Keywords: Short Tail VS Long Tail

When it comes to search engine optimization, keyword targeting is one of the top 10 most important google ranking factors. 

Therefore, choosing the right keyword is necessary to get high ranking on SERP. 

While researching, you discover two types of keywords you need to use: short tail and long tail. Both these types of keywords play an important role in SEO.

In this blog we are going to tell you which type of keyword is best for you.

But first, you should know that…

What is the short tail keyword? 

Those Keywords which contain 2 words or less are considered as short tail keywords. Example : “marketing”, “digital blogs”, “marketing news” etc. they are also known as “Head Terms”.

Short tail keywords dificulty score is high beocuse they are very generic in nature. They describe only a certain category of knowledge, so they attract high search volumes.

For example, if you search for the short tail keyword like “marketing”, then Google will  generate a ridiculously high amount of results.

This is because it’s very generic. By word “marketing” Google simply can’t identify your search intent, so it shows you results about all types of marketing like, Digital marketing, offline marketing, SMS marketing, content marketing etc.

Now you know what a short tail keyword is. So let’s find out….

What is the Long tail keyword?

Those keywords which contain 3 or more words are considered as long tail keywords. They are more specific than short tail keywords. 

For example, if you search for “digital marketing course in Delhi” other than “marketing”. Then Google will show a lower amount of search results because they’re more detailed and better targeted.

But which one is better for you?. Let’s use some metrics and compare them. 

Short Tail VS Long Tail Keyword 

Here we go with…

1. Volume

Short Tail Keyword: It has high search volume because there are much more general search queries consisting of one or two words and lots of people search for a given seed keyword to start their search into a specific topic. 

Long Tail Keywords: It has low search volume because they have 3 or 4 more words which usually provide a more specific, localized or niche-based context.

2.  Competition

Short Tail Keyword: Because of its high search volume everyone wants to rank on it which makes it highly competitive.

Long Tail Keywords: because of its low search volume not many people want to rank on it which makes it low competitive.

3. Traffic Relevance: 

Short Tail Keyword: The traffic attracted by them is mostly not relevant. 

It is because, if a user searches for a short tail keyword like “digital marketing”, they may be looking for a course to do. But Google or other search engines do not know this, so they will show them every type of result on digital marketing like digital marketing trends, digital marketing blogs, digital marketing news etc.due to which the traffic on short tail keywords goes high and the relevancy of the traffic goes low. 

Long Tail Keywords: The traffic attracted by them is mostly highly relevant. 

It is because, If the same user as above will use the long tail keyword like “Digital Marketing Courses Near Me” then the search engine will show results only around the digital marketing courses. Due to which the traffic on long tail keywords goes low and the relevancy of the traffic goes high. 

4. Cost in Google Ads

Short Tail Keyword: As you would know that if the thing whose demand is high, its price is also high. And because of the high competitiveness of short tail keywords, its demand is high. Due to which its cost is also high in Google ads. 

Long Tail Keywords: As high demand = high cost, Low demand = low cost and because long tail keywords are less competitive its demand is low due to which its cost is also low. 

5. Conversion rate

Short Tail Keyword: It has a low conversion rate because of less relevant traffic. If you rank in a short tail keyword then your website will get high impressions but clicks will be very less, due to which conversions will also be very less.

Long Tail Keyword: It has a high conversion rate because of high relevant traffic. If you rank on a long tail keyword then your website will get a low impression but click will be very high because your site is meeting their specific needs, due to which conversions will also be very high. 

So which one is better? 

As you can see above, if you want a high conversion rate at low cost and less effort then Long tail keywords are a far better choice for you. Because if you rank on short tail keywords, then your efforts will be more in it and any user who visits your website will go unsatisfied. And I’m sure you wouldn’t want that. 

So, that’s all for this blog. I hope you have come to know which type of keyword is best for you. If you have any questions around keywords please feel free to get in touch.