SEO for Small Business: The Secret of Long-Tail Keywords [Infographic]

You're a business. And you're pretty small. How can your SEO possibly compete with larger companies?

Don't worry, it's definitely possible. The same principles of boxing apply to marketing: what you lack in sheer power or size, you can make up for in technique. Long-tail SEO is one such technique that's often ignored by larger companies, since they have the ability to rank for highly competitive short-tail keywords. 

Since you're a lot smaller and don't have the "oomph" to play at that level, you take a different (but just as viable and profitable) route.

Related article: 3 Ways Small Business SEO Services Help You Compete with Giants

What are long-tail keywords?

In very simple terms, long-tail keywords are keyword phrases with more than three words. A short-tail keyword may be "insurance" or "insurance providers"; a long-tail keyword would be "affordable health insurance for students."

That's the simple version, but it's actually much more complicated when put into practice. When you or your SEO provider choose keywords, you qualify them based on a few different factors:

• Search volume
• Competition
• Relevance

A great long-tail keyword choice will have a moderately low search volume, low competition, and extremely high relevance to your website and services. (As the content expert and not the SEO expert, I've found that locating keywords that fit all of these criteria is one of the most frustrating things I've had to do in life.)

Targeting effective long-tail keywords means increased rankings, unique content, and high-quality traffic for your website.

Infographic courtesy of HitTail.

Want to start building your own long-tail SEO campaign? Get started with Google's Keyword Planner, learn more about small business SEO services, or contact us!