Imagine you want to grab a bite at a restaurant. But the rumblings in your stomach aren’t giving you information any more specific than “need food.” So, you just type “restaurants near me” into Google or take a stroll down the street to see what speaks to you. You’ll find something eventually, but you’ll be sifting through a lot of possibilities that don’t quite fit your cravings. Then it suddenly hits you: what you really want right now is a nice bowl of pho. Now, you can change your search query to something like “Vietnamese restaurants near me” or “best pho in Portland,” making it easier to quickly zero in on a restaurant that will hit the spot.
That’s roughly how long-tail keywords versus short-tail keywords work. A short-tail keyword (also known as a container keyword) is, as the name implies, a shorter variation of a keyword (no more than three words) that will be broader. Since it’s a more general term, it will have higher search volume and competition. A long-tail keyword is a longer query that will have a narrower focus and lower search volume and competition. Both are needed for a successful content marketing strategy.
When to Use Long-Tail Keywords
When determining what variety of keywords to use, consider two things:
- Content Type
- Search Intent.
Since short-tail keywords are broader, these will be best suited to primary landing pages. It’s a good idea to identify some core container keywords related to your business at the start of your SEO campaign that you can build off of as your work progresses. These containers can make excellent keywords for your homepage or gateway pages, as these broad keywords pull in a lot of search volume and readers on these pages will be looking for more comprehensive information about your business and products/services.
That being said, the competition is too high to make most short-tail keywords the ideal choice for blog articles. Besides, you don’t want to write all your blog articles on super general topics; that won’t satisfy what people are hoping to get out of your articles. Instead, opt for long-tail keywords when writing blog articles. This allows you to select keywords with a competition level your blog can tackle while creating niche, targeted articles that provide excellent answers to all your readers’ questions. Long-tail keywords also help you target different facets of your audience. For example, if your business develops apps, you could do a series of articles targeting different industries your company targets, i.e. “app development for healthcare” or “financial services app development.” This way, you can generate content that speaks to everyone who might be interested in your product or service.
Here’s a graphic from our blog on SaaS keyword strategies that outlines the relationship between gateways and long-tail pages:
