Is it worth ranking for single-term keywords?
February 6, 2008
In examining the sites in my three way links network, I've noticed quite a few folks targeting single keyword search terms (i.e. "puppies" or "networking" or "apparels"). It's a small minority of all keywords, to be sure, but still enough that I felt the need to write about whether or not it makes sense to target single terms.
To get right to the point, most of the time it does not make sense to target single keyword search terms. There are exceptions, of course, which I'll discuss in a minute, but first let's go over the 3 reasons why it usually does not make sense:
1. Untargeted Traffic
In most cases, it's impossible to know precisely what a searcher is after when they put in a single search term. For example, somebody searching for "puppies" might be looking to buy a puppy, or perhaps they're wanting to find information about how to care for puppies, or maybe they just want to see pictures of cute and cuddly puppies. There's no way to know for sure based on a single keyword.
2. Low Conversion Rates
Because the traffic is so untargeted, and it's very difficult to know what a searcher is after, your conversion rate from a single keyword search term is inevitably going to be very low. In keeping with our previous example, if somebody is searching for "yorkshire terrier puppies for sale" you know exactly what to have on the page that you rank for those keywords. You know what the searcher wants, and can hone in on that desire and fulfill the need.
If you rely on AdSense or another pay-per-click program for income, the low "conversion rate" means a low click-through rate. AdSense, as good as it is about targeting ads to a page, will have a difficult time knowing what ads to show on a page that is very generic in nature. But for a page like "yorkshire terrier puppies for sale", AdSense will usually be spot-on.
With a single keyword search term you can only hope that what you have on the page appeals to some of the visitors who find your page. You can, of course, provide a variety of choices on the page (puppies for sale, puppy pictures, puppy care, etc.) but keep in mind that too many choices is not a good thing for improving conversion rates. Too many choices on a page leads to a visitor being overwhelmed and less inclined to act in the manner which you would like them to.
Keep in mind, too, that somebody searching for a single keyword is less likely to know what they want to begin with. If somebody is unsure of what they're looking for, they'll be equally unsure about buying from you. Again, this leads to lower conversion rates.
3. Too Much Work For Too Little Return
Despite the lower conversion rates for single keyword terms, they are notoriously difficult to rank for in most situations. That's because many deep-pocketed companies still see the volume of traffic they receive as being at least as important as the return on their investment to get that traffic. "Long tail" keywords (keywords with 3+ search terms) are generally much easier to rank for because the competition is a lot less fierce.
Very large companies are looking to brand themselves as much as they are looking to actually sell something from the potential customer's first visit to their web site. They want to get their name out in front of as many people as possible, with the understanding that if they consistently do this, when the time comes for the individual to actually need what they provide, their name will pop into the customer's head. It's basic psychology, and it works very well.
But smaller businesses can't afford to wait years before they see a return on their investment. They need to have a solid conversion rate from the get-go to warrant the constant effort and expense it takes to maintain their search engine rankings. If you're in that crowd, then ranking for single-term keywords probably isn't the right goal for you.
Exceptions to Every Rule
There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. Some single-term keywords are much more narrow in definition, and therefore more likely to be worth ranking for.
For example, anyone searching for the acronym "SEO" is quite likely looking to increase their search engine ranking, so it's not hard to design a page around that need if you rank for that term. There are many terms which are also narrowly defined enough to be quite targeted, though they are, of course, in the strict minority.
Also, if your site relies on a CPM advertising model (where you're paid by the number of ad impressions, rather than the number of ad clicks), ranking for a single term keyword can be quite lucrative. Because those same companies that want to build brand awareness are also happy to pour money into advertising for that same purpose. It's not the number of clicks they care about so much as the number of eyeballs that get the company's logo burned into their brains that matters.
From My Own Experience
I realized the truth about single keyword rankings a couple of years ago when I got a site ranked in the top 10 for the term "veterinarian". I was sure that with all the traffic I would receive that my site would be a big earner — but it wasn't. The traffic was there, but the term just wasn't targeted enough to get a high click-through rate from AdSense or to be able to convert into any kind of real sales. I finally stopped working to maintain the ranking since it was not giving me nearly the return I had expected.
So when you're sitting down to determine what keywords you want to rank for, keep in mind that, unless you're looking to brand your site or to earn from a CPM model, single keyword terms are usually not worth the effort.
