We hear the term 'long tail keyword' bantered around in internet marketing circles but what exactly does it mean and what is long tail keyword research.

First we need a definition of a keyword: A word that a search engine user might use to find relevant web page(s). If a keyword doesn't appear anywhere in the text of your web page, it's highly unlikely your page will appear in the search results. A long tail keyword is a group of keywords forming a descriptive phase.

Search engine users have learnt that by typing in a more precise phrase that the search engines are much more able to deliver relevant information to them. It is these phrases that internet marketers need to focus on in their long tail keyword research. You need to put yourself in the searchers mindset and think what words would I type in if I was looking for 'X'

In finding long tail keywords you would start with a broad term and then add other relevant words to it. For example. If I'm selling shed building plans on my website the term 'shed building plan' would probably have a lot of competing websites in the search engine listings and it would be difficult to get my site listed on page one in the search results. However if i used the phrase 'American barn style shed building plan' there would be less competition and I would have a much better chance of getting my website and articles found by interested buyers.

I could then dig deeper by adding more relevant and qualified terms to this long tail phrase such as 'American barn style shed plan roof ' or American barn style shed plan footing construction'. The more targeted the keyword phrase the more your able to align your customer with exactly what they are looking for and this will lead to sales and happy customers. This is how long tail keyword research is carried out.

There are free keyword tools available online to help you find out what people are searching for and what exact phrases they are using. These tools will also indicate the monthly search volume and number of competing websites optimised for a particular search term.

These tools are very useful but also limited. There are more advanced keyword tools that will give you a lot more usable statistics that will substantially increase your ability to find the most lucrative keywords that will make you money. These tools usually incur a monthly fee to use them after an initial free trial but will save you an enormous amount of time and effort.

I use a keyword tool that gives me awesome results. Long Tail Keyword Research becomes a joy using this tool. Check out why it's my favorite at www.johnsinternetmarketinginfo.com/keyword-research