How To Rank High On Google In Highly Competitive Markets
For some terms and phrases, even the best websites with the most diligent promotional efforts will have a very difficult time penetrating the top 10 search results. In these instances, it can be tempting to rely on efforts outside of the search engines’ guidelines. However strong this temptation may be, be advised that search engines do not tolerate spam or manipulation via automated links, nor do they allow such results to flourish for long. Although these methods, commonly referred to as ‘black hat SEO’, may have some effectiveness in the short term, they have little chance of long-term success in the SERPs and may become permanently banned from search results.
For highly competitive markets like mortgage, health insurance or real estate, targeting ‘long tail keywords’ can be your best bet. Long tail keywords are those three and four search phrases that are more specific to the services or products you are offering. Sure, there are less searches for these very specific search terms than for ‘general terms’ but whenever a customer uses a highly specific search phrase, they tend to be looking for exactly what they are actually going to purchase. In most cases, those searches are much more likely to convert to sales than general generic searches that tend to be geared more toward the type of research that consumers typically do prior to making a buying decision.
How do I find out what these long tail keywords are?
Here is an example. Let’s say you are selling health insurance in California. At first, you might consider optimizing your website for the generic phrase ‘health insurance’.
However, if you tried to rank high on Google for that phrase, you’d be facing direct competition from big established insurance websites. It is very unlikely that your website will be able to knock any of those competitors out of the top ten.
But, even more importantly, ‘health insurance’ isn’t the best phrase for you to target anyway. If you go for such a generic search phrase, it isn’t likely to convert to many sales.
So let’s look at some of the keywords that are more specific to what you are selling – keywords that your website is much more likely to rank for and generate traffic and sales right away.
Here are a few specific key phrases that relate to customers who are more focused on finding exactly what you are selling:
- California student health insurance
- health insurance agent San Diego
- California family health insurance quote
Of course, these are just a few examples. You can find long tail keywords specific to your market by using the free ‘Google Adwords keywords tool’, even if you don’t intend to pay for an advertising program (just google for this term and it should come up first in the search results).
To summarize, here is why you want to optimize your website for long tail keywords:
- Long tail keywords are much easier to rank for
- People who search for long tail keywords are much more likely to become buyers
To find more free tips about optimizing your website, visit http://www.websitesare.us, and scroll down to the free ‘Info, Tips And Resources’ section on the bottom of our website.
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