketball scores”.
Of course long tail keywords aren’t just about how to get better search results through Google, they’re also about creating better content for your sites.
Instead of writing a new content piece on “Top Blogging Tips”, go deeper and focus your content so people know exactly what they are getting.
This will not only help search engines rank your content better, but it will give your readers a closer focus on what your content is and get them interested.
If you currently have a site and are looking to improve your overall rankings in the search engines, it’s probably a good time for you to start focusing on long tail keywords. Most importantly, keep writing for the visitors on your web site and not the search engines, but make sure you are writing killer headlines and titles that grab the user’s attention!
This article is an original contribution by Zac Johnson.
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