Let me explain. Long tail keywords are basically the neglected phrases that people are searching, just not yet as frequently as the top 10 or 20 highly ranked keywords. Most agencies and SEO specialists tend to focus on the thousands of visitors that come to a website for the most popular terms, but neglect the important impact long tail keywords can have. Long tail keywords are basically multi-phrase search queries that web searchers plug in on search engines. Long tail keywords are much more targeted than the basic product or service keyword and often include a specific need or question from the searcher. 

Here’s an example. If the main keyword/topic is “home mortgages” related long tail keywords could include: “Low-interest home mortgages,” “home Mortgages for people with bad credit,” and “home mortgage rate factors.”

The theory behind this is that optimizing your site and creating on-page content to match these search queries will allow you to attract visitors who search for information via these, and similar search terms. Research shows that visitors reaching your site through multi-phrase long tail queries—while less in number—are more likely to click through and generate a lead or make purchases. Another benefit to long tail keywords is that it is much easier to rank higher on search engines because of the generally low competition for these terms.

When a potential customer uses a highly specific search phrase, they tend to be looking for exactly what they want to buy. Specific searches like these are far more likely to convert to sales than general keyword searches.