Short tail keywords vs Long tail Keywords

Image credits: Aida Blakely

When it comes to on-page SEO, keyword research is one of the biggest factors in determining your SEO success or failure.

It is important that you always do some homework and research before deciding which keywords to use, and one question that many users often ask while doing keyword research is…

Short Tail or Long Tail Keywords?

The discussion has been raging and the results are something that anyone doing marketing on the Internet should be made aware of.

What Are Short Tail And Long Tail Keywords?

They are two of the nine types of keywords in SEO you need to know to convert. I’ll explain them in details below.

A short tail keyword is a phrase that contains 3 words or less. Examples include: “athletic apparel,” “DVD player,” or “engagement ring.”

Short tail keywords are also known as “head terms”. They may be the first thing you think of when you are deciding where to go to eat (“Chinese food,” “pizza delivery”), what to do (“dance clubs,” “roller coaster park”), or where to worship (“synagogue,” “Catholic church”).

What is A Long Tail Keyword?

A long-tail keyword, however, is a little different compared to short tail keywords. Long tail words are phrases containing more than 3 words. They are definitely a lot more targeted and not as broad. You may not bring in as much search traffic from long tail keywords but the traffic you do bring in is the kind you are looking for.

Examples of long-tail keywords include: “summer women’s athletic apparel,” “super Blu Ray HD DVD combo player,” or “white diamond engagement ring.” Long tail keywords are obviously a lot more specific than short tail keywords; as a marketer this actually can work very much in your favor. But there are pros and cons to both types of keywords.

Uncover All the Short-Tail and Long-Tail Keywords You Need to Rank

We are giving out 4 more ways to discover all the short-tail and long-tail keywords you need.

Unlock these secret tips now to up your keyword research game and boost your rankings!

Do not miss out on the step-by-step guide that's included to hold your hand through every step.

The Long and Short Of Keywords

Which type of keyword you want to use for your marketing is going to depend very much on the type of traffic that you want to drive to your site.

As keywords get longer, search volume becomes lower. However, all other metrics such as conversion rates go in favor of long tail keywords.

Short Tail Keywords

Short tail keywords have several things working for and against them. For example if you are trying to drive a lot of traffic to your site, you should use short tail keywords. The challenge here is that if your site is “new” or if your search efforts are just beginning you are getting at the back of a very long line.

• Volume: High

  When it comes to volume, short tail keyword is going to win long tail keyword every time. The shorter the keyword is, the higher the search volume. If you could rank for a short tail keyword, you’re definitely going to get plenty of organic traffic.

• Competition: High

  Given the high search volumes, it’s no wonder why everyone is trying to rank for short tail keywords, the reward is high. Competition for short tail keywords is highly competitive.

  To give you a clearer picture, for pizza searches, you are behind brands like Pizza Hut, Pizza Pizza, Dominos, Papa John’s as well as all the ranking sites, local searches, and the like.

  

  So if you notice the pattern here, it’s clear that unless your company is huge at the international level, it is really tough to get into the first page of Google search results.

• Focus: Low

  There is also the issue of your search not being “targeted.” People searching for “DVD” may be looking for a player to buy but they also may be looking for a DVD player to rent, a DVD film, a DVD reproduction service, a list of DVD rentals and the like. You are going up against names like Samsung, Sony, and Amazon when you simply search DVD.

• Cost: High

  Short tail keywords also have a cost factor involved which is going to get expensive. Google AdWords is going to charge you a pretty penny to get into the short tail keyword business for your common search terms. Because so many other people are buying them you are going to need to pay a premium for your presence in these searches.

• Conversion Rate: Low

  Finally, the thing which irks most people about short tail keyword is the low conversion rate. Say you have a term that’s searched for a lot. Even if you get 10,000 searches and 100 clicks your conversion rate may be one or two customers.

  While those one or two customers may be your bread and butter, the truth is that you may have more luck and less noise if you opted for long tail keywords.

  Short tail keywords are often best utilized as part of a pillar page strategy, where they act as a foundation to attract high-volume traffic while linking to more targeted content optimized for long-tail keywords.

Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords are like a bear in the forest. They can lie dormant for a while but when they are used they are typically quite deadly. Like the bear in the forest, there isn’t too much else that competes with these keywords as you’ll see.

• Volume: Low

  When you are talking about long tail keywords you have to appreciate the level of volume. Your volume of traffic from long tail keywords is going to be far less. For some types of businesses, this may be a bad thing.

  However, if you have your wares that you are selling and you are trying to cater to your specific customer, you may not want a lot of beady eyes and sweaty breaths clogging up your virtual storefront.

