You do not need a paid keyword tool to find your next page. Google Search Console already lists the searches you show up for.
Most small business owners never open the Queries report beyond the top few rows. The useful part is further down: the long, specific searches where your site appears but is not winning. This guide shows a filter that surfaces them in about five minutes, and then walks through what we found when we ran it on techlion.dev.
What a long-tail search is
A long-tail search is a longer, more specific phrase. "Web design" is broad and crowded. "Small business website design Woodbridge NJ" is narrower, so fewer sites are aiming at it and the person typing it usually knows what they want. Many conversational searches that people type into AI tools are also long, which is part of why this tail keeps growing.
The five-minute method
- Open Search Console and go to Performance > Search results.
- Click Add filter, choose Query, then choose Custom (regex).
- Paste this expression and apply it:
^([^ ]+ ){3,}[^ ]+$
- Turn on Average position so it shows next to clicks and impressions.
- Sort by Clicks, then by Impressions, and look at searches where you are not in position one.
Quick translation of that expression: it matches queries made of at least four words separated by spaces. (It is often described as "over four words," but it keeps four-word queries too.) Search Console uses RE2 regular expressions, so this works as written.
Reading the results
Not every row is useful. Sort them into three groups.
- Striking distance (positions 4 to 10): Google already likes the page. A small improvement can move it onto page one. These come first.
- Page two (positions 11 to 20): Worth a push if the topic fits your business.
- Far out (position 50 and up) or off-topic: Usually noise. Skip it.
Ignore position-one rows, since you are already winning, and ignore anything that is not something you sell or want to be known for.
Turn one search into one improvement
Pick a single query. Then decide which of two moves fits:
- You have a page that is close. Add the exact phrase as a heading on that page, with a clear two-sentence answer under it. Make sure the title and first paragraph use the same wording customers use.
- You have no page for it. Create one. Put the phrase in the page title, the main heading, the URL, and the opening sentence, and make the page genuinely answer the search rather than repeat the keyword.
Before you build anything, search the phrase yourself and look at what Google shows. If the results are all service pages and you wrote a blog post, you have the wrong type of page. Matching what Google rewards matters more than the keyword itself.
Do one at a time, then check again in four to six weeks.
What we found on our own site
We ran this exact filter on techlion.dev, covering roughly the last 15 months. The result was humbling and useful.
- The whole site had 99 clicks from about 22,000 impressions.
- More than 300 queries matched the long-tail filter, but only 2 of those 99 clicks came from them. There was no hidden winner sitting at position nine.
- What the tail did show was impressions with no clicks, mostly local searches like web design in nearby Monmouth County towns, sitting between positions 7 and 16.
- A lot of the list was noise: off-topic energy-tax queries, Connect 4 game searches, and a branded string for our own business listing.
That told us two things. First, the opportunity is real but it is early, so we should improve a few existing pages instead of publishing dozens of thin ones. Second, no tool can tell you this faster than your own data, so check yours before buying advice.
Be careful with the local pattern too. Publishing near-identical "web design in [town]" pages for every town is the kind of thin content Google's spam policies warn about. Make each page earn its place with real local information, or do not make it.
Frequently asked questions
Does the regex filter work on a small site?
Yes. A small site just returns fewer rows. Even a handful of 4-plus word queries can point to a page worth improving.
How many words is a long-tail search?
There is no official cutoff. This method uses four or more words because the filter is simple and the queries it returns are specific.
Should I build a page for every long-tail query?
No. Pick one that fits what you sell and improve or create one page at a time.
A simple monthly routine
- Run the filter and export the Queries table.
- Pick one striking-distance query that fits your business.
- Update or create one page for it.
- Note the date and the current position.
- Re-check next month. Keep what moved, drop what did not.
If you would rather have someone read your numbers and tell you where the first win is, request a free consultation. We will look at your real Search Console data, not a generic checklist. For a wider view of how your site shows up, our guide to the Google AI Search Console report covers the newer AI-search reporting.
And if you want to see more of what we learn from our own numbers, you can add TechLion Dev as a preferred source on Google. Our Preferred Sources explainer covers what that setting does and does not do.
Sources
- Search Analytics query reference, Google Search Console API documentation
- Spam policies for Google web search, Google Search Central