Please leave your thoughts in a comment below.
Comments
117 Responses to “Is it worth ranking for single-term keywords?”
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Jonathan Leger has been earning his living online full-time since the fall of 2004. He regularly posts advice about search engine optimization (his current passion), AdSense and Internet Marketing. He is the creator of a suite of popular software tools, including: Jonathan L Leger 
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I couldn't agree more. We get almost 100K visitors per month from Google and no one search term gives us more than 5K hits. Instead, we get traffic from 10's of thousands of highly targeted keyword phrases.
All that was required from us is to put out consistent, high quality, content that's targeted to our niche.
Sure, we try to pick a keyword phrase to focus on for each article, but that all we do… No tricks.
Great post! I prefer the long tailwords of 3 to 5 words.
I got some unusual traffic for articles I wrote that rank me #1.
I agree about targeting a single keyword. My main mortgage site gets around 500 uniques per day from google and very few of them are for the keywords i target on the main page. Most hits are from long tail searches that wind up viewing one of my content pages as opposed to the home page even though i have many top 10 rankings for the terms i target even a few #1's.
As always Jonathan, right on the money. The long tail rules!
Thank you for your insight. You have just saved me time and money. I look forward to your next post. thanks jim
I agree and I am one of those that has definitely learned from those lessons. Great Posts Jon.
Buddy
Hi Jonathan,
Again, quality content for your readership! I click the link to your posts now without fail because I KNOW you're providing valuable, thoughtful, and quantified content. We don't just get vague suppositions from you, we get facts, real life examples, and solid statistics that you've taken the time to compile.
Thank you!
MistrTim
Jon,
Completely agree with you… one word keyword search are highly untargetted.
I dont remember when i last did a one word search.
Good report once again.
Looking forward to more such report.
Pankaj
Right you are Jon!
Wasn't / isn't long tail the foundation for directory sites..?
Loads of long-tail KW.
You do a deep KW research, analyze number of sites, ads, queries for each KW. Choose best ones, maybe discover a hidden gem and new niche as well…
You're right as always Jonathan, but the position with 3 Way Links, which is where you started, is that only prime URL roots can be nominated and there are three shots available for choosing a keyword phrase to list for that root. That in itself is good, but also limiting when the site concerned may have a broad range of sub sections on a single subject. Three long tail keyword phrases might represent a fraction of the possible quality traffic available for the site, hence probably why so many members go for the shorter phrases.
I'm not saying that's a sensible or rational use of the facility, just the probable reason why it happens.
I always find I do way better when targeting long tail keywords. I do a lot of article marketing and when I came across using how to find long tail keywords, I got much better results.
Very good article John. As always, informative and something all of us Internet marketings can put to practical use.
I guess it really depends on the site!
I have many sites and some need to be high for their one main keyword to earn the respect it needs to stand up in it's market. I have also found that by concentrating on the main keyword but also covering keyword phrases with that keyword it all works hand in hand.
However I think you should start off small and only do short but consistent bursts of promotion on your main keyword so that, over time, it builds naturally.
If you concentrate only on your keyword you've lost the plot but if you spend no time at all promoting that keyword you could be missing out - big time!
I agree. What happens is that over time, you'll win for the high competition single word phrases simply by targeting the 2 - 4 worders. For example, it has taken three and a half years, but my site is now being found for the word "cat." That's extremely broad, and can have many meanings, but it's significant that I'm getting traffic for it. I do not optimize for that word.
Also, I think the opposite is true. I see lots of people optimizing for really long tail stuff. That's not usually necessary, unless you have a specific objective in mind. If you hit the 2 - 4 worders, and the occasional 5 worder, you'll get all the long tail stuff along with it.
So, hit the middle, and you'll get both ends.
-Kurt
Great post Jon, I certainly agree with you. the more the merry
Yes, I agree with you. Long tail keywords is the way to go because:
1. It's more targeted - you know what the searcher is looking for so you can design your site to what he wants exactly.
2. It's much more easier to rank for these keywords.
Well put Jon
I agree with you Jonathan. Despite ranking very well for very short keyphrases, we do much better in terms of conversion with the "longtail" keyphrases. It's not too hard to rank for those longer keyphrases either, that's why regular blogging is so important.
