Once in a while I review online articles dedicated to ongoing web analytics and SEO issues. So with great surprise I noticed that there was still ongoing discussions about the value and validity of long-tail keywords. One of the articles really attracted my attention. It was very bizarre and full of contradictions. Some certain web analyst with a well-known name was telling that it was wrong to chase long-tail keywords. Then for some unknown reason he blasted PPC campaigns administrators and managers. He did not like that they were proud to carry over fifty thousand words in their campaigns and tell others about it. He went on and on like that but in the second part of the article he switched to something like “You know, maybe long-tail keywords are not that bad, if you gather them in separate ad groups”.
First of all, I must say that these PPC managers should be proud. If their clients entrust them management of big campaigns, it means that these guys are trustworthy. I know many SEO contractors who never get to do that limiting their work only to organic listings manipulations. Second, I doubt that PPC administrators discuss openly with this guy their sponsored links or paid keywords - after all, they are in very competitive business, so they should keep their mouths shut. And, the last, but not the last, what is this obsession with long-tail keywords about?
I always preach balance approach towards any SEO concepts, especially if they are relatively new. Obsession in our business spells disaster. Great SEO contractor should never be carried away because he has responsibilities and trust of the client, whose money he is spending. There are no really quick solutions for white-hat specialists, but a lot of long hours in front of a computer.
So, here is what I think about long-tail keywords. I believe that the whole hype about long-tail keywords began a year and a half ago in some SEO and SEM outsourcing agencies, when they understood that it was getting harder and harder to promise clients to go through with acquisition of lucrative category words. Yet, they needed to make money somehow.
And I believe, that their thinking behind this was the following: “if a client sells on his web site Nike shoes, we will never be able to get him a keyword Nike shoes for the money he is paying us. Let’s get him the keyword Nike shoes look cool on people of all ages . Then we still will be able to easily earn our fees and have a satisfied customer, whom we will convince that the goals have been achieved.”
Yes, it is true that category words are very hard to get. It is getting more and more difficult to get to this #1 spot on Google. Yet, we need to try, anyways. And I know not from rumors but from web analytics tests that when you have #1 spot on Google and #1 text ad in the sponsored link on the same page - the effect is staggering. This combination has deep psychological effect on Internet searchers and they stream to the web site. You don’t have to take my word for granted: you need to achieve this ranking combination and then check weekly your Google Analytics or any other tracking software for confirmation of what I just said.
Pay per click campaigns are conducted not because somebody had nothing else to do but for certain business reasons and targets. But not all keywords are equal. And this is true also when we speak about long-tail keywords. Some are worth going after, but a lot of them is just useless junk. There is no reason to speak hypothetically about it, if you check your tracking software you will see that some queries look quite strange.
It does not surprise me because Internet searchers are ordinary people, some of them are still learning how to use search engines. Keywords that they use at random should not be taken as a gospel truth. Each case must be analyzed and tested separately and see what results it will bring.
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