I use 3 different strategies to mine search query reports for new long-tail keyword themes. Here is an overview of these 3 strategies: http://www.calculatemarketing.com/blog/techniques/google-adwords-search-query-report-analysis/.

Regarding keywords with low search volume, you may find this article useful: http://www.calculatemarketing.com/blog/techniques/how-low-is-low-search-volume/.

I tried putting long tail keywords into my account, using word in I found in the search query report.

However, Google says that these keywords are not being shown because the search volume in too low.

1) Is these best practice to find good keywords in long tail form in my account?

2) How many impressions is the minimum limit for long tail keywords to be shown on Google?

A 3-word phrase might be long-tail to one industry but generic to another, so it’s better to think of long-tail keywords more in terms of their nature and qualities rather than the number of words they contain.

You might find my blog post What Exactly Is A Long Tail Keyword useful to help you better understand how to differentiate long-tail keywords from more generic keywords.

I often find that long-tail keywords can be effective in achieving both ROI and branding goals.

What you are doing with a long-tail strategy is reaching people who are making a wide range of different types of qualified searches. Connecting with these searches with targeted ad messages is therefore a viable strategy whether your goals are ROI or brand focused.

I’ve also found some long-tail keywords receiving fewer clicks due to Google Instant, but since people are now being pushed down more clearly-defined searches, other long-tail keywords are receiving significantly more searches. You can see these artificially-high searches in almost any search query report – they’re those 9 to 10 word phrases which receive a disproportionately high impression and click volume for their word length. Capturing these artificial long-tails with a clear strategy in place can deliver great results due to their relatively low CPCs.

Have to agree there, its also good for varation in keywords, help with a whole ‘natural’ link profile too.

It’s good to achieve a balance in your campaigns, with more generic keywords complementing long-tails when more volume is needed. Casting a wide net and taking a holistic approach with your keyword selection is in my opinion always the best strategy to maximise you chance of success.

Glad you found it useful. Best of luck with your campaigns.

Long-tails are definitely most effective en masse. Individually a long-tail keyword might not receive much search volume, but when you have a portfolio of tens of thousands, the results can really stack up.

Great to hear you’re getting good traffic and high conversion rates from long-tail keywords.

Since most long-tail searches are very unique and are only made a handful of times each week/month/year, accurate data on long-tail keywords is extremely rare. It is possible to use paid tools to better research long tail keywords, although doing thorough research on keyword THEMES then permutating your own long-tail keywords can be extremely effective. You can them mine your search query data for new long-tail keywords ideas, and continute to build up your long-tail keyword list over time.

Cheers,
Alan

Santap

Your’e right – individually long-tail keywords can provide negligable volume, especially when compared to more generic keywords. However, en masse, they can provide a significant number of highly-targeted visitors, each at a lower cost and of a higher chance of conversion. The key is to create highly-focused campaigns, granular ad groups, and tailored ads, each which closely match the ad group’s keywords.

If you can cater for the specific needs of searchers, and provide them will a helpful, efficient and personalised user journey, long tail theory says they will reward you with conversions.

Cheers,
Alan

Optimization for Long Tail Keywords is very important, not even in overcrowded niches.

If you need a free tool to generate Long Tail Keywords from Google Suggest Data, try http://www.v-seo.com

The same principles of long-tails still apply for SEO – compared to generic keywords such as ‘real estate’, long tail searches such as ‘Alpharetta homes for sale’ have less competition so are easier to rank for, can have significant search volume en masse, and since they are generally more qualified and specific in nature, can often exhibit stronger conversion rates.

Deep-linking to very specific pages, as you point out, is a strategy popular with many top advertisers. If you have a deep-link page that is highly relevant to a keyword, optimising that deep-link page (rather than the homepage) for the keyword will have a much higher chance of ranking. If it’s highly relevant, it benefits Google, the customer and the advertiser, so why wouldn’t Google show you?

In terms of metrics, Google Webmaster Tools provide a wealth of information on backlinks and rankings for specific keywords. Once you have decided which long-tail keywords you would like to focus on, you can benchmark their positions and monitor their rankings as you make changes.

Take a KW like:

“Alpharetta homes for sale”

If you check the exact match (not broad), Google says this one gets 2900 searches per month. Well worth trying to get 10% of those to your site.

Instead of AdWords, why not trying to get a individual page, one deep off my mainpage to rank top 10 for this exact phrase.

maindomain/alpharettahomesforsale.htm

The entire page is SEO’d for this KW and obtain maybe 100 backlinks with the exact term as anchor text coming in.

Wonder if that could make it to the top ten?

RM

Yes, true we also advice the same thing to our clients to go for the long tail keywords when the website is new.

Thanks

Works!

Rob

Annette.