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Long-Tail Keyword Phrases Bring Traffic to Your Website

By Tammie White, Broker

Real Estate Broker/Owner with Franklin Homes Realty LLC

August 17, 2013 07:58 AM

Long-Tail Keyword Phrases Bring Traffic to Your Website

This morning, I received the following email from an SEO consultant about my website ranking:

I was surfing through your website. When we search for any keyword pertaining to your domain, your website does not come on the first page of Google. So how would people come to know about your website? If you want your website to appear on first page of Google then please let me know. We can provide you certainly Top 10 Google rankings.

Long-Tail Keyword Phrases Bring Traffic to Your Website He is right. I am not currently ranking in the top 10 Google searches on page one for the short-tail keyword phrase Franklin TN Homes for Sale. However, I'm ranking in spots #17 and #18 on page two. I'm pretty happy with those results. After all, the site has only been up for three months. Not too shabby if you ask me.

My first instinct was to shoot off an email to tell him he obviously wasn't searching the hundreds of other long-tail keyword phrases where I'm ranking. Instead, I decided to help others understand what this SEO consultant does not. You don't have to be on page one of Google to get traffic to your website.

Long-tail keyword phrases bring traffic to your website. Lots of traffic.

According to Google Analytics, I have had 6,344 visits to my website in the last 30 days. Of that 6,344 visits, 60% were from organic Google searches. How is that possible if I'm not ranking on page one of Google? That organic traffic was directed to my site through 1,640 long-tail keyword phrases. I would venture to guess that I rank on page one for those organic searches and why buyers clicked through to my site.

I am receiving over 200 visits per day to my site and that number continues to grow as I add more and more content to my website. Now that I've got your attention, you're asking what is a long-tail keyword phrase versus a short-tail keyword phrase?

Here is the definition I found from Intuit Small Business:

Short-Tail Keywords

Short-Tail Keywords are typically generic online phrases used by Search Engine Marketing (SEM) experts to create interest and drive traffic vs. Long-Tail Keywords that help with conversion. Short-Tail Keywords have more competition and usually generate lower clickthrough rates than Long-Tail Keywords. An example of Short Tail Keywords would be “cosmetic dentist”, while Long-Tail Keywords would be “downtown San Francisco cosmetic dentist”.

In real estate, a short-tail keyword might be Loveland CO homes or Loveland CO homes for sale. This search term has lots of competition. It's difficult to rank highly for these terms. A long-tail keyword might be five bedroom homes for sale in Loveland CO. This long-tail keyword phrase is going to have less competition and a greater chance of ranking. As a matter of fact, our own Dick Greenberg ranks #1 on page one of Google for this search term which is higher than Z, T or R.com. (I don't want to tip off my local competition to some of my long-tail keyword phrases.)

While it would be great to be ranked in the #1 spot on page one of Google for your short-tail keyword phrase, it's not necessary to direct traffic to your website. With the constant algorithm changes to Google, it is becoming more difficult for the little guys like us to rank highly for a short-tail keyword phrase. However, all is not lost, yet.

By writing quality content using long-tail keyword phrases, Google will find our websites and rank them highly. The result is buyers and sellers are able to find us. The best part--agents who aren't blogging, really don't know this. They have no idea how to rank in the search engines. They end up paying a lot of money to people like the guy who sent me the email.

The next time you get an email like the one I received above, just laugh. These guys are idiots for thinking we don't know what we're doing. Continue to create pages for your website and blog using long-tail keywords and you'll be laughing all the way to the bank. You don't have to rank on page one of Google for your short-tail keyword phrase.

Long-tail keyword phrases bring traffic to your website.

Amended: As of today's date 4/8/14, I rank on page one of Google for the short-tail keyword phrase, Franklin TN homes for sale. I am right below the big four. I actually have spots 5 and 6 on page one.

