Targeting long-tail and niche search phrases will help you increase quality traffic and improve your conversions.
Case in point: In the past year, the traffic to our members' online flyers increased 500% because we decided to focus on more targeted search phrases.
Try to think like a buyer. If a buyer is on the market for a 3 bedroom home, often times they will use this type of search in Google. Our website log files show all types of interesting searches that visitors land on flyers from. Some include zip codes in their searches or use various words such as affordable, cheap, ocean front, 3 bedrooms, etc. within their search.
The advice I provide here can be used in your blog posts, your website, classified ads and any other online resource you use to market your services or products.
Following is a short list of some long-tail search phrases that have brought in traffic to our member's real estate flyers.
manistee michigan land for sale = 256 unique views
las vegas nv property = 236 unique views
sherwood oregon real estate = 172 unique views
chula vista ca bank owned property = 159 unique views
affordable home in chesapeake va = 144 unique views
3 bedroom home in chesapeake virginia = 32 unique views (this one surprised me)
These visits were from people searching for something specific and these types of visitors are gold. It is so much easier to offer a visitor what they need if you know what they are looking for. If your page is geared correctly for that search phrase, then chances are greater that your visitors will find what they are looking for and you will capture that lead. Most long-tail search phrases are not hard to rank for and can be accomplished by creating a blog post on ActiveRain, a targeted page on your website or even a classified ad posting.
This is not always the case for more general, competitive search phrases such as "san francisco real estate". Someone searching for this can be looking for so many different things. Condos, land, single family, market reports, real estate trends, house values, etc. Unless your website can accommodate all those categories, then the visitors you are receiving may not convert.
Am I suggesting you forget about targeting more general, very competitive searches? Not at all, but you should understand that there is a lot of work and a lot of time involved in getting a top spot for a more general, competitive search. If you are going to spend the work, time and money for that top spot, I would suggest you make sure that your website can accommodate all the different things visitors may be looking for when using a more general search. Otherwise you may lose the lead to another top dog such as Trulia.
To sum it all up, it matters very little if you rank for a competitive search phrase if you cannot keep and capture the visitor. Focused, targeted, niche search phrases and landing pages will oftentimes generate more solid leads.
One other small tip: If you do create a blog post or classified ad, I highly suggest you add a link somewhere in the post or ad to a targeted page on your website. Backlinks to your website will help it rank better over time.
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Its hard at times for sellers and agents to do this, think like a buyer. The long-tail search phrases can be a challenge as well. So many different ways to word a search. Gone are the days of loading your page with every concievable search term in "hidden" text. Some engines will actually ding your search rank if you do that.
Good info, especially putting up landing pages to match the searches.
Thanks for your comment Mike. I would never suggest loading pages with hidden text or any text that is not relevant to the topic. That's a big "no-no". What I see a lot of Agents doing is creating landing pages on their blogs that target all types of long-tail phrases. If you create a blog post 3 times per week that covers a different search phrase, then in no time you will have covered many long-tail searches in your market area/
Most definitely, creating appropriate keywords and phrases are key to increasing conversion rates on your site. The key is to continue to experiment with different words and phrases (in conjunction with defined landing pages) to see what geberates the most desired results. There are some useful webtools out there that can assist in measuring the results generated from your keyword experimentation. Google AdWords is an example of an available webtool that can generate some interesting metrics.
Missy, great information and insight. I'll be even more specific now than I have been in the past. Thanks for sharing. ;-)
Hi Misty,
I agree wholeheartedly with you and that is not just writing for the search engines, but really it is a matter of writing for the consumer, and your post touches on that. Wow, satisfying the consumer and the search engine? Say it is so.
P.S. I use keyworddiscovery.com and really like it. Great tool for being smart with keywords.
Thanks Rebecca- I will check out keyworddiscovery.com. I have used others and haven't been completely satisfied but keyworddiscovery.com looks promising and I like that they offer an API.
Thank you Misty. I know I could do a better job of wording my posts to get better Google placement. Some of my posts do show up high in the list, but others do not. I'll have to think about how I can fix that but changing some wording here and there. I also like the idea of linking to back pages of my website.
That is all very interesting, I have not added zip codes into any of my tags on my activerain blogs. Maybe that is something I will start doing. We do go on google and see what the search engines pick up quickly and what blogs are working the best.
Misty,
Thanks for another great post. I have been pleasantly surprised with the number of buyers including the term "MLS" in their market search (San Luis Obispo MLS, etc). That is another good key phrase that has been producing traffic for me. Might be worth a look for others. KM
Great idea Keithabout using MLS in your search phrases. That is targeting a group of people who are most likely looking to buy.
Misty,
I have learned so much from you and classifiedflyerads.com and continue to learn each day!
thank you!
tina in virginia
Selecting the right keywords in the title is crucial. Also mixing them up when you are marketing in multiple sites is a good plan of attack:)
Hey Tina - thanks for stopping by. I have learned from you too :)
Hi Bill - I like what you said so much and agree 100% so I am going to quote it again "Selecting the right keywords in the title is crucial. Also mixing them up when you are marketing in multiple sites is a good plan of attack"
Misty - Very good information here. Thank you for your help! :)
I use Google Alerts and have for awhile now. I clicked on a link the other day to see where it would take me. It took me to a link that gave me a virus. I don't think I'll click on the links anymore.
Long tail searches make a lot of sense one you understand, but I think for many they're counterintuitive like niche marketing.
I like google alerts, too. I will definitely check out keyworddiscovery.com. Thanks for the very informative post:-)
I never really thought about getting really specific with keywords and back-linking them to relevant content. It makes perfect sense. Now...only the time to accomplish all of these great ideas! :-)
I like your idea of linking to landing pages from a flyer instead of just the main web page.
Great info. I am still learning so much.
Thanks,
Cindy
Thanks for sharing, teaching and continue to post... I love your information.