Why Long Tail Keywords Help New Sites Gain Traction

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

Every once in a while I read Aaron Wall’s SEObook.com and see a post that he’s probably done hundreds of times before, namely, that new sites gain better search engine traction by targeting long tail keywords. He makes a convincing case.

Here’s the spoiler: At the end his little ditty he says …

This site does not rank well for SEO just because I decided to target that keyword, but because we helped create many paths into this site…which helped to build the authority of the site…which helps it rank better for the core keywords.

I think this is a very fine nuance. It isn’t a matter of long tail vs. core keywords. It’s really always both. But the long tail keywords are the moneymakers for new sites. The core keywords are simply competitive phrases for which you don’t have a snowball’s chance until you gain in several algorithmic channels like age domain, domain authority, et. al. While you are building your site’s authority it is prudent to focus on the keywords that will afford you the most opportunities to profit, and those keywords are most often going to be long tail keywords. The good news is you don’t have to target just the long tail and ignore the core within your keyword research and search engine optimization strategy. You can target both – just know where your beginning base is.