If you are not using the long tail search engine optimization technique, you are missing a very important organic web traffic source. If you are starting a site and follow the same techniques others are using for search engine keyword optimization, it will be extremely difficult for you to rank well in the search engine result pages.

Everyday, a large number of people search a few popular keywords in millions. Most search engine optimization techniques rely on this high volume and low number of keyword searches to drive traffic.

In contrast, the search engine optimization (SEO) technique for the long tail depends on the low volume but high number of related key phrase searches. If you focus on developing your website based on a large number related key phrases, instead of a few popular keywords, you can essentially generate the same amount of traffic that you will get from popular keyword searches.

Why do you want to optimize your site using the long tail key phrases rather than popular keywords? For one thing, the competition for popular keywords is fierce. The long tail SEO technique is an excellent alternative to what everybody else is doing

To effectively use this technique, you have to create a large number of quality web pages that have relevant key phrases. As search engines crawl your site, you will have a lot of pages indexed. As a result, your chance of getting good rankings for the long tail key phrases will also increase. Eventually you will have good search engine rankings for a lot of low volume key phrases.

The long tail search phrases are more targeted to the exact needs of search engine visitors. These people are searching for some specific products or services. By using the long tail SEO technique, you will be able to increase your conversion and retention rates if you are able to meet your visitors' needs.

How do you find the long tail key phrases that are relevant to your site? There are several techniques you can use. If your site does not have a search feature, your first priority will be to implement a search feature for your site.

Once you have a search feature in your site, monitor key phrases that your visitors are using for searches in your site. Regularly review those search queries to generate a list of low volume key phrases and then create quality contents using those key phrases.

Sign up for Google analytics. Besides monitoring your site traffic and their sources, Google analytics provide a wealth of information about keywords and phrases used in the search engine to get to your site. Make a list of all the low volume and obscure key phrases found in the Google analytics.

Once you have the list, search for those key phrases in Google and check out your site's position in the search engine result page. If they are not in the top three, you need to develop more contents based on those key phrases for better ranking.

Create new key phrases using the local variations of the original key phrase. For example, if your site is about cheese recipes and you find a low volume key phrase "cheap cheese recipes" that drives some traffic to your site, you can create new key phrases like, "Wisconsin cheese soup." Use Google AdWord keyword tool to determine the search volume of these newly created key phrases.

Analyze your competitors' long tail keywords. How do you do that? Visit their sites and check out their meta tags and titles. You can also use a free web tool called SEODigger. This tool will tell you what keywords your competitors are targeting once you enter their URLs in the input box.

With the intense competition for search engine optimization using popular keywords, you have an excellent opportunity to drive more organic traffic using long tail keywords. Once you create a list of substantial number of long tail key phrases, optimize your site by creating quality contents based on those key phrases. Search engines traffic will flow to your site.