Ranking for long tailed keyword vs shorter keyword phrase?
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I have a webpage http://freightmonster.com/free-freight-quote that currently ranks 19th in the Google SERP's for the keyword free freight quote. The keyword gets 59 exact match searches a month. Competition is high for this keyword.
The keyword freight quote gets 8625 exact match searches a month and my home page http://freightmonster.com/ ranks 26th in the Google SERP for it. Competition is high for this keyword.
Would I be better off creating another page http://freightmonster.com/freight-quote and doing a better job of on SEO optimization for it in the hopes of getting on page one, or given the fact that freight quote is such a highly competitive term should I just go after other long tailed keywords in my market like flatbed trucking freight quote, heavy haul trucking freight quote, RGN freight quote, etc?
We have just started on SEO for organic keywords after spending over $500,000 on PPC in the last 5 years, which in our market niche is the norm.
Thank you in advance!
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Just go for the long tails with the main keyword in them. This way you hit both in one swoop, because as you build the long tails it will build up your links and content stemming from the main keyword.
I have been doing this with one of my sites and the more long tailed content I create and the farther I move up the results for the long tails I have also seen a slow but very steady increase in rankings for my main keywords.
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Our company was in a similar situation and we started optimizing for the longer-tails. Since they do convert better and can rapidly get on the first page, it benefited us greatly. IMHO, it was a much better use of resources than optimizing for competitive keyword(s).
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Getting from page 3 to page 1 is a serious undertaking in a competitive niche. Personally, I would go for the more specific keywords you listed. I would also expect those to convert better, since people get more specific as they get more serious about buying.
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