It is funny how and why people use the search terms they do. This blog will attempt to shed some light on the topic and help you better understand ways to use keywords and long tail keyword phrases to attract more customers.
As a bonus, I will also discuss methods to use geo-modifiers to attract people to a particular location and if switching words around in your long tail keywords improve your results.
Look at the keyword phrase; Marketing Kansas City. Read literally, you would think the searcher was looking to find information on how to market the city better. Perhaps a search by a public official, chamber marketing committee member or marketing employee of the Convention and Visitors bureau?
In actuality, some searchers are but most likely, it is a business owner or company marketing employee looking for marketing help. They realized, after they typed in marketing they better add a geo-modifier, like, Kansas City to narrow down their search if they are going to find what they are looking for!
If you are curious how your keyword searches will be interpreted, “Google it”! Your answer will come up in the search listings. For instance, if you search for “dentist” and Google loads a page where the majority of sites are dental directories, dental wikis and dental insurance. To get a complete listing of dentist in your area, you should have entered overland park dentist or dentist Leawood.
A business owner with more online search savvy may use the geo-modifier first, such as in the term: Kansas City Marketing, to find help improving their traffic. The term can still be interpreted two different ways but will yield more listings specifically with getting marketing help from a specialist in Kansas City.
Using the right keywords will often get you to the listing you want in three words or less. For example, search for “red Swingline stapler” you will load a page full of places to buy the stapler, cost of the stapler, images of the stapler, even a picture of Milton, from the movie Office Space nervously eyeing his red beauty.
More and more searchers are using long tail keyword phrases to find information about specific things. For instance search for the phrase: best bbq in the world, Kansas City barbeque restaurants are organically listed in 6 out of the eleven entries on the front page! Not surprising, since Kansas City has over 120 independently owned and operated barbeque restaurants. The key is to use the term to bring in customers, especially if you are a barbeque restaurant in Kansas City. The phrase receives over a 1000 searches a year. As it stands now, the majority of first page listings are reviews.
In the first example above I use “Kansas City marketing” to geographically target Kansas City. Otherwise I am searching for help from all over the country even the world, which is fine if the work can be done virtually. But if the searcher is more comfortable meeting and working with someone face to face, they probably will search for someone locally. They also gain the added bonus of credibility, accountability and community support when they buy locally.
Does switching words around in your long tail keywords improve your results? Well let's look at the term Kansas City Marketing: Receives 110 monthly searches with a average difficulty to show up, Pay per click (ppc) cost is $17.21. Marketing Kansas City: Receives 140 monthly searches with average difficulty and with a ppc cost of $.98.
If you have keyword questions about your Kansas City marketing, please call 816-223-1400 or go to my website at redstarmarketing.com, I would be happy to answer them for you.
