blogging•blogging essentials•Blogging Freebies
What Are Long Tail Keywords and How They Will Increase Your Blog Traffic
August 12, 2015Today let’s talk shop. We are going to talk about the definition of what are long tail keywords and why you need them to hep grow your blog traffic. Well first let’s start with, I promise I do have a post coming at you about why I made the switch to wordpress. However, if I had to sum it up in one word for simplicity reasons, it would be……plugins. You know how when it comes to iPhones there is an app for everything? That is how WordPress works. Every since I made the switch, I have been working really hard on my site’s SEO. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. What is the point of writing good content if it can’t be found. If you’re looking for more advice and tips, you could have a look into reviews of different SEO agencies and decide which could be the best seo company for your requirements.
That is where long tail keywords come into play. For example, go to google and search “Rachel Zoe box of style” or “what to wear for pure barre“. Both of those posts show up in the first page. Do you know how many blog posts there are about pure barre, what to wear, what to expect etc etc. My post shows up in the first page. That is because of my SEO plugin that I use on my site called Squirrly. I have lots more on that to come however, today we are going to talk about what are long tail keywords.
What are long tail keywords?
My number one referrer on a daily basis is Search Engines, specifically google. Long tail keywords are essential. The easiest way to think about what are long tail keywords and what they mean is think of how you search in google. Do you type in “Restaurants” or do you type in something like “restaurants in downtown that have happy hour specials“. You type the second thing am I right? You want specifics. That is what long tail keywords are. That is how people are going to find your site. So if you write a tutorial about sock buns. You will have some steep competition and get buried in a google search. If you make your keywords “what to buy to create a sock bun“, you will have a better chance of google exposure. Does that make sense?
So because you know I like to make funnies. Let’s see some of my favorite long tail keywords in the past 30 days. I crack up on a daily basis seeing how people stumble onto my site with the keyword searches and thought I would share a few of my favorites.
“Martha stewart and her grandchildren photo”.
Ummmmmm. I can’t believe people are searching that in the first place or that it would somehow be connected to my blog……but then I got to thinking. Yup. I have referred to my mother as the original Martha Stewart on many occasions. Connection made.
“Do Amazon Prime members get free returns?”
Can we even be friends anymore if you don’t already know the answer to that question? You do know what Amazon prime is all about right? Lighting fast shipping and FREE returns. So to answer that question google searcher who I hope is now a die hard daily reader. With Amazon Prime you always get free returns and if you live in these cities, you know get same day shipping *cue the angels singing*. If you have more questions check my post about all the benefits of your Amazon Prime Membership.
“Savannah Crisley Mole”.
I don’t really see the resemblance……
“Stuck In Dress Stories”.
Well I am touched. This is one of my favorite embarrassing stories ever.
“Best Boho Outfits for Beerfest”.
I knew this picture would pay off…….
“Do I need the special brush for the bare minerals foundation?”
Sadly. Yes you do. On another note, my highest google searchable post ever is one from my very early blogging days about Bare Minerals vs Tarte Amazonian Clay. When in doubt compare two very big name brands…..double the search potential.
“Age Limits on Crop Tops”.
See I wasn’t the only one who had that question! From this post about what age limit on wearing crop tops. It’s a fantastic post if I do say so.
“Tinder Diaster”.
This post still gets me traffic and it was from 2 years ago. It’s pretty hilarious and I want to hide in a corner with my lack of blogging beautification back then but it’s still a little gem.
“What does Martha Stewart say about thank you cards for engagement party?”
There goes Martha again making another guest appearance on my blog. I’ll take this one Martha. Yes, write thank you cards. Rule of thumb. If someone takes the time out of their day, buys you something, puts it in a bag/wraps/uses their special tissue paper and gives you a card. You need to write them a thank you card. Full post here.
“Is it possible for my butt to be get stuck as I leave a room?”
If you are Kim Khardashian……it’s possible but for everyone else….probably not. I really have no clue why somebody is concerned enough about this to google it or how that lead them to my page but they are and they did. So there is my answer. No.
Finally my favorite
“Blondes with booties”.
Clearly they can’t be talking about me. For any of you who know me, I am like an extension of my back into my legs. Can’t really shake what my momma gave me because I’m not working with a lot. I cracked up when I found that one. Maybe it was talking about Pure Barre booties or something? That keyword remains a mystery.
