Power of Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are powerful weapons in the battle