What Are Long-Tail Keywords & How Do You Find Them?

In SEO we often talk about keywords, the words that hopefully drive potential customers to your site. But there is also something called “long tail keywords,” which unfortunately doesn’t have a great Swedish translation (long-tailed keywords?). Today we’d like to tell you a bit more about them and why you too should be using long tail keywords.

Common keywords are broad, long-tail keywords are specific

Normally, keywords tend to be fairly broad since many people search broadly. They search for “men’s pants” or “home cleaning,” and these are the kinds of keywords many optimize for. That’s perfectly fine. But these broad keywords also come with the most competition. It’s much harder to land top positions for large and popular keywords.

Long tail keywords are far more specific and usually consist of three or four words. Long tail keywords are therefore keyword phrases. They might be “red chinos size 42” or “eco-friendly home cleaning in Örnsköldsvik.” People searching with long tail keywords are looking for something very specific and are much more likely to be ready to buy. Long tail keywords often convert better because you’re answering a specific request. There’s also less competition since fewer sites provide answers to such detailed queries. This makes it both easier to convert and easier to rank for long tail keywords.

Why not only optimize for long tail keywords?

Sounds like a winning concept, right? So why not just optimize for long tail keywords and rake in piles of cash?

The keywords may convert better, but the search volume is lower. There aren’t 10,000 people per month searching for “red chinos size 42.” If your site only appears for long tail keywords, the revenue won’t flow in even if you’re actually selling. But by combining your regular keywords with long tail keywords, your site will rank for much more and has a chance to capture searchers who are ready to buy!

How do you find the right long tail keywords for you?

When you start optimizing for long tail keywords, you first need to find the words and phrases worth investing time and effort in. Skip keywords that nobody searches for. You can check search volumes with Google’s Keyword Planner or Keywordtool. But how do you choose the right keywords?

One of the simplest ways is to turn to Google’s autocomplete function. Try searching for one of your common keywords, the ones you’ve already optimized for, and see if any popular long tail keywords show up. For example, here’s what appears when we search for “make soup”:

You’ll see a variety of options. Some keywords fit perfectly for a recipe site, such as “make soup with marrow bones.” Others, like “make soup from a nail,” belong on folklore or maybe a savings site.

Let’s take another example. Suppose you sell trips to Costa Rica. Common keywords to optimize for might be:

• travel Costa Rica
• flight Costa Rica
• cheap travel Costa Rica
• hotel Costa Rica
• tourism Costa Rica

If we enter “travel Costa Rica” in Google, we get:

Some keyword phrases stand out as especially interesting:

• travel Costa Rica with kids
• travel Costa Rica Santa Teresa
• travel Costa Rica December/Christmas/February

The next step is to check the search volume for these. If they look good, do a bit of research. Why are people specifically searching for December, Christmas & February? Is it cheaper, warmer, or is something else happening in Costa Rica during that time? And what is Santa Teresa?

After that, you can create new landing pages optimized for these keywords. Write content about why it’s ideal to travel to Costa Rica during Christmas. Create another landing page about Santa Teresa targeting those interested in surfing. And finally, create one for families, highlighting kid-friendly activities and hotels in Costa Rica.

Using Ahrefs for more long tail keywords

If you have a large site or lack the time to do manual searches on Google, you can use Ahrefs and enter a broader keyword. Depending on the keyword, Ahrefs can generate thousands of alternatives for “Costa Rica,” “pants,” or “home cleaning.” It also shows search volumes, and you can filter for questions to find opportunities for long tail featured snippets!