Wickerman:
Yeah, that's my point. In your case, it's not the need for conversions so much as the need for your "image" that matters — and so you must rank for a single term. That makes perfect sense, and is certainly a worthwhile reason to rank for a single term. That's another valid exception to the "rule".
Hi Jonathan, I do look towards your valuable tip's as a newbie as there are very few people that share their knowledge openly as you do. With Keyword research I have been guilty of using the one phrase in order to understand the complexities involved in ascertaining the correct method. I have stretched my search to multiple variables but I need to focus on the main keyword which I'm pursuing within my search. Some of the tools that I now have allow me to do several things but as a newcomer, I find great difficulty in understanding the structure of the Internet spectrum. Perhaps the long Tail would have more providence over the short. Thank Jon
I also shoot for the long tail on all of my niche blogs.
Another trick to use is to reinforce your long tail by creating a double entry in SERPs by creating two posts on the subject and linking them internally. As long as your site is getting indexed well this can be a big boost.
I agree with you Jon, but it's just so tough ignoring your main single word Keywords. For example the KW diet has a KEI of 3477 compared to a much lower KEI for most long-tail KWs. How can I ignore such a juicy morcel?
I know you're right and I'll adapt my thinking, but it's tough. I'm working on a list of 3 KW right now for some out-sourced work, and I'll modify my list to suit your recommendations.
Excellent point! You didn't cover the converse situation. It's as much as 1000 times easier to rank for long key phrases and build multiple sites that convert very well.
What's up Jon!
Generic keywords as you mention are usually not worth the effort unless your primary monetization strategy revolves around selling ad space on a CPM basis.
I had a client that I was able to get ranked #2 for the word "tattoos". He got tons of traffic from that word but it didn't drive a lot of sales directly. He was happy about that exposure nonetheless and his direct type in traffic began to increase afterward. Unfortunately we didn't have a system to determine if and when that direct traffic found him on previous keyword searches but there was a close correlation.
Great post Jonathan !
What is the best way to select long tail key phrases,
besides using word tracker + Overture ?
Do you have 2 guess some ?
Or do you only suggest Keyword tools ?
I agree with Mr. Cat Health Problem's up there. Aim for the "shorter" longtail keywords. Usually 2-4 words is the best way to go for my niche sites.
Paul:
I use the AdWords Keyword Tool almost exclusively. Be sure to show the results for EXACT matches (not broad or phrase) so you can get a good idea about search volume for the keywords you're looking at. Anything with "Average" volume is really great, but don't ignore the "Low" search volume keywords that are close to the "average" side on the green bar.
The AdWords tool also gives you great ideas about other related keywords you can target.
To be honest Jon, even in your example where single keywords are used, your still susceptible to prefix words like free or cheap etc. So even if the keywords are technically targeted, you cut down your chances that they will be profitable.
Build A Niche:
I mostly target 2-4 keyword phrases myself as well. Don't ignore longer tail keywords, though, as they are quite profitable (as can be seen from many of the other comments to this post).
Jon,
Excellent point, vague terms get untargeted traffic, better to look for specific keyword phrases, far easier to rank.
George
Hi Jonathan,
Thanks again for valuable insight. There is more than enough to do as an internet marketer, so we do not need to waste our time and efforts on non productive tasks, Thanks for saving a lot of people a lot of unnecessary effort. Most of us need the conversions.
Ted
It always amazes me how I can learn more from a single blog posting by you than I have from all the books I have read on the subject.
Your gift is your ability to put everything into plain language.
This one was spot-on as usual.
Keep up the good work and Thank You.
Wow, some good info here. Thanks Jonathan!
As in any business, webmasters always like laser targeted traffic, and the best way to do it is to optimize your site for long tail terms as Google better understands them, and also they are very specific. Like your thoughts.
Cheers
I totally agree that ranking for the more "exact" long tail keywords are going to bring in more conversions period.
Broader kw are more for brand awareness, authority and traffic…..if your an seo it's more for building clients…because single keywords are typically harder to rank for…..
I have many sites that rank for single keywords and they get tons of traffic and the conversions are typical….it just depends on what market your in…
But for making money and converting I would typically want the long tail….depending on the niche..
But really I'd say target them all if you can…but start off with long tail that way you are making money and slowly work on your single keyword phrases….
