Comments on: Defining The Long Tail & The Importance of Targeted Keywords http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/general/defining-the-long-tail-the-importance-of-targeted-keywords/ Affiliate marketing news & articles for newbies and pros by Kirsty McCubbin Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:22:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Kirsty http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/general/defining-the-long-tail-the-importance-of-targeted-keywords/comment-page-1/#comment-6678 Kirsty Thu, 21 Jan 2010 06:50:02 +0000 http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/?p=423#comment-6678 @Richard - I usually do both, but with PPC I create highly targeted adgroups around similar search term clusters to help with CTR which also reduces CPC quite nicely! @Stew - I've not found it too much of an issue, still plenty traffic to go round. @matt Wow, thanks for such an informative and useful response. A great contribution to this thread! @Richard – I usually do both, but with PPC I create highly targeted adgroups around similar search term clusters to help with CTR which also reduces CPC quite nicely!

@Stew – I’ve not found it too much of an issue, still plenty traffic to go round.

@matt Wow, thanks for such an informative and useful response. A great contribution to this thread!

]]> By: Matt http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/general/defining-the-long-tail-the-importance-of-targeted-keywords/comment-page-1/#comment-6672 Matt Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:33:59 +0000 http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/?p=423#comment-6672 I'm pretty new to this too but the google product boxes are someething I have noticed too, but I have discovered they are a good thing! I have found is that the people whose stuff you sell as an affiliate are generally still very much focussed on their brand as a whole, not nesc their individual products. As an example I very quickly managed to outrank a well know fashion brand for several of their product line names in the SERPS just through on-page SEO, ie I did not need to get any backlinks with the terms anchored to rank well. So it seems to me that because Google does not think there are suitable pages for the long tail query, it essentially makes its own entries with the product boxes. I have actually used those Google boxes as a barometer for areas to target - if I find a potentially good set of keywords and find that the boxes are near the top in the SERPs, I can be pretty certain it is not being targeted by anyone else and generally I can get in the SERPs pretty quickly. Kirsty's point that long tail keywords are good for conversions is also true as these pages have had my best conversion rates (although naturally the traffic levels are much lower) Also, because I have pages targeted to these keywords my PPC CTR and bounce rates are good and the costs for each click has been dropping while keeping me around the top of the pile and profitable. The one issue is that it does take a fair amount of work to target a page to something that may not get you a huge amount of traffic. So now all I have to do is work out how to tell which will be the best ones and scale this thing profitably and get more SERPs traffic to my best keywords...!! Matt I’m pretty new to this too but the google product boxes are someething I have noticed too, but I have discovered they are a good thing!

I have found is that the people whose stuff you sell as an affiliate are generally still very much focussed on their brand as a whole, not nesc their individual products.

As an example I very quickly managed to outrank a well know fashion brand for several of their product line names in the SERPS just through on-page SEO, ie I did not need to get any backlinks with the terms anchored to rank well.

So it seems to me that because Google does not think there are suitable pages for the long tail query, it essentially makes its own entries with the product boxes.

I have actually used those Google boxes as a barometer for areas to target – if I find a potentially good set of keywords and find that the boxes are near the top in the SERPs, I can be pretty certain it is not being targeted by anyone else and generally I can get in the SERPs pretty quickly.

Kirsty’s point that long tail keywords are good for conversions is also true as these pages have had my best conversion rates (although naturally the traffic levels are much lower)

Also, because I have pages targeted to these keywords my PPC CTR and bounce rates are good and the costs for each click has been dropping while keeping me around the top of the pile and profitable.

The one issue is that it does take a fair amount of work to target a page to something that may not get you a huge amount of traffic. So now all I have to do is work out how to tell which will be the best ones and scale this thing profitably and get more SERPs traffic to my best keywords…!!

Matt

]]> By: Stew http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/general/defining-the-long-tail-the-importance-of-targeted-keywords/comment-page-1/#comment-6671 Stew Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:59:39 +0000 http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/?p=423#comment-6671 Hi Kirsty, just wondering your thoughts on Google base/product search. Im fairly sure Im starting to see more product boxes/merchants appearing for a greater number of long tail search terms, for example "ProductName Size Colour". As this is a direct merchant relationship and often appearing high in the results - have you found this much of an issue yet so far? It's interesting as I guess if every merchant used this well then as affiliates targeting products we might be back to more generic terms. Or perhaps there are enough long tail variations for all. Hi Kirsty, just wondering your thoughts on Google base/product search. Im fairly sure Im starting to see more product boxes/merchants appearing for a greater number of long tail search terms, for example “ProductName Size Colour”.
As this is a direct merchant relationship and often appearing high in the results – have you found this much of an issue yet so far?
It’s interesting as I guess if every merchant used this well then as affiliates targeting products we might be back to more generic terms. Or perhaps there are enough long tail variations for all.

]]> By: James http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/general/defining-the-long-tail-the-importance-of-targeted-keywords/comment-page-1/#comment-6665 James Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:30:57 +0000 http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/?p=423#comment-6665 Thanks Kirtsy, very informative post. I was one of those guys that never clicked on the long tail keyword, took me about a year and a forum post clicked it off for me. Next post, how to grab that long tail traffic easily *hint* keyword research (I used Market Samurai, but the Google Adwords Tool is also great, and free) Thanks Kirtsy, very informative post. I was one of those guys that never clicked on the long tail keyword, took me about a year and a forum post clicked it off for me. Next post, how to grab that long tail traffic easily *hint* keyword research (I used Market Samurai, but the Google Adwords Tool is also great, and free)

]]> By: Richard http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/general/defining-the-long-tail-the-importance-of-targeted-keywords/comment-page-1/#comment-6660 Richard Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:08:48 +0000 http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/?p=423#comment-6660 Thanks for the informative post Kirsty! One thing that still confuses me (although perhaps I'm actually starting to not be confused whilst I'm writing this...), is how you'd drive traffic to those 'targetted' keyword pages. Would you create PPC ads for each keyword and then drive traffic directly to that page, or just wait and rely on google to find you and send the visitors?? Hope all is well with yourself and Duncan too! Rich. Thanks for the informative post Kirsty!

One thing that still confuses me (although perhaps I’m actually starting to not be confused whilst I’m writing this…), is how you’d drive traffic to those ‘targetted’ keyword pages. Would you create PPC ads for each keyword and then drive traffic directly to that page, or just wait and rely on google to find you and send the visitors??

Hope all is well with yourself and Duncan too!

Rich.

]]> By: Dan Harrison http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/general/defining-the-long-tail-the-importance-of-targeted-keywords/comment-page-1/#comment-6659 Dan Harrison Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:48:48 +0000 http://www.affiliatestuff.co.uk/?p=423#comment-6659 Thanks for the mention Kirsty! It's just a shame I didn't understand this when I started my affiliate journey, I would have started down this road sooner. However, since I tend to take what people say with a touch of salt, I still would have tested it myself rather than just take it at face value (I'm naturally suspicious). I now finally understand that generic terms rarely convert based on my own statistical analysis. Probably would have taken me *much* longer to realise my mistake if it wasn't for your help. Thanks :) Dan Thanks for the mention Kirsty! It’s just a shame I didn’t understand this when I started my affiliate journey, I would have started down this road sooner.

However, since I tend to take what people say with a touch of salt, I still would have tested it myself rather than just take it at face value (I’m naturally suspicious).

I now finally understand that generic terms rarely convert based on my own statistical analysis.

Probably would have taken me *much* longer to realise my mistake if it wasn’t for your help. Thanks :)

Dan

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