30 Statistics About Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are a type of keyword phrase that consists of three or more words and are highly specific to a particular niche, product or service.

There are two types of keywords: short and long-tail terms. The shorter the keyword, the larger the search volume and the harder it is to rank for it. Unlike short-tail keywords, which are broad and general, long-tail keywords are much more specific and often have lower competition, making them effective for driving targeted traffic.

Here at Embryo, we know that long-tail keywords are especially important for businesses in niche markets as they make it easier for you to compete since long-tail keywords relate to a much smaller niche of products and services.

Read our keyword research guide for further advice and information!

Stats about Long-Tail Search Terms That You Should Know

By incorporating long-tail keywords into SEO and content marketing strategies, businesses can attract high-quality traffic that is more likely to convert into customers. Inroads in search engine traffic can be made by aiming for those mid to long-tail keywords as they tend to have higher converting traffic.

Our SEO and content team know that long-tail keywords have lesser search volume but higher search intent which usually means that the people who enter these keywords into the SERPs need specific answers, and they are more likely to convert when they get it than someone using generic search phrases.

To explore this further we’ve put together a list of statistics about long-tail keywords that you should know about:

1. Over 70% of all search queries are for long-tail terms
2. Long tail keywords tend to have higher conversion rates than generic keywords.
3. Long tail keywords typically have lower search volume than generic keywords.
4. 92% of all keywords get 10 or fewer searches per month
5. 92% of all keywords that people type into search engines are long tails
6. Pages optimised for long tail keywords move up 11 positions on average (compared to 5 positions for head keywords).
7. Long tail keywords are often more specific, targeted and relevant to a particular business.
8. Long tail keywords are typically easier to rank for than generic keywords.
9. Long tail keywords are often more economical to advertise on as they have less competition.
10. Long tail keywords help to improve the relevancy of content, as they are more specific.
11. Long tail keywords are a great way to target niche markets.
12. They can help to increase organic search traffic to a website.
13. Long tail keywords are often used to create content clusters.
14. 56% of buyers who search use queries of three or more words, while only 7% use one word or an acronym
15. 20-25% of all Google search queries are unique
16. What Google describes as long-tail advertisers make up half their revenue
17. Long-tail keywords simply have a better conversion rate than short-tail keywords. The average conversion rate for a long-tail keyword is 36%.
18. The best landing pages only convert at 11.45%.
19. According to Backlinko’s analysis of 306 million keywords, 91.8% of all search queries are long-tail keywords.
20. We live in an age where 55% of millennials use voice search daily. When these users query these platforms, they use long-tail keyword phrases such as questions.
21. 82% of searches use long tail keywords via voice search (near me searches) to find local businesses. Hence, long-tail searches boost local SEO.
22. SEO PowerSuite analysed 24 million keywords from our database to learn more about the role of long-tail keywords in search to reveal that one- and two-word queries comprise only a quarter of our database, while the majority of our database consists of three-, four-, and five-word queries
23. The secret to long-tail keywords is to use your knowledge of how people typically search for your business
24. Long tail searches are understood better by the search engines because the intent of the searcher remains clear.
25. Long-tail keywords are generally cheaper, more specific, and have a higher conversion rate.
26. As long-tail keywords usually relate to a much smaller niche of products and services, making it easier for you to compete. If you are not a major industry player, then competing for short-tail keywords may be a waste of time.
27. They’re excellent keywords to target for businesses of all sizes
28. The search data from your own account is going to be the best way to gauge whether or not searchers are typing in searches that are in a longer tail form.
29. The research into finding long-tail keywords should be data-driven and can be done by various SEO tools.
30. Internet marketers agree that PPC advertising should be mostly long-tail as bidding on specific long-tail phrases that describe what your business offer means you are likely to attract just the right visitors to your site, and your PPC campaign will pay off sooner.

To summarise, long tail keywords are search terms with relatively low search volume and competition levels. Since long-tail keywords have relatively low search volume and competition, businesses can target those lower-value, long-tail keywords not covered by their competitors.

We believe that businesses should find relevant, niche long-tail keywords and create in-depth engaging content around them, using data-driven research to find the right one for your business.

Long-tail keywords contribute to the visibility of businesses online, their ability to reach their target audience, and their overall online success. As a result, long-tail SEO focuses on competing for a large number of low-volume keywords instead of focusing on a small set of high-volume keywords.