As search engine optimization has continued to evolved, so have the strategies people use to target search results. It wasn’t that long ago that one could target a two-word phrase in search results and rank quite prominently for it in relatively little time. Those days, by and large, are gone forever.

With so much competition online today, even niche brands must aggressively compete for visitors, sales and attention. As such, the types of keywords being targeted continue to evolve – and in most cases, become longer.

Long-tail keywords are the future of SEO: let’s examine how you can find the best variations for your future SEO campaigns.

Use Keyword Planner

Google offers a tool for seemingly everything, and when it comes to keywords, there is no exception. Google’s Keyword Planner can be a great tool in finding long-tail keywords and phrases for your brand to target in any and all SERPs. By pinging servers with a few broader ideas and keywords, you’ll be able to generate plenty of unique long-tail variations that can be quite useful in boiling down which particular SERPs are most worth your time.

You can further refine Keyword Planner’s output by providing information such as location, language, and just how tangential you want the returned results to be. This is usually stop number one for many brands that want to get new ideas on how to target various, relevant audiences within their niche(s).

Ask Google Directly

What Google thinks is related is very important in the world of SEO: as algorithms draw connections between multiple subjects, the likelihood of ranking for those subjects increases. As such, you could go directly to Google and take advantage of its auto-complete feature for more long-tail keyword ideas.

Not only can you use auto-complete on the front-end, but executing specific searches may also yield related search options – all of which should be considered when looking for long-tail variations. This lets you know how Google in a sense connects the dots between various search results, and which clusters may be best suited for your future SEO efforts.

Scour Q&A Sites

Sometimes, the best long-tail keyword variations come in the form of a question. Where else can you find more questions than on sites such as Yahoo Answers, Quora and Reddit? These places are great for uncovering potential niche long-tail SERPs, allowing you to create great content to target them with in the future.

Once you begin pinging servers on these sites for ideas, you’ll quickly find many unique phrases and questions that you probably hadn’t considered. Particularly useful about these sites is their silo-like structure, which breaks down topics into sub-reddits or categories for more relevant and streamlined investigation.

The future of SEO definitely revolves around long-tail keywords. Most search engine users understand that relevant information requires more precise searches, and more precise searches – for the time being – are less contested by websites. This is a perfect opportunity for brands and businesses that want to drill deep rather than wide, targeting specific audiences and monopolizing the traffic within them.