Then we have the boring and typical searches “barre blog, meet at the barre, Nordstrom Anniversary Sale 2015, barre clothes, what to wear to pure barre” etc etc.
[bctt tweet=”Your questions finally answered. Why Long Tail Keywords are crucial for your blogs traffic explained.”]
So in my way of trying to be funny and educational all at the same time. Long tail keywords are very important for your blogs traffic. I use this site to search for my long tail keywords. That way I am not shooting in the dark when it comes to giving my titles a chance to grab some attention. What are your thoughts? Did you know about the importance of long tail keywords? What SEO plugins do you use? If y’all liked this post, I would really appreciate it if you would pin it, like it on bloglovin or share it with that sweet little share + button down below. xoxoxoxo
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This is such a helpful post! Question for you, where do you put the long tail keywords? In your post or in your seo plugin? Thanks girl!
Her Heartland Soul
http://herheartlandsoul.com
LOL maybe the blondes with booties are referring to shoes?! You do rock the booties on a regular basis! Definitely never use long tail keywords. I should probably look into that more huh?
<3, Pamela
Sequins & Sea Breezes
it sounds like to have success in the blogging world, one has to do wordpress. i guess i will have to make the leap to keep up! i love search queries to how people find blogs–there are always a bunch of funny ones, like you had! you just never know sometimes! hope your Wednesday is wonderful, amanda!
Making a great case for the switch….I might have to take the leap now!! xo, Biana –BlovedBoston
Thanks for the tips! I do so much SEO for work that I’m ashamed to admit I don’t do the same for my own blog! Will need to be better at this.
Trish – tales from trish
Well this is super informative! You have me more and more intrigued with wordpress. I am lol’ing about the searches for your blog. I see some of them on blogger that lead to my page and I’m like “how???” haha
This post was super helpful! I really do probably need to look more into using WordPress!
http://www.rosyoutlookblog.com
Such a great post! I’m with Pamela, I thought they meant booties like ankle booties! Definitely going to checkout Squirrly!
So I tried Squirrely after talking with you but it somehow was messing up the way that my blog shows up on Chrome. I need to do some research and try to figure out if there is a way to fix it so I can still use the plugin! I’m using Genesis’ Foodie Pro theme, though, and there is a SEO section that I can fill out each time I write a post. I am going to try using long tail keywords more often!
Haha LOVE this especially blondes with booties, get it gurlie! And still loving that crop top and skirt, one of my favorite outfits on you ever :-D
We just made the switch to WordPress and I feel like there is still so much to learn!! I wonder if one can download too many plugins? I hope not! I also need to check out your Tinder Disaster post, I bet it is hilarious!
xo, Whitney and Blaire
Peaches In A Pod
good tips girl! stuff that people don’t often think about :) brb while i update my blog ha
xo cheshirekatblog.com
WordPress does have great benefits and Eventually I will switch I think – not just yet though. Also, I really loved the bare minerals/tarte post.
You are always sharing fantastic advice! I started my future cake site on wordpress I may as well switch the blog too! xo
So much good info here, girl! I am so bad about adding in keywords – I really need to get better about that because you are so right, why write good content when no one can find it?! Can’t wait for your post on the switch to WordPress!
This is such a great post, lady! Thanks for giving us the info!
Long tail keywords are so important and most people overlook how much value they can bring. I need to get on it and check out Squirrly.
YES! Love this post! SEO is so important, and I’ve been learning all about it this week. Keywords, long tail keywords, placement in post, post length, headers – all that stuff is so interesting! Blogger actually has a few SEO widgets to help boost your site, but the coolest thing I’ve learned is that you don’t need a plugin to boost you if you know how to structure a post, how to create content and blog regularly! Reading your searches is hysterical though. Did you find it in Google Analytics or something else? I think I would die laughing seeing the searches that brought people to my site!
I LOVE SEO plugins they are so so helpful, aren’t they?
I always chuckle with the phrases that bring people to my blog.
Truly excellent post! SO informative and helpful
I’m still on blogger but you’re right WordPress does have some great tools. People are often terrified of SEO but it really doesn’t have to be that scary!