• Competition: Low

  The competition among others is also lower when you have decided on a long tail keyword. When you have a search term like “RV camper power cord hatch cover” or “baseball card holder sheets” you are getting traffic. The good news for you if you’re selling these things is that there are few others who are selling the same thing. The search is going to be geared towards whatever it is you are selling and the competition for this specific traffic will be low.

• Focus: High

  Just like the low competition made evident, the targeted nature of the search traffic you get will, for most businesses selling specific things, be ideal. You will pretty well only have people who are looking for “toddler ballerina shoes with ribbon” or “cheap loveseat recliner covers,” coming to your store. That means you’re a lot more likely to have the customers you are looking for, looking for you!

• Cost: Low

  Another added benefit to the lower traffic long tail keywords is that you are going to pay a lot less for them. Google AdWords has got a reduced price for searches that are specific and contain more terms. This means that you won’t show up nearly as high in general searches (until you become the preeminent name in your industry) but you will have a lot lower cost to get you there.

  For small businesses who may have a PPC arrangement, this is going to be huge for your monthly cost. When you are selling more things to fewer customers that will be even better!

• Conversion Rates: High

  One last point about long tail keywords is the increased conversion rates. If you have people seeking out such specific things as discussed above, you will have a far easier time converting the traffic you generate. These conversion numbers are obviously going go vary depending on what it is you’re selling and where, but the numbers point very strongly in favor of long tail keyword selection.

  

  Moreover, if your customer likes what they see from your long tail conversion selection, even if they don’t buy the first time around they are far more likely to come back to your online store when they do buy simply because your site spoke to their specific needs.

Just in case you are wondering how do you find long tail keywords; we have a recent blog post about long tail keywords and how you can find them. You can find it here: Long Tail Keyword: A Strategy to Increase Conversion Rate.

Are long tail keywords better?

To simplify this entire article into a simple table, you’ll see that long tail keywords are the far better choice and rightly so.

At the end of the day, you need to do what is best for you and your small business. Of course, you want to save money and you want to have as large a web presence as you possibly can.

At the same time, you need to remember that the point of your having a web business isn’t (generally) to get people to click to your site and walk away unsatisfied with the results their search has given them; the idea is that they spend money!

Getting your customers to drop that dime and try out your business is the whole point. If you want to increase your conversion and make that sale then you should be directing traffic to your specific type of widget, whatever that may be.

In this day and age of online searches short tail keywords are very difficult to break into the rankings of. As discussed earlier it is almost impossible for small or even medium-sized businesses to rank among the big boys.

So if this is not a fight that you are even able to have, why would you want to try?

If you have a huge body of content, a very specific but general item, or strong brand and domain authority then maybe the short tail keywords will still work for you.

However, if you are looking for higher conversion rate, lower cost, lower competition, and volume that is specifically after what it is that you are selling, the long tail keyword game is one that you should be in. (Read in detail why you should use them in your content)

Next Question: How do you find Short or Long Tail Keywords?

If you’re in for a SEO tool that doesn’t bound you with a monthly subscription, then BiQ Cloud is the solution for you. In fact, you can start using them for free!

Just type in your keyword in their Keyword Intelligence and you will see a list of keywords ready to be used.

If you wish to see only long tail keywords, use their advanced filters to filter the keywords. The same goes to short tail keywords, just filter based them based on your needs.

Not only will you get semantically related keywords, you’ll also get to check out the content ideas, trending searches and popular questions your prospects are actually looking for!

Content ideas are for those of you who intends to find the next best blog to write about.

Trending searches are for those of you who wants to know what is the latest news and searchers that your leads make live on the search engines.

Popular questions are for those of you who wish to gain valuable insights on what types of questions people ask in relation to your topic.

I’m sure there’s quite a list of things you can do with Keyword Intelligence when you sign up for a free account today!

Now, think you’re all clear about short tail keyword vs long tail keyword? Spend 5 minutes on our SEO Quiz to test out your skills to make sure you’re on the right track! Test Your SEO Knowledge – SEOPressor

This post was originally written by Zhi Yuan and published on Nov 18, 2015. It was most recently updated on October 31, 2019.

Related Links:

• The Big Keyword Research Guide for SEO 
• Keyword Research: Here’s How Anyone can Get Started
• Achieve Optimal Keyword Density The Way Google Wants It

Uncover All the Short-Tail and Long-Tail Keywords You Need to Rank

We are giving out 4 more ways to discover all the short-tail and long-tail keywords you need.

Unlock these secret tips now to up your keyword research game and boost your rankings!

Do not miss out on the step-by-step guide that's included to hold your hand through every step.

Updated: 26 December 2024

About Vivian

Vivian is an anthropologist lost in the world of digital marketing. She has an interest in learning about the science of marketing and the creativity that businesses use to transform themselves into purple cows.