SEO Speak: What the heck are longtail keywords?

Have you ever wondered what your SEO consultant meant by long tail keywords but were too scared to ask?  I found a succinct explanation of this SEO speak at Keyword Research a UK based Keyword Research Resource.

Essentially longtail keywords are 3 words or more and this type of targeting is an excellent strategy to increase traffic to your website, for the following reasons.

• Longtail traffic will generally convert better as buyers are later in the buying cycle.  For example a search for "online marketing" would be a general search, where as "online marketing campaign" shows the searcher has a more specific intent.
• Longtail keywords are much easier to rank well.  A quick look at the results for "online marketing campaign" shows less competition than "online marketing".  There may be a lower number of searches, but isn't it better to pay for clicks that are closer to conversion rather than blow out your budget in the first few days?

Plus, according to SEOMoz, longtail keywords make up 70%of Google searches.

So now you know... get your thinking caps on and work out some longtail keywords that work for you.  Forget about ranking #1 for that Top 100 keyword and instead focus on longtail keywords that will really convert for your business.