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Chris and Dick Dovorany

Homes for Sale in Naples, Bonita Springs and Estero, Florida - Naples, FL

Broker/Associate at Premiere Plus Realty

Tammie, we try but I think we're going to re-check our work tomorrow. Thanks for the reminder.

Aug 18, 2013 04:30 AM

Cindy Jones

Integrity Real Estate Group - Woodbridge, VA

Pentagon, Fort Belvoir & Quantico Real Estate News

My first question to the SEO "experts" who call me so if I can't be found on Google then where did you find me? For some reason my phone rings so I have to wonder how accurate their assessment is of our power despite our page rank.

Aug 18, 2013 06:19 AM

Gary Frimann, CRS, GRI, SRES

Eagle Ridge Realty / Signature Homes & Estates - Gilroy, CA

REALTOR and Broker

Strangely, it has been the long tail that has brought most visitors to my site as of late. Thank goodness they were there-- I had almost given up hope. Funny how this works.

Aug 18, 2013 06:21 AM

Tammie White, Broker

Franklin Homes Realty LLC - Franklin, TN

Franklin TN Homes for Sale

Marco - Glad to be of help.

Gita - You don't necessarily have to make changes, just keep adding long-tail keyword phrases in your content.

Nina - I have so many things like that, I've lost count.

Norman - It's worth a shot.

Sally - Just because they claim to be an SEO expert, doesn't make it so.

Ferenando - Hadn't thought of that.

Andrew - Just think how many people actually fall for this.

Richie - It sounds too simple and that's why not many actually try it.

Jeffrey - It took me a lot more than a week to understand this.

Martha - Those are the best days to work on our sites.

Lyn - The plus is the more specific the search, the higher rate of conversion.

Edward & Celia - Give it a try.

Andrew - Good luck.

Bryan - When we first start out, we want to be known for our short-tail keywords. We don't realize that by ranking for many of our long-tail keywords, we move our ranking up in the short-tail keywords. We somehow don't think we'll be able to make it as an agent with long-tail keyword phrases. Once, we see the increase in our traffic, we get it.

Jill - Thanks.

Betty - Thanks for stopping by.

Chris & Dick - This is a lot harder if you have lots of bloggers in your area doing the same thing.

Cindy - Exactly. Believe me, before I started ranking on Google, these guys never contacted me. So, I have used that same line.

Gary - Some of the searches you see with be very specific, San Diego homes for sale with 3 bedrooms and a 2 -car garage". Now, that's a long-tail keyword phrase.

Aug 18, 2013 08:29 AM

Paddy Deighan MBA JD PhD

http://www.medicalandspaconsulting.com - Vail, CO

Paddy Deighan J.D. Ph.D

I think that ranking is grossly over rated and it seems to me that your website is doing VERY well...SEO guys think too much about traffic...quality of traffic is more important

Aug 18, 2013 08:48 AM

Tammie White, Broker

Franklin Homes Realty LLC - Franklin, TN

Franklin TN Homes for Sale

Paddy - That is a very good point. It doesn't matter how much traffic we get, if no one buys from us the website is useless.

Aug 18, 2013 09:04 AM

Jack O'Neal

HomeSmart Elite Group - Gilbert, AZ

The new revisions to Google's algorithms have changed the game yet again they seem to be looking for wordy stuffy now

Aug 19, 2013 01:44 PM

Tammie White, Broker

Franklin Homes Realty LLC - Franklin, TN

Franklin TN Homes for Sale

Jack - Content is king.

Aug 19, 2013 02:11 PM

Steve and Jan Bachman

RE/MAX Gateway, Reston, Herndon, Ashburn, Sterling, Fairfax - Herndon, VA

Realtors - Northern Virginia

This is so true and that is one of the strengths of Active Rain as well ..no?

Aug 20, 2013 11:55 PM

Eric Nelson, III

Silicon Valley Capital Funding - Campbell, CA

Eric O. Nelson, III

Tammie,

Excellent insight. Social Media and search engines appear to be so cryptic at times, that any time I see a simplification I stand and applaud! Thank you for the excellent share.

