SEO: Why You Should Target Long-Tail Keywords First
By Anna Johnson on February 26th, 2009In a recent blog post, Aaron Wall suggests that when attempting to optimize a new website, you should begin by targeting ‘long-tail’ keywords.
Aaron points out when starting a new website in a competitive field you have a lot going against you. Your competitors have years of conversion data, older websites (inherently favored by the search engines), more content and lots of organic inbound links.
As such, trying to beat them using the highest value keywords is unlikely to work.
Instead, Aaron suggests going for long-tail keywords – those longer, less popular, but often more targeted – phrases.
By optimizing your site for these keywords you can at least start generating some traffic (instead of risking getting NO traffic by targeting the high-value keywords) and generate income to support, and reinvest into, your business.
Over time, as you make more money and get more exposure for your website, you’ll be in a better position to focus on the better keywords.
Source: Aaron Wall, “Why it Makes Sense to Target Longtail Keywords First,” SEO Book Blog, February 20, 2009
