There’s a term you may have heard in the blogging world, and maybe you’re not clear about what it is and how it may be of use to you.

That term is “the Longtail.”

If you’re a blogger, than the longtail is your friend.

Here on my blog, there are certain posts that attract the bulk of my traffic every day. The irony of those posts is that they are not new ones. In fact, most of them were written a year or more ago. But they continue to be popular and to get hits every day. Why? SEO and the longtail search.

Longtail keywords are search terms that drive people to your site over the long term. They tend to be more specific and targeted. You see, more general search terms will have greater competition, more people will be using them. But when you use niche keywords that not a lot of other people are using, you can dominate that niche in that keyword in search.

What are your longtail keywords?

If you’re in WordPress, head over to “Site Stats.” Scroll down until you get to “Search Engine Terms.” Click on “Summaries,” then click on “all time.” This list features the most searched keywords that lead people to your site.

Now what to do? Write more posts using those terms.

If you want to create great potential longtail keywords moving forward, just go to Google and type in the general keywords that your post is about. Google will suggest more specific versions.

And now, here’s today’s Infographic: Longtail Keywords: what they are and why you need to use.