Aug 21, 2013 01:42 AM

Tammie White, Broker

Franklin Homes Realty LLC - Franklin, TN

Franklin TN Homes for Sale

Steve - Yes.

Eric - Glad you found it useful.

Aug 21, 2013 09:43 AM

Sharon Parisi

United Real Estate Dallas - Dallas, TX

Dallas Homes

Tammie, you are one smart lady and businesswoman! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and your success story!

Aug 21, 2013 04:24 PM

Tammie White, Broker

Franklin Homes Realty LLC - Franklin, TN

Franklin TN Homes for Sale

Sharon - I hope you found it useful.

Aug 23, 2013 12:30 AM

Tim Lorenz

TIM LORENZ - Elite Home Sales Team - Mission Viejo, CA

949 874-2247

That is some valuable and useful info for we the tech handicapped. Thanks.

Aug 25, 2013 04:14 AM

Matthew Janik

FRINGE Digital Marketing Agency - Vancouver, WA

Nice article. I like that you drew attention to long-tail vs. short-tail as it relates to real estate. I think that is an important distinction that needs to be made in this field. I did want to point out though that I think the company that contacted you may have been referring to your website's title tag and meta-keyword usage. Since real estate does often rely on word of mouth referrals, I do think it is important to rank on the first page of Google for your website title/company name. Right now, it doesn't look like you are ranking for either keyword in your website title "Franklin TN Homes for Sale | Franklin TN Real Estate" if I am incorrect in this, I apologize, but I do feel that an easily locatable website/business title is important, even if you are generating the majority of your traffic from your long-tail keywords. But, that is a small sidenote; overall, I think this is a great post!

Sep 03, 2013 09:40 AM

Donna Foerster

HomeSmart Realty Group - Parker, CO

Metro Denver Real Estate Assistant

Tammie~ I don't know how I missed this post. I just noticed it was referenced in a post by Dick Greenberg, so I followed the link and here I am. I'm going to bookmark it so I can read and reference it for future use. Thanks!

Sep 14, 2013 01:01 PM

Andrew Mooers | 207.532.6573

MOOERS REALTY - Houlton, ME

Northern Maine Real Estate-Aroostook County Broker

Tammie ... Those emails about how poorly you are doing that are generic can make you laugh. When you know the sites are optimized, you are dominating this, this and this term. Those fishing emails don't apply to serious AR University students like yourself.

Dec 25, 2013 04:48 AM

Lanre-"THE REAL ESTATE FARMER" Folayan

Samson Properties - Bowie, MD

I don't make promises.I deliver results.SOLD HOMES

Tammie I see why you got a lot of traffic to your site. You got a Reel Geeks Website. All I hear about them is how many of their clients get super crazy traffic to their sites. I don't have a Reell Geeks site but I have a REW-Real Estate Websmaster which is an upgrade from my Wordpress blog site that wasn't generatiing any leads. The fact that I didnt have an IDX didnt help also. But thanks for sharing this. You reminded methat when I blog,I have focus on long tail keywords and short tail key words.

Jan 23, 2014 12:28 AM

Tammie White, Broker

Franklin Homes Realty LLC - Franklin, TN

Franklin TN Homes for Sale

Lanre - I know some RealGeeks clients whose site isn't performing well. They have some great features but it's all in what you do with the site. If you create lots of good quality content, you can easily rank in the SERPs. I have over 500 pages of content that I created myself. That's why I get traffic, through lots of hard work.

Jan 23, 2014 12:59 AM

Lanre-"THE REAL ESTATE FARMER" Folayan

Samson Properties - Bowie, MD

I don't make promises.I deliver results.SOLD HOMES

Tammie-That's a lot of pages. Somebody told me the same thing that I should create more pages with my new REW Website. Can you please share with me some of the links to your website. Or some keywords that you used for your new website? I need some ideas-PLEASE.

Jan 25, 2014 05:21 AM