subject: When It Comes To Seo, Length Matters [print this page] While you may think that less people would be searching for "cosmetic dentistry Detroit" than the broader phrase "cosmetic dentistry", you would be right. But that's a good thing. In the world of search engine optimization, more is not always better. Your goal is not to capture the greatest number of searches but the greatest number of TARGETED, RELEVANT searches.
SIZE MATTERS: WHY LESS IS MORE AND LONGER IS BETTER
People looking for a cosmetic dentist in Detroit are more likely looking to go to a cosmetic dentist in Detroit. Searches for the broader, less focused phrase, "cosmetic dentistry" may be looking for a cosmetic dentistry college or the earnings in the cosmetic dentistry field or looking for cosmetic dentistry jobs.
So in SEO, the more phrases you use to associate your business with something specific, you'll actually weed out some searches (and searchers), leaving you with people who are really looking for something specific.
This is sometimes referred to as a "long tail search". In fact, fewer people are likely to enter a greater number of words beyond one or two, but that's OK. Because those who do a long tail search represent a higher quality group of prospects who are more likely to be in a buying mode and not just a window shopping or research mode. They know what they're looking for and they're searching very specifically for that thing, whatever it is.
Someone typing "dogs" into Google will not benefit a "dog groomer in Montclair, NJ". First, they'll never find you among the gazillion results for the search term "dogs". And secondly, who knows why they're searching for "dogs"? It could be a million reasons unrelated to what you do. So you don't want to come up in those search engine results. You want to come up in the right search engine results.
PIGGYBACKING ON BRANDS
Not every business will lend itself to the following approach but those who do should definitely take advantage of piggybacking on brand names.
Going back to our dentist example, there's a teeth straightening product that cosmetic dentists sell named "Invisalign". Invisalign is like invisible braces that straighten your teeth. Invisalign, like a lot of other brands, spends millions of dollars a year on advertising to create a demand for their product. Someone considering a teeth straightening product will have already seen an Invisalign ad on TV or a magazine and now they're looking for a local dentist in their area who carries that product.
A perfect, geo-targeted long tail keyword strategy for our Detroit dentist, who offers cosmetic dentistry services and carries the Invisalign product, would be to optimize an entire page of their website to attract search engine traffic from the phrase, "Invisalign dentist Detroit" and related phrases.
Chances will be pretty good that someone searching for "Invisalign dentist Detroit" is looking for...well, you get the idea.
