5 Reasons Why Computer Consultants Should Use Long Tail Keywords

Are you trying to rank for terms such as “computer consultant” or “IT consultant” for your computer consulting business? Keywords like these that are very general are highly competitive – and more importantly, you won’t be able to rank on them. The more specific you can be with your keywords, the better. This is where long tail keywords come into play.

Long tail keywords are becoming more popular today in part thanks to people “talking” to their smart phones. When someone asks a question such as, “How do I find a computer consultant in San Diego who can help me with Exchange Server?” that person essentially searched for a long tail keyword.

With long tail keywords, search engine rankings can be much easier to obtain because of the low competition. Think about searching for “computer consultant” versus “computer consultant in Boca Raton”. The second search will return fewer results, but those results will be more specific to the searcher’s needs. And fewer results equals less competition for rankings.

My guess is you probably don’t want to spend a fortune on PPC advertising, correct? We recently talked to a prospective client looking at our Inbound marketing services who was spending more than $30 per click on Google AdWords. Long tail keywords are typically much less expensive if you’re running PPC (pay-per-click) ads due to the lower competition. Think about using long tail keywords in your blog content and on your landing pages.

Here are five reasons why computer consultants should be using long tail keywords today:

1. Long tail keywords can help you rank for difficult terms. Popular terms can be very tough to rank for, especially if you have a newer website. It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to waltz in and take that top spot, especially if that top spot is held by a large corporation that’s been around for years, has a huge marketing team, and thousands of relevant authoritative inbound links. Long tail keywords, on the other hand, that include this popular term can help you gain some traction.
2. Long tail keyword search is the most popular type of search. As people become more confident in how Google is able to return results, they feel free to ask for more and more specific searches. So rather than a phrase like “computer support” which will return about 1.2 billion results, looking for “computer support in Chicago for my HP Officejet Pro 8100 printer” will return 47K results. And while this is still a large number of results, it’s been narrowed down to a much more specific and helpful list of results for the searcher.
3. Long tail keywords will bring you better quality traffic and higher conversion rates. The person looking for a long tail keyword is looking for something very specific. If they land on your webpage due to this phrase, they are a much more qualified searcher than someone who’s looking for something much more general. Just make sure your content on the page that brought them in reflects your long tail keyword – relevancy is key!
4. Long tail keywords give you the ability to stay agile and respond faster to changes. We all know the web changes every day. When marketing your computer consulting business, it’s important to stay on top of changes and move quickly. If you’re ranking high for a one- or two-word keyword (also known as a head term), it can be an incredible blow to your business if you slip. By having hundreds of pages optimized on different long tail keywords, you can easily diversify. If one slips in rankings, it won’t affect you as much as if it were a head term. And you can continue to add new long tail keyword optimized pages every week to further diversify your website.
5. Long tail keywords are much less competitive. The longer and more specific your keywords are, the less common they will be. You’ll have a much better chance of becoming number one for that keyword phrase and gaining the majority of clicks. Most computer consultants won’t rank on a head term like “computer consultant”, as there’s simply too much competition – and that competition spans worldwide. Now if your prospect was searching for “computer consultant in Minneapolis that knows Salesforce”, wow, is that going to narrow down the playing field.

You should not expect any one long tail keyword phrase to dominate your website and bring in the majority of your leads. The key here is to have hundreds of pages optimized for different long tail keyword phrases. Over time, these add up and help you gain traction in search engine rankings.

Please note that while Inbound marketing strongly favors building content that drives organic search traffic, long tail keywords are also very powerful for PPC advertising for similar reasons.

Are you using long tail keywords on your website and in your blog posts? Please share your opinion in the Comments box below.

And if you are serious about growing your business using long tail keywords to attract more qualified leads, be sure to download your free copy of the IT Channel Inbound Marketing Planning Guide.