I’m really enjoying this blogging thing! Every comment I am getting from my readers is a new idea that I feel rushed to put into practice.

My reader, Andrea, mentioned she parses log files to mine for keywords as well. That is an excellent idea.

I decided to put that idea into code and here is a new tool to mine for long tail keywords.

To make really good use of it, I would setup a PPC campaign in Google with a “head keyword” in broad match, bidding at the minimum possible. Make sure your ads maintain good click-through rates (over 0.5%) to avoid getting disabled. Run it for a week or two (preferably more) and you will have a good number of search referrals and “long tail keywords” that people are actually looking for. You can later create good content pages that include those keywords. In most cases, long tail keywords are really easy to rank with on-page optimization only.

I will probably write a Youmoz entry with more detailed instructions on how to take advantage of this. In this way I can get more people to try it and get really valuable feedback.

Here is the Python code: longtailminer.zip

Here is the output:

search.sympatico.msn.ca - best places to vacation in april
www.ask.com - help find a cheap vacation package anywhere
www.ask.com - new york vacation package deals
search.yahoo.com - vegas vacation packages
search.yahoo.com - what is the best beaches to stay in jamaica
search.yahoo.com - outrageous hawaii vacation packages
www.google.se - “paris in 5 days” versailles
search.sympatico.msn.ca - Vacation Package Deals
search.yahoo.com - vacationpackage
search.yahoo.com - vacation packages
search.msn.com - 10 best places for vacation
in.search.yahoo.com - vacation package
search.yahoo.com - best places to vacation in june/july
search.sympatico.msn.ca - best travel deals for june
search.msn.com - last minute caribean deals
search.yahoo.com - package vacation
www.google.com - Tripscan
search.sympatico.msn.ca - best places to vacation in June
search.sympatico.msn.ca - best places to travel in october
search.yahoo.com - vacation package
search.msn.com - caribean vacation
search.msn.com - Best Caribean vacation
www.ask.com - Cheap Vacation Package
search.sympatico.msn.ca - CANYON RANCH IN LENNOX
search.sympatico.msn.ca - find vacation packages
ca.search.yahoo.com - Hawaii all inclusive Vacation Packages
search.yahoo.com - california vacation ideas
search.yahoo.com - vacaton package
ie.search.msn.com - caribean vacation
search.yahoo.com - all inclusive package deals from New York to Cancun
search.yahoo.com - best places to explore
search.msn.com - caribean vacation island packages
search.yahoo.com - vancation package
search.yahoo.com - puerto vallarta nude resorts
www.ask.com - all inclusive vacation places
search.yahoo.com - vacation packge
search.yahoo.com - vacation package
www.ask.com - caribean deals
search.msn.com - best hotels in caribean
search.msn.com - the best caribean vacation
www.google.com - related:www.exectourtravel.com/
ca.search.yahoo.com - vacation packages

This is just scratching the surface. One improvement we can make, is to identify the landing pages to which the keywords lead, so we can make sure visitors are finding what they want.

Usage

In order to use the script you need to download Python from http://www.python.org. The script should run in Unix/Linux, Mac, and Windows but I only tested it in Linux.

1. Copy your log file to the directory were you saved the script.

2. Change the name of the log file (inside the quotes) in the line log = open(’tripscan.actual_log’) to the name of your log file.

3. In the command line type: python LongTailMiner.py and you should see the report.

Popularity: 12% [?]

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 31st, 2007 at 3:54 pm and is filed under invisible long tail , keyword research , log mining , long tail , seo , tools . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.