How do you balance between short-tail and long-tail keywords? (2024)

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Clarification: "short-tail" is a confusion with "short head"; think of the distribution of search terms as dragon with one big thick head & one long tail. Where it's big you'll find more general high volume terms. Out the skinny tail are the longer & more focused phrases.Prioritize with Google's preference for "helpful content" in mind. Try this stepped process:First, pile up your keywords and terms including stats on their difficulties & traffic potentialSecond, identify the top terms to pursue based on your biz, traffic potential, & likelihood of your successThird, create a plan that includes content creation, on-page & tSEO elements. "Helpful Content" is key!Review your progress regularly & communicate it with your colleagues!

For the newer website, it should start with long tail keywords, once the traffic is coming for long tail keywords add link to your short tail keywords article to rank for short tail keyword as well.

I'd add that long-tail keywords can help you reach a more targeted audience who are truly interested in what you offer, rather than just casting a wide net. The tradeoff is lower volume, but higher conversion rates if you meet that specific need. It's about finding the right balance for your goals.

There are three types of keywords:head keywords (one word)body keywords (two or three words)long tail keywordsI think this classification is not suitable for checking the conversion rate of words. Long tail keywords can be related to blog or products. The correct classification for checking conversion rate and keyword value should be as follows:transactionalCommercialnavigationalinformational

Any website or blog should work on both. Newer websites should know the short-tail keywords they want to rank for and use them across the homepage. However, they should focus on long-tail keywords to drive traffic and curate content as these are less competitive and help build your ranking up.

Long-tail keywords are like the budget-friendly, super-specific gems of the search world, making up more than 90% of what people type into search engines. But by going all-in on long-tail keywords, you might struggle to get enough traffic.On the flip side, traffic that does not bring enough conventions and makes it hard to hit your marketing goals is of no value. When deciding between long-tail and short-tail keywords, it is important to remember that both are crucial parts of a good SEO strategy and help you achieve your goals.

"Absolutely, it's all about striking the right balance in your keyword strategy. Short-tail keywords for broad reach and long-tail keywords for precision – both are essential tools in your SEO toolkit. Understanding when to use each can make a big difference in your online presence and success."

Don't try optimizing one page for too many keywords!Plan your content strategy and keyword placement in line with your site's architecture.If you are an e-commerce decide what keywords you will use to optimize category pages and what will be dedicated to product pages.If you are a B2B website think of building content in the form of longer guides providing expert knowledge in your area. Don't forget to select keywords for your homepage and main service pages.As a rule of thumb, the more clicks away from the homepage a given page is, the harder it will be for it to rank for short, competitive keywords. It can be influenced by internal and external linking, but generally speaking, use short keywords on your most prominent pages.

Long-tail keywords tend to be easier to rank for and importantly have higher intent. You may not get high levels of traffic, but should convert better than short-tail.Build out long-tail as a base and then hit short-tail as traffic and insights start to grow.Quality over quantity first.

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Sometimes, you might focus on a keyword, but instead, you get more impressions for a slight variation of it. Do not just ignore it. Instead, when updating that content, ensure that you also incorporate that variation into the content to optimize it even further. Google Search Console can be very effective in tracking down such variations.

The average position provided by Google Search Console can be a very good metric to follow your performance on the keyword level.However, it should always be analyzed in combination with Clicks & CTR. For every industry, country, device, and even keyword, Google uses a different set of "featured snippets" and personalized search results. 1st position for one keyword may generate completely different traffic than 1st position for a slight variation of that keyword. Pay attention to how search engine results look for your keywords and if they bring you expected volumes of traffic.

Discovering short-tail keywords is relatively straightforward and involves brainstorming, analyzing your website and competition, and using keyword research tools like Ahrefs, Moz, and SEMrush.In contrast, long-tail keywords require a bit more effort. A few common ways to find them are by using Google suggestions, analyzing your website's performance, and exploring industry-relevant Slack channels. But the best way to find long-tail keywords relevant to your audience is by getting curious about what your audience is interested in, building connections, and doing interviews with subject matter experts, which you can then use to inspire your content.

Actively practicing keyword research and tracking results over time is invaluable too. There's no better teacher than experience. Trying new things, learning from mistakes, and finding what works for your niche takes experimentation. But it pays off in the long run with better optimized content.

In my opinion, we should not focus on keywords, but instead target intent.A user has a goal, and they can search for it in thousands of ways, whether it is a long-tail keyword or any other type of keyword.