Proper SEO basics are crucial for increasing website traffic, but driving organic Google search traffic is one of the hardest aspects of blogging or small business SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
Without being able to appear at the top of Google search results, it’s difficult to drive enough traffic to generate “buzz” and get people talking about your content. Without plenty of people talking about and sharing your content, Google doesn’t view it as influential enough to appear at the top of the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
This catch-22 might seem to be an insurmountable problem at first, but there is a solution that relies on solid keyword research and identifying appropriate “long-tail” keywords.
SEO definition: A long-tail SEO term is any keyword or phrase for which there is relatively little traffic and as a result, most likely, less competition.
Targeting long-tail SEO terms to increase website traffic via Google search only works if you are able to correctly identify the “right” SEO terms in the first place. The right SEO terms have the following attributes:
- Relatively low monthly traffic
- Relatively low competition
- Relevant to your blog or small business
- Are focused and targeted to your ideal audience
Often, great long-tail keywords are slightly more focused versions of the SEO terms that you aren’t able to reach the top page on.
