If you think keyword research is easy, you probably have not achieved the optimum SEO for your website. Looking for the perfect keywords really involves a lot of research, multiple trial and error attempts, and a dash of luck.

One surefire way of ensuring that your website acquires high Google rankings is through the use of long tail keywords, which involve target-specific words that give your site a particular niche. Long tail keywords are not common terms that you see in the general word lists generated by search engine optimization companies.

To give you a clear distinction between common terms – also known as head terms – here are some examples:

  • For the head term “Halloween costumes”, its long tail keyword could be “Friday the 13th Halloween costumes”.
  • Instead of “bag sale”, you may use the long tail keyword “Prada handbag sale for PayPal users”.

Do you get the drift? Great if you do! Unfortunately, formulating long tail keywords could be stressful and troubling for some. Check out these search engine optimization tips that could help you create your tailor-fit long tail keywords:

1.  Start with Google search. I’m sure you have already used Google to look for particular things. You can also use the number one search engine to help you find long tail keywords! First, observe what Google does whenever you start typing on the search field: it attempts to continue your text entry. These Google Suggestions displayed below the field are actually long tail keywords already. Aside from that, these keywords are suggested by Google based on what people have been searching in the past. In other words using these keyword suggestions will assure you that some people will search them on Google.

If you also haven’t noticed, Google also puts suggestions at the bottom of the search results page. Like the search field suggestions, these related search terms are also great clues to what people usually search for.

2.  Google Analytics, anyone? Apart from monitoring how your website figures in terms of visitor count and clickability, Google’s own analytics tool also shows the most popular keywords that people use in search engines to lead to your pages. Browsing through the list of keywords displayed in Analytics not only gives you the opportunity to build up on your current pages, but also guides you to create pages for keywords that people search for. In other words, if online searchers are led to your site through a particular long tail keyword even if you haven’t create a page for it, now is the perfect time to write one.

3.  Keyword research tools are abound. Aside from Google, there are a lot of keyword research tools available online. In fact, I shared a few of these services a few weeks ago – Wordstream Keyword Tool, Google Keyword Planner, Soovle, and Long Tail Pro.

Looking for the right long tail keywords may be painstakingly hard, but it can also be fun and interesting. I hope you enjoy searching for your site keywords, and reap the benefits in terms of improved SEO.