Long tail … whattt? Haha … I am so not tech savvy, this is such a great post. So helpful!!!
This is awesome info! I always search Google like that but had no idea it had a name, lol!
You could lead a blogging seminar! How did you figure all of this out?!
What an interesting post! I am on blogger, but this still helps. I hear great thing about WordPress but it still scares me….for now, haha!
super interesting girl! thanks for explaining everything :) i laughed so hard at the amazon prime one, who doesn’t know that?!
seriously though, SEO is so confusing to me. I have no idea why but I can’t quite wrap my head around it!
Great examples. I always struggle with determining what tags to add to my blog posts.
Now I wish I used wordpress!! Super helpful post :)
I just started my own cooking and food blog to keep me occupied after a break up, this is very helpful (although I still don’t know what the heck I am doing!) I found your blog when I was starting pure barre and I can’t remember what I googled but it was definitely a long tail keyword! I wanted to do wordpress but blogger seemed so much easier, hopefully one day I will make the switch.
I love that the Best Boho Outfits for Beerfest was texted directly to me on that Beerfest day. March 21, with a “Just for you ;)” You really know your stuff, lady!
Where do you put in your keywords? Are they just from your titles, sentences in your pots, or elsewhere? I am curious about how Ican do this better! I have been trying to make my titles more descriptive rather than creative so that they might get searched more and also naming my pictures to be mroe descriptive. Any other tips!?
http://www.amemoryofus.com
Great points and info! I’ve been using WordPress for years, but there truly are so many plugins, I’m ashamed to say I haven’t really taken advantage of that fact… yet.
~ Shannon
This is so helpful! I have really been trying to improve my SEO! I have never heard of squirly… I use yoast as my SEO plugin, can you use both or one of the other? Definitely looking in to it!
<3 Shannon
Upbeat Soles
Fantastic post today, lady! This was very helpful and is a great learning resource. I guess I knew about the concept of long-tail keywords but never gave it much thought. I definitely will be paying more attention now to my own!
Clearly long tail keywords do pay off and I don’t use them nearly enough!! Love that outfit of you in the crop top! Cracking up at the Martha Stewart posts…
I am going to have to look in to this keyword stuff! I used Yoast for SEO but I will have to see what the difference is between it and what you use.
LOL! I just love posts where people post the keywords that people used to get to their blog. The butt getting stuck one cracked me up!
This is such a great post! Thank you so much for sharing such great information. I have read all of your blogging posts and am trying to really increase my numbers. I just found your blog in the last two months and now it is a daily must read!
xo
Annie
It’s times like these that I wish I could take advantage of all these amazing wordpress plugins that seem to make SEO so much easier. One day! P.S. I’m not sure if you already have a post on this but you should totally do a round up of all your favourite plugins for when I finally decide to take the plunge.
This was really interesting to read. I think the searches were hilarious. I gotta be honest – I don’t analyze, use SEO, and didn’t even know what long tail words were. I admit it. I don’t know if I ever will either. But, I know my limitations, and I know that I won’t get much traffic because of it. I’m okay with that.
I really had no idea how important Plugins were. Still over at Blogger in the mean time, but it’s been very interesting reading the opposing sites offerings. I mean, you and Savannah Chrisley do kind of look alike. (;
This is great! Thank you for sharing!
Great information that I get in theory what it all means but am still searching for an all day seminar on blogging SEO so someone can be right in front of me and walk me through the steps on all of this stuff. I look at it online and my eyes start to glaze over. So when you are ready to plan it let me know and I’ll be the first one to sign up :)
SEO plugins have been the best way for me to learn a little more about it. These types of posts always crack me up. Looking at my search tags showed me yellow pages had somehow linked my blog to my husband’s law firm…. OOPS? No idea how that happened.
Great info, thanks for sharing! It’s always nice to know other people are wondering the same random things as you sometimes with Google searches :) Also, Amazon Prime lies about the same day shipping! I was so excited to see that Tampa was listed, but despite living in the city, my zip isn’t eligible :( womp.
So do you just make sure you add the long tail keywords somewhere into your blog post? Thanks girl, love this post and your awesome new blog layout!
Great post, Amanda! Making the transition to WordPress seems daunting but well worth it! Xo, Stephanie