Is it worth it to target long tail keywords?

[Deleted member 674942]

I was reading a post on backlinko.com which said this:

The Big Problem With Long Tail Keywords

Remember that each Long Tail Keyword may only get 100-1000 searches per month. Which means – in order to get lots search engine traffic from long tails — you need to bang out dozens (or even hundreds) of articles. And each of these need to be optimized around a single Long Tail Keyword.

Publishing reams of long tail-focused content puts you at serious risk of a Google Panda penalty. In fact, companies like Demand Media and Suite101 lost millions betting on this strategy.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t use long tails as part of your search engine optimization strategy (in fact, there’s an entire chapter in this guide dedicated to finding them). But don’t fall into the trap of banging out hundreds of pages hoping to rank for long tails.

---------------------------------------------

So, what do you do about this? Just avoid long tails altogether to prevent getting any penalties?

 

[Julie85]

I would still go for long tail keywords. The thing is to make sure you are adding value to your readers and just not stuffing a post with long tail keywords just to rank.

 

[cashinpills]

To be honest, it is totally worth going for long tail keywords - there is no point to try those popular KW with high number of searches. Bet on a large number of phrases which are more complex and more precise. The long tail keywords are the best choice to position small, and local businesses, etc., which do not have enough funds to promote on those "hot" KW.

 

[jimbobo2779]

Yeah it is worth it.

It is one of those things that you either spend large time and resources on ranking popular keywords and get some long tails as you go or you target tons of long tail keywords and just mop up traffic from multiple keywords.

Targeting long tails is definitely a viable method for grabbing traffic.

 

[Deleted member 674942]

Yeah it is worth it.

It is one of those things that you either spend large time and resources on ranking popular keywords and get some long tails as you go or you target tons of long tail keywords and just mop up traffic from multiple keywords.

Targeting long tails is definitely a viable method for grabbing traffic.

What about avoiding those penalties that were mentioned in that article?

 

[Julie85]

What about avoiding those penalties that were mentioned in that article?

I honestly don't think there is a penalty for targeting long tail keywords. Just create useful valuable content. I still haven't heard of any penalty for quality content despite it targeting log tail/short tail keywords.

 

[bartosimpsonio]

Remember that each Long Tail Keyword may only get 100-1000 searches per month. Which means – in order to get lots search engine traffic from long tails — you need to bang out dozens (or even hundreds) of articles. And each of these need to be optimized around a single Long Tail Keyword.

That's bullshit. You don't need to optimize for a single long tail. If you nail the main theme right via LSI a single article can rank for tens/hundreds of long tails.

 

[jimbobo2779]

What about avoiding those penalties that were mentioned in that article?

What penalties? Penalties for having content that is relevant to a specific keyword. I have never heard of such a thing and do not think it is a thing at all.

Also as @bartosimpsonio stated, why does each article have to target just a singe keyword. I have had sites rank for multiple keywords without targeting specific words. In fact if you are targeting more general keywords and your content is written correctly there is no reason you cannot rank for more specific long tail keywords.

 

[queenjude]

That's bullshit. You don't need to optimize for a single long tail. If you nail the main theme right via LSI a single article can rank for tens/hundreds of long tails.

Yes if you use "Tips on How to shoot a basketball" - you'll find you'll get ranked for things like Tips for basketball, how to shoot a basketball, how to play basketball and of course your original title. Drop in 2000 word article, back links and enjoy the alphabet soup...

 

[moonlighsunligh]

Sure, but still it is best to target one main long tail keyword and add theme words/modifiers so you can rank for the main KW and all those word combination ... and the modifers are the words that go after/before the keyword - and you can find them in keyword tools.

Like:
coconut milk
coconut link for hair
coconut milk benefits
best coconut milk

and so on.

There words are hair,benefits milk, best.

 

[MisterF]

Yes go for long tail keywords, also check out Googles auto-suggest too for other potential ones to target.

 

[legoknekt]

If you are in the same niche as me then it's really a waste of time, it does not work at all and your site will be deindexed by the google monster (pinkie promise).

I'm not sure why you would be penalized for being relevant.
Okey if you spam out 100's of irrelevant longtails in a 500 word article just for the sake of being keywords with traffic, yeah sure you will probably get penalized sooner or later.

 

[issorc]

What about avoiding those penalties that were mentioned in that article?

One of the mentioned examples, Suite101, was a content farm. They had thousands of published articles by many authors. That's different from a site that has 100-200 articles targeting various keywords. If your articles are not duplicate 200 words article you'll never get slapped for that.

 

[german seo]

Publishing reams of long tail-focused content puts you at serious risk of a Google Panda penalty. In fact, companies like Demand Media and Suite101 lost millions betting on this strategy.

It just got fucked by Fred for doing that. And took my a while to get rid of all the optimization. We all know that G is getting constantly smarter, so this simply not a viable long term strategy.

 

[issorc]

It just got fucked by Fred for doing that. And took my a while to get rid of all the optimization. We all know that G is getting constantly smarter, so this simply not a viable long term strategy.

What do you mean with "it"? Typo and you mean "I"?

Google's #1 goal (next to making money) is to provide the user with the best content available on the internet for a specific search term. If done right you can easily build a site with 100 long term articles. Just avoid duplicate content and do some research that each page adds value for the user. There is no difference to building a site with articles optimized for higher search terms. I doubt Google does really want to wipe you out if you add value.

 

[german seo]

can easily build a site with 100 long term articles.

No, if you run a blog with 100 long term articles, each optimized for a specific keyword, G will punish you for that. You are doing much better with LIS than long term these days.

 

[chinalad]

There are two types of longtails. Those that are sometimes more competitive than their seed words and those that have no competition at all. The latter would be good.

 

[Real Ranker]

Google loves organic stuffs, and thus the mix of Main Keywords, Generic Anchors, Brand urls, Brand names and also Long Tail Keywords would makes a good combination, to make Google impressed. So, you can surely target some Long Tail Keywords, to get the expected results.

 

[patriotnews]

There words are hair,benefits milk, best

Those words read as a disgusting sentence also!

It just got fucked by Fred for doing that. And took my a while to get rid of all the optimization. We all know that G is getting constantly smarter, so this simply not a viable long term strategy.

I agree, Google will hate you for providing content relevant to searches. I also heard if you used pictures, videos, infographics, slideshows, podcasts, any thing besides WingDing font, Google will not even use Vaseline on your site.

Ok, if you're cranking out 100 250 word articles focused on a single long-tail, and get shocked when you find Google isn't happy with you... Then I got nothing for you.
If you produce 5-6-10 articles focusing on 20-30-50 long-tails at about 2,000-4,000 words have some images, graphs, video(s), podcast(s), and/or what not. Then don't build shitty backlinks to it, this is a grand long-term strategy... I mean, it is working for me in a primarily whitehat niche with a KC of 76. But, hey, maybe the sky IS falling...

 

[german seo]

Ok, if you're cranking out 100 250 word articles focused on a single long-tail, and get shocked when you find Google isn't happy with you... Then I got nothing for you.