4 Long-Tail Keyword Tools You Need to Know About

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QuestionYou’ve heard it before: the Internet is the best way to reach the largest audience possible. When you’re a new or relatively new HR tech company, ranking higher in Google search results feels impossible because you’re competing against companies that have been online for ages.

In June 2013, Chitika found that the No. 1 search result in Google’s search rankings earned 33 percent of search traffic, while the search result that ranked tenth earned less than 3 percent.

One way you can improve your Google rank is by focusing on long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are niche search phrases, usually three or more words long, that offer low competition, low search volume, and high searcher intent. According to Moz, 70 percent of searches use long-tail keywords.

Here are four tools that can help you hone in on top-performing long-tail keywords for all aspects of your business, ranging from product pages to job descriptions:

1.Google Keyword Planner 

Google Keyword Planner gives you a better understanding of how your keywords are performing in Google’s search results. A Google AdWords account is required; however, you do not need to be advertising to use this tool.

When creating your AdWords account, you are asked to provide your website and where you would like your content to target. You can choose to focus on local towns, entire states, or multiple countries.

Next, you are asked to enter the product or service you are looking to provide. For instance, if you provide “employee engagement software,” that would be your initial keyword. Google then provides a list of additional keywords that are similar to yours to help you target people looking for your software under a different name.

Additionally, you are asked to create an advertisement and state how much you’re willing to spend on your ad. However, you do not actually need to proceed with placing an ad on Google; this just allows you to use the Keyword Planner.

After you’ve entered in your information, you’re able to view a variety of keywords and determine how competitive each word is.

The more specific you make your keywords, the easier it will be to rank higher in Google. Google’s Keyword Planner is an easy, free way to understand if your keywords are too competitive when you’re starting out.

2.Wordtracker 

Wordtracker allows you to enter your keyword and then provides data on how well that word is doing and what other keywords are out-performing your original word. It can help marketers who are struggling to understand how their target market is using the Internet before making a purchase.

When you enter employee engagement software into Wordtracker, 10 keywords are displayed, along with the amount of traffic associated with each one. “Employee engagement software” gets 709 visits, while “the benefits of employee engagement software” gets 119 visits.

While the traffic number went down significantly, it helps provide a specific long-tail keyword that you can use to create content that pushes you toward the top of Google’s search results.

3.Google’s Autocomplete Capability 

The best way to find effective long-tail keywords is to act like you’re a consumer looking for your product. Searches tend to start with vague phrasing, which results in an overwhelming list of results. To help narrow down your search results, you type in more specific search requirements.

Being the helpful search engine that it is, whenever someone types something into the search bar, Google tries to autocomplete what it believes the searcher is looking for. You can therefore use Google’s autocomplete capability to understand what your customers are searching for.

When you type “employee engagement software” into Google’s search bar, the list of autocomplete suggestions includes: “employee engagement best practices,” “employee engagement software benefits,” “employee engagement surveys,” and “employee engagement activities,” to name a few.

Using whichever one of these long-tail keywords that relates most closely with your employee engagement software is an ideal way to target your specific audience, instead of being vague.

4.Ubersuggest 

Ubersuggest is a useful tool that allows you to enter a keyword and find additional long-tail keyword phrases. After entering “employee engagement software” into Ubersuggest, you can find a plethora of additional suggestions that go beyond what Google’s autocomplete tool provides you.

Ubbersuggest first lists what the keyword is, along with typical long-tail phrases. It then lists additional long-tail phrases for each letter of the alphabet. From there, you can click on each suggested keyword to find even more long-tail phrases. It’s essentially the long-tail finder that never stops thinking.

If you’re just starting out, effectively ranking in Google search results can only happen if you focus on long-tail keywords.

What are some tools that you’ve used to find long-tail keywords?

By Heather Huhman