Make your SEO strategy future-proof: goodbye top terms, hello long tail
Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2025 6:00 am
Organic findability is synonymous with the battle for top positions. Google is demanding more and more space for paid services or trendy 'widgets'. The fourth advertisement at the top is increasingly pushing organic results into the background. And as if that wasn't enough, Google is making the space for text advertisements even bigger. That has the necessary consequences for your SEO strategy. Anyone who doesn't change their strategy now will miss the boat.
Don't panic, there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel. Say goodbye to deep-rooted traditions: stop focusing on top terms and embrace the longtail. Especially if you are a small player.
What are top terms?
By top terms I mean searches like 'holiday France', 'camping Italy' or 'buy shoes online'. These kinds of top terms can be thought of for almost every industry.
Many companies focus on organic findability on these top terms. They want to be found on a term like 'camping Croatia' no matter what. There is often no other strategy armenia telegram number list behind it than 'isn't that our business too?'. In some cases there is also a CEO who Googles in the evening and then calls in the SEO the next day to account for why 'we are not number one' on such a top term.
What's the problem with top terms?
Everyone wants to be found on it
The honor is often reserved for the largest players in the market who have made huge investments, have earned their stripes or sometimes do everything that Google has forbidden
Google now publishes 4 ads on these types of terms, which has caused the first organic results to drop
On mobile, text ads will be even larger, making organic even less prominent
Google turns some searches into a real carnival, making searching unpleasant
Perhaps the biggest problem of all: the terms are far too generic. How much does findability on these terms really yield?
A carnival of search results
Take a look at the following screenshot. This is the SERP (Search Engine Result Page) of the search term 'camping Croatia'. At the top appears a carousel with possible more specific search queries. Suggestions from Google. Could this indicate that even Google notices that this search query is far too general?
Clicking on such a suggestion immediately results in a new SERP. So you perform a new, more specific search query.
SERP Camping Croatia
Below the carousel are four ads and a Knowledge Graph with information. It is funny that Google comes up with the Knowledge Graph for this search query, because to be honest, if I search for a campsite in Croatia, the information in the box does not add much.
With my display settings, there is still one directly visible organic result left; that of the ANWB. Google must have tested it extensively, otherwise they would not put this live. But I wonder how happy consumers really are with this.
Don't panic, there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel. Say goodbye to deep-rooted traditions: stop focusing on top terms and embrace the longtail. Especially if you are a small player.
What are top terms?
By top terms I mean searches like 'holiday France', 'camping Italy' or 'buy shoes online'. These kinds of top terms can be thought of for almost every industry.
Many companies focus on organic findability on these top terms. They want to be found on a term like 'camping Croatia' no matter what. There is often no other strategy armenia telegram number list behind it than 'isn't that our business too?'. In some cases there is also a CEO who Googles in the evening and then calls in the SEO the next day to account for why 'we are not number one' on such a top term.
What's the problem with top terms?
Everyone wants to be found on it
The honor is often reserved for the largest players in the market who have made huge investments, have earned their stripes or sometimes do everything that Google has forbidden
Google now publishes 4 ads on these types of terms, which has caused the first organic results to drop
On mobile, text ads will be even larger, making organic even less prominent
Google turns some searches into a real carnival, making searching unpleasant
Perhaps the biggest problem of all: the terms are far too generic. How much does findability on these terms really yield?
A carnival of search results
Take a look at the following screenshot. This is the SERP (Search Engine Result Page) of the search term 'camping Croatia'. At the top appears a carousel with possible more specific search queries. Suggestions from Google. Could this indicate that even Google notices that this search query is far too general?
Clicking on such a suggestion immediately results in a new SERP. So you perform a new, more specific search query.
SERP Camping Croatia
Below the carousel are four ads and a Knowledge Graph with information. It is funny that Google comes up with the Knowledge Graph for this search query, because to be honest, if I search for a campsite in Croatia, the information in the box does not add much.
With my display settings, there is still one directly visible organic result left; that of the ANWB. Google must have tested it extensively, otherwise they would not put this live. But I wonder how happy consumers really are with this.