James:
I agree. Make a site profitable first through longer-tail keywords, and then once it's seeing a good return reinvest some of that return into ranking the site for more and more broad keywords. Once you reach the point where the return is not worth the investment, then you know where to stop.
Jonathan
I thought I would reply to this post as today I did sign up for your 3way network service.
My initial observation is that your post, in some way, contradicts the limits bond in your service. In your service the user is limited to just 3 keyword phrases per site. Where as your post quite rightly demonstrates that there are hundreds of keywords. This is re-enforced when applying the keyword “buying cycle”.
I know I am a new user of your service and should wait a while before making observations. However, my initial observation is that I would prefer to have many more keyword phases options ( should be limited to 250 per site), plus the option to set the link percentage rate for each keyword phrase , and finally, the ability to set the link to a page within the site.
This would allow long tail keyword phrases to link on specific pages, as I optimize each page for a key phrase not the site.
Just an observation
Nicholas
Hi Jon
I agree with you totally, online marketing for me is all about relevancy and highly targeted traffic. It’s simple really the more targeted your phrases / pages are the better they convert and it’s what Google likes, relevancy, not to mention the fact that its easier to rank for more specific long tail phrases. Of course your content and product still have to be good quality and value for the conversions as well. So yep I agree with you Jon, you are on the money again.
Totally agree Jon. I have clients that ask me to help them do seo around single term keywords. A lot of times it's purely for ego and not a real business objective. This way they can say to upper management they're beating their competitors for x keyword.
But I pretty much set them straight with the arguments you listed.
Well put!
Eddy
Hello Jonathan,
I own a "well-trafficed" article directory that gets a lot of traffic to it's articles. I have been studying the web statistics very heavily over the last few months and I've discovered that the articles found (through search engine searches) by long-tail keywords have a MUCH higher percentage of getting click-throughs to the links in their resource information. I'm talking a humongous difference here.
Those found with one or even two word keyword searches are mostly only looked at for a couple of seconds and then the user either clicks the BACK button or browses to another area of the website.
Just thought I'd throw in some more "real-world" and up-to-the-second information on this topic. Love the blog!
Allen Graves
I agree, but sometimes you will find that "according to adwords keyword tool" you won't get searches for some apparent common sense keyword phrases, and makes it very difficult to decide on which one to use…
You should do a report on which search volume is good or something to help out begineers like I!
cheers anyway, loved the post as the rest of them.
I disagree.
There is a good reason people pay big bucks to get the root term.
Once you get the single term you'll get the long tail of those terms usually AUTOMATICALLY as a bonus for your hard work.
So one root term can also grab you top spots for many many other long tail keywords without any additional effort.
The sheer volume in traffic usually makes up for the poor conversion rates.
I still love you John, but I just see things differently on this.
Yeh Jon I was checking out niche inspector to help me pick up some great niches to target with affiliates and adsense and I'm telling you their are some really great ones that nobody would even think of…and you can get the exact match domains and almost instantly rank in msn for the keyword…plus their is no competition…..I say target long tail then go for the majors…
I recently sold a site that was in the top ten for wedding favors….sure wedding favors is sorda broad….It brought great traffic but poor conversions but keywords like "beach glass gel candle favor" or "heart shaped wine bottle stopper wedding favors" always convert more because the customer knows what they are looking for and if you put that product or service in front of them it will convert higher period….yeh them long tail don't get much traffic but if you target thousands of them they'll be very profitable….
i agree with you that single keyword need more effort for big return. long tail keywords is the best solution. i only using google keyword suggestion for my site.
Samuel:
Can you provide some examples of sites that are targeting the single-keyword only and yet still rank for the long-tail keywords without a problem? I've not known this to be the case — certainly not with Google anyway.
yes i agree too…
1- long tail, easier to rank 4
2- more goaloriented/buying peoples searching
3- less competition!
get easier traffic first, build your list and then upsell for broader keywords perhaps
As usual, you have offered me real value!
Thanks for posting this!
Samuel,
While this is true in some niches, it is not always true. For instance, I have a website that ranks between #1 and #3 in Google, Yahoo and MSN for "Miniature Schnauzers". While I do have a #1 listing for "Miniature Schnauzers for Sale" which is what I am marketing for, I have very few other long-tailers that include "Minaiture Schnauzers" that rank anywhere on the front pages.
I don't know if this is because I have mainly done SEO for "Miniature Schnauzers" and the one long-tail (above) or because of the particular niche.
On the contrary, I have other website that rank high for the main 1 or 2 word keywords that have hundreds of long-tail front page results. For the life of me, I cannot figure out the difference between these two examples. I guess it's buried somewhere in the SE algorythms.
Allen Graves
Great post!! It has good info.
Thanks Jonathan!
Rafael
Another great post thats given me some food for thought on the keywords I've been chasing after.
Thanks.
I wasted months before it dawned on me so perhaps you will save some other marketer a lot of time and money.
Keep it coming.
Peter
Hey Jon,
A good post that will stop a lot of people wasting their time trying to rank for single, mostly unatainable keywords.
I am having a lot of success with 3 word keywords that have decent search volume.
~ Peter Tremayne
Definitely it is not worth to rank for broad keywords. One of my site ranks top 10 for a very competitive kwd but the phrase it's too generic and, even if many webmasters talk about this phrase and wish they could have my rankings, i found out that it brings poor conversions.
Hi Jonathan, As you know I have subsribed to your 3 way link program.
The abovementioned site was nowhere 60 days ago. I have used your methods and I am now starting to see results.
Google {snip: it is a violation of the 3WL terms to post your 3WL keywords publicly} and notice that although the listing pages have a lower volume of sites listed, my site is very often near the top.
Thanks to you for your program. I think that I have stumbled on something else that can dramatically effect the page ranking.
As it is too soon to say for sure, I will continue to test my method to see if it really does work.
Success be with you,
Bruce
Ditto, you saved me time and money as well. I have been investigating longtails ever since I came across long tail traffic secrets. As one gentlemen said there really is no trick to it, just target the phrases no one else is. Its difficult for people to believe it is worth it and those high volume search terms are so tempting to target. You're absolutely right though, companies with deep pockets have the advantage there. Thanks for a great write up.
Yes. i'm also totally agree with you.
But how if we use adwords for specific niche target ?
Is it will make us more spend the money?
info:
Niche keywords in AdWords tend to be more expensive, not less, because the conversion rates have proven themselves to be superior. If you get really long-tail, they can be cheaper, but you'll only get a trickle of traffic.
i read your article about beating the spam filters..one suggestion ..i think if emails were sent to an internet provider's email , you know the one your internet provider usually gives you, would probably give better results, since in my opinion they are a little less strict. Never had any problem getting emails from internet marketers yet with mine.I might be wrong cause i still have to set up my own site and give myself a good kick in the butt to get things rolling
Ive been a subscriber to your email newsletters for a little while now and Ive found opinion to be more or less on the money all the time. Thanx for the newsletters and keep up the good work.
A phenomenom in itself and worthy of its own ebook.
Sometimes we cannot anticpate what traffic is created by long tailed keywords.
Excellent article. Thanks
Phil
Spain
Great article! I have a website that ranks first page for 'saxophones', and that store doesn't do any better converting than any other of my niche sites, even though it gets double the traffic or more. Medium to long tail keywords are what drive our software, and what enables our customers to do well building niche websites. It really doesn't matter if you have a low amount of traffic if your conversions are high. Obviously having both is what everyone dreams of, but I'll settle for more conversions over more traffic any day.
Success to you all!
Will
Jon,
Once again you've hit the nail on the head.
I remember that long tail keywords were one of my first expensive lessons to learn-not using them, that is.
Thanks for your quality content always.
Jeff
I tend to go with the two-four word keywords. As has been mentioned above in a few posts, once you have two or three such keywords you tend to get literally hundreds of different keyword phrases show up in your analytics!
Great post. It is rare that a single key word can sum up your business, unless your business, brand etc. is "Google" or "Cher". So for higher conversions, I have found that the long tailed key phrases rule.
Cheers
Maria
I have found a lot of that to be true. Most of my visitors come from long tail words, rather than the main keyword for a particular page.
That being said, it seems that t would be very advantageous to know how to rank for more of those long tail words. Can you imagine how many there must be for one main keyword?
The only thing I can think of is writing a great amount of detailed content on a page, the more the better, covering a larger area of words.
But then again, as you mentioned, you don't want to get too broad either so that your page becomes less focused.
Now there is a project/subject/business…how to rank for more keywords. Oh well, it is probably out there somewhere.
Thank you for your information. I've been trying to rank in Google for a while now. Maybe I'll rethink and try for a longer tail keyword.
A well thought out critique and I must admit to agree with you,
When analyzing the validity of your statement one only has to examine their own search habits. If you have a very broad idea of what you are looking for and search on a single keyword what do you do with the results.
If you are looking for brakes for your Infinity and just search on "brakes" you get sites like Midas and Wikipedia. If you are really looking to buy brake shoes so you can repair your brakes yourself you will have to refine your keywords to something like "buy brake shoes" or "buy brake shoes for a 2002 Infinity".
You are right on in your analysis.
I've many times ranked for 3-word phrases! That really works.
Thanks for the post.
Marian
I dont think most people actually take the time to define their target market. This is a HUGE mistake, as you have alluded to in this article. I think people use 1 word keywords because they really don't know who they are selling too. Whenever I analyze a business idea (as I often do), I ALWAYS look at who would be my target market. Target Market, Strategy, and Marketing message are linked together so closely and can mean big success if implemented properly.
Jonathan, another outstanding post. I've written about the importance of selecting proper keywords on my blog in January 2006 (that's where the link from here leads) and it still holds very true (if not even more so!).
(Un)fortunately people still don't get that focusing on ranking high for a single-word or a very general few-word keyword will be an extremely hard and ongoing task. Especially if it's a profitable market. There are always people trying to do the same and some of them have a lot more money and time to do it.
And the trick is that those keywords aren't usually the ones that bring the best traffic! (Just like you pointed out in your article).
Ha!
Some people I told this "secret" to and that have listened to me are now "out trafficking" many competitor's sites and I know this for a fact because one of my students begun to out traffic AND out-convert ME in one of my niches where I was very happily situated high for a quite a popular (two keyword) term. And the speed and ease he did it with were astounding and admittedly made me jealous because I was the one that did the keyword research for him.
That was the last time I didn't do what I preached
When I asked him what exactly he did, he said: "Just like you told me… I took several long tail and low competition keywords and wrote a few articles, each focusing on three of those keywords. I made sure they were very similar in each article. When I was finished, I went to Ezinearticles and wrote some more short articles, one or two for each keyword and made the text links point to my articles."
It did take him some work initially, but at the end he was the one to laugh. He continues to do so as we speak.
It's a pretty simple and basic model but it works!
Have a wonderful day!
Blaz
Completely agree with the useful focus on long tailed keywords (keyphrases).
I have for years been among the top 7 for the keyword 'fotos' among +400.000.000 webpages in Google with very little conversion (now I am fallen out).
In these first 5-6 days of Febrary my stock photo site has been found through 3117 different keyphrases through Google etc..
Just for your info.
Soren
Denmark
Great article and good points. One of the most critical factors of Seo is finding targeted traffic using the proper keyword combinations.
Great content as usual Jonathan!
A couple of months ago, my website was number 5 on yahoo.com out of 389 million pages for the word "drug". It was number 1 on yahoo.uk in front of 24 million other sites.
Did it bring in traffic? A little, did it convert? Not really.
Since then, I have dropped off yahoo.com, for the word drug, but I am still showing at number 15 on uk.yahoo.com and numbers 7, 10 and 14 on the UK only search.
Certainly it is nice to look at - number 1 for a single word gives you a feeling of accomplishment, but that is all. I didn't even target the word on its own, so showing up for it was a bonus.
Hi Jon,
I'm very new to your newsletter so only just catching up with some excellent posts. You mentioned in one of your replies that you only do keyword research in adwords.
Is that only because you use adwords or is it because in your opinion it is the best?
Regards,
Ed Bellamy.
Plus… it's easier to rank on multiple keywords… once you understand the system of how search engines work!
Ed:
If you want to know what kind of traffic to expect from Google, then Google is the tool you want to query. Since AdWords shows you the relative level of traffic Google will provide for a given set of keywords, its the way to go.
Than you Jonathan. Right on the money again!
I had been coming to this conclusion from my own testing and the "buzz" coming from other marketers. Your research locks it in.
I can think of another way to explain it. Let's say a person wants to buy a yorkshire terrier puppy. That person might type "puppy" as a search term out of lazyness, hoping to be lucky and find what he's looking for. After looking at a few wesites from the results pages, he can't find what he's looking for. He then types "yorshire terrier puupy" as a search term. The results he gets are mainly general info about yorkshire terrier puppies. The person then types "yorkshire terrier pupppy for sale" and voilà, he finds what heès looking for. The long tail keyword will definitly be more targeted and bring higher conversions.
Luc
Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for the new information regarding single-term keywords!
I am new to blogging and also does not understand the whole picture how this works.How Googles search engine is able to crawl and reflect your site content on their search engine list?
Some simple or picture demonstration will be much apprecitaed.
Rgds,
Phua
Hi Jon,
Let's say in our websites we have a lot of articles and we post articles after getting submissions from readers + experts.
If we are talking on a service to analyze the long tail keyword in our own site, then I am using HitTail.
But, I have no idea where to find long tail keyword other people is searching. I think WordTracker also did not return so much of such results, maybe due to low volume of search.
Any thoughts on this ?
Regards,
David
Hi Jonathan,
Totally agree with you. I just built a site in a very high traffic niche. In that site I used long tail 4 or 5 word keywords phrases with low traffic rank.
I felt that average traffic would be too hard to rank for in this niche - car insurance. It has only been a little over 30 days since launch, so a little early to tell if my reasoning was right.
Terry
Just so everyone knows just because a keyword is out of 100 million pages or 200 thousand pages does not determine the level of competition….what determines the level of competition is how hard people are working in that niche……
Sure, Johnathan, and you are very right to stress that there are exceptions. I use one of them, and It is worth every minute and cent I spent on ranking for it
Regards, Misha
Misha:
True enough, but I see you've put a 3-word keyword in your comment link!
Jonathan!
An inspired article as always
Thanks for the great information. I am Jonathan Ledger follower.
Thanks
i'm totally agreed with you, we need to spcifies the keyword for easy customer search in search engine.
Well thanks for that additional knowledge, it will help a lot.
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You're right, single keyword is not effective.. Keywords should be related to your website. And you have to choose easy to remember keywords.
Surely agree with that, but still confiused, should I continue maintain the site just for adsense?
Looking at your experience said that big traffic does not guarantee targeted into adsense.
Arnold
Once again, everything you need to know in a single paragraph from somebody who always seems to talk the talk and walk the walk as well.
It's all there in the final paragraph - from his own experience.
Good post. Thanks
Hi Jonathan,
Your guide is, as usual, right on the money.
Ranking through keywords and trying to achieve the right keyword density is quite challenge and I'm constantly trying to fine-tune this.
Search phrases are almost impossible to determine unless one uses a keyword tool. This is time-consuming, particularly with poor broadband service and horrifying latency, but there's no way out, if the job is to be done properly.
Thanks for the advice. It helps avoid wasted effort.
Regards.
Agreed mainly, I get most sales from 3-4 word keyphrases BUT in some markets, single terms can also work if you bring visitors to a landing page which then offers a range of possible products, i.e break the visitors down into their sub-categories by leading them to more focussed pages.
Great article.
Just a thought, that if you are targeting long-tail keywords for Adsense purposes then although ctr may be higher, there are likely to be less advertisers for those keywords which means that your cpc will also be lower.
It just highlights the importance of keyword selection, I'm using the 3waylinks network, and quite quickly reached page one in google.co.uk yet its producing little traffic.
Time to rethink the key words I think
Hi Jonathan
Totally agree with you. I just built a site in a very high traffic niche. In that site I used long tail 4 or 5 word keywords phrases with low traffic rank.
I felt that average traffic would be too hard to rank for in this niche - car insurance. It has only been a little over 30 days since launch, so a little early to tell if my reasoning was right.
Thanks for the great information. I am Jonathan Ledger follower
Nice article buddy. its fact of search ingines theory.
keep updating new articles on search ingine,optimixasion,niche marketting
Ben:
It depends on the market. Some markets, though "niche", have a large volume of advertisers, so EPC remains pretty high even though you go long-tail.
On the other hand, if you're too broad, your EPC goes down because advertisers know they're getting less targeted visitors and so can't afford to spend as much per click.
The trick is to find the happy medium.
Great post Jon - as usual.
This explains so much that so many have been missing. It is true that there are situations where your comments are not 100% accurate, but this is only in an extremely small minority of cases. However, I will say that it is certainly not sensible to spend too much time concentrating on these terms only, when your time could be better spent on keywords that provide a better return.
Thanks again.
It is always amazing when I come to this blog…
I can see the point …
dogs
dog collars
dogs for sale
dogs having great traffic but not targeted
great stuff
Hi Jon,
Great post.
I agree that 3 to 5 words keyword phrase has a higher CTR and are easier to rank well.
I like the examples of some good 1 term keywords which could convert well. Spot on.
Cheers,
Keith.
Jonathan,
Your infomation knowledge is powerful & almost intoxicating.
Keep Up The Great Job!
Bill Payment Services
Yes, it´s truth that to rank in one word or untargeted search terms is more difficult and expensive but the reveneu and conversion rate is lower. It happen also in Pay per Click advertisement.
Great Info Jon …. Also don't forget Understanding the needs of the searching customers and the keywords terms of what customers prefer to search for, so feedback can be obtained from a wide variety of resources, including your customers,
Just a thought
Regards
Phillip Skinner
If your lucky to have good results for a singular keyword, then you must be doing something right, please let me know!
Mally
Great article - I also agree, hundreds and thousands of long tail terms deliver much better, targeted traffic. And in many cases can be easier to rank for. keep up the great articles!
Interesting how you have spelled "salavate" in your email (as in, "People brag about it, dream about it and salavate over it.")
– I just did a google single-word search on "salavate" and you're not ranking in that one yet, although hopefully if I mention salavate a few times in this post it will start ranking for you. I'll be monitoring it as a test
Anita
I saw some software called rasof that helps you ranks using on page factors. Do you think that helps much? Thanks!
I think a singular term is a great benefit if you have the domain name to match. Thanks
Its very good interesting one. But i think the domain name is like keyword which is useful to se singular term.
They say if you reach for the sky you will reach the ceiling, reach for the ceiling and you will hit go no where. But they also say to choose your competition wisely :).
Great post! You have offered me real value!
Thank You Jonathan,
Your products and Guidance on search engine optimization, AdSense, and internet marketing are great and helpful.
I am following your articles and reports in regular basis and I am sure that others are doing the same also.
Very nice info. Thx a lot man
Another exception I have seen is where the one word has commercial intent around Christmas. I used to work for a music retailer and the conversion rate for "guitar" around Christmas was through the roof.
Great blog, Jon
I'm prowling your archive tonight, just came from the first Squidoo post. Gonna have to mix n match between lenses and hubpages for traffic, links, and feeds.
My Url says most of it- do a search for west michigan seo and look very closely at #x of about y for…. west is the term with the most indexed pages, followed by michigan, followed by west michigan. SEO seems to be almost an afterthought to Google, lol.
To back that up, an inner page ranked just for having the term west michigan in it.
Even though it's old history in seo circles, this site has the title/url/search term on line 6 due to the css structure while its competitors are using tables.
Sometimes you do find a "general" keyword term for which you can rank well for. But sometimes you find you don't understand WHY people type in specific search queries in the search engines… take the word "contracts" for example… in South Africa this keyword generates 10x more traffic than any other "contracts-related" theme word. But there are many TYPES of contracts… cell phone contracts, building contracts, joint venture/partnership agreements… you name them.
But ranking well for a "MASTER" keyword, themed with long-tail phrases may just kick your opposition down the SE line… it shows google your MAIN theme, and SUB themes. Trying to rank for sub-themes only may tell google you're still the small fish in a large pond
Gerrit
Sorry, John..I have to disagree a bit here. While it is foolish for going after a term "puppies", there are still good number of niches where single keyword terms can lead to profits. They can or can not be easier to rank .
Secondly, if you are ranking on something like "acne", (something big, you have to be ) , you are going to make money. Also rankin on and primarily targeting single keyword phrase doesn't mean we are going to get traffic for that keyword only.We get long tail automatically.
Nancy Andrews of "Live BluePrints" also emphasizes on this part
Thirdly, I have seen somhow targeting "3 keyword phrases: sometimes doesn't make you money as you don't know accurately how many times it is actually searched. I went after a long tail which WT showed 200 searches per day but actually being searched only 6-7 times. I know that cuz of the traffic I receive form that and also by checking i with Hexatrack service..
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