In this blog post, SEO specialist Digital Cornerstone is going to tackle the long tail vs short tail keywords topic and why you need to address it from the outset.
Keyword research is a vital aspect of any search engine optimization (SEO) or pay-per-click (PPC) strategy and choosing the appropriate keywords for your website is crucial for long-term success.
In order to assist you choose wisely between these two possibilities, we’ll go over all you need to know about long tail vs. short tail keywords.
Consider this your thorough comparison reference on the difference between short tail and long tail keywords for SEO and digital marketing success.
Long Tail vs Short Tail Keywords
Long tail keywords have four or more words, whereas short tail keywords only have one or two. This is the fundamental distinction between the two types of keywords. Long tail keywords are specific inquiries, whilst short tail keywords allude to general topics, making them the polar opposites of one another.
What Are Long Tail Keyword Examples?
Examples of long-tail keywords with four or more words include phrases like “buy cheap lounging socks,” “3 starhotels in Austin Texas,” “what colour is grass in the winter,” “how do ducks quack,” “best protein powder for ladies,” and others that address certain subjects.
What Are Short Tail Keyword Examples?
Short tail keyword examples include 1 or 2 words such as “food”, “football”, “dress”, “dog food”, “buy laptops”, “hire cars”, “Cheap hotels”, “best sunglasses”, “baseball bats” and other short tail keyword keywords that cover vast themes.
Pros and Cons of Short-Tail Keywords
Short-tail keywords’ benefits:
- highest volume of searches
- most effectively raises brand recognition and draws customers in at the top of the marketing funnel
- Websites with short-tail keyword optimization can rank for a variety of queries.
- Short-tail keywords’ negative aspects
- SEO and PPC face the most opposition.
- themes with a broad focus as opposed to specific ones
- lowest rates of conversion
- Typically, web page content must be lengthy (e.g., 3,000 words or more)
Pros and Cons of Long Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords’ benefits:
- least amount of opposition for SEO and PPC
- highest rates of conversion
- can achieve a high position in the search results without having many backlinks
- snares potential customers at the base of the marketing funnel
- Not all web page content needs to be lengthy (e.g., 500-1,000 words)
Long-tail keywords’ drawbacks
Whilst long-tail keywords might seem like a great idea to begin with there are some things you need to be aware of, for example:
- Less brand awareness is produced by lowest search volume.
- Only a specific phrase and its near variations often rank for web sites optimised for long tail keywords.
- when concentrating on a long-tail keyword approach, necessitates a large number of web pages on a site.
- Are Long or Short Keywords Better?
- When you want to receive targeted traffic from search engines that is simpler to convert leads into consumers, your keywords should be long. Short keywords should be utilised when you wish to rank for generic terms to promote brand recognition rather than conversions.
Long-Tail Keywords: Are They Better?
Because they provide better results from the search engines and from pay-per-click (PPC) ads, long tail keywords are beneficial for users and site owners. Because there is less competition for each search phrase, long tail keywords are also better for SEO.
However, a sound SEO plan will include both long- and short-tail keywords. Short tail keywords are great for setting up the primary pillar content for your pillar content strategy whereas long tail keywords are preferable for the various web pages that make up your SEO subject cluster approach.
How Long Should a Keyword Be?
To maximise the impact of your SEO and PPC operations, a keyword should be between three and five words long. Compared to keywords with one word or more than six words, those of length have a fair balance of visitor volume, search intent, less competition, and higher conversions.
That doesn’t mean you can’t make web pages that are focused on long-tail keywords that go beyond the advice given above. But keep in mind that due to the fact that they contain very specific search questions in the long tail of the digital marketing spectrum, these pages may not receive a lot of monthly search traffic.
A effective SEO and PPC technique is to employ lengthier keywords on fresher websites because they have lower cost-per-click (CPC) charges and don’t need as much authority to rank in the search engines.
Shorter keywords are easier to rank for in search engines for more competitive phrases, and your budget may allow you to pay for higher CPC charges as your website gets older, gains more authority, and generates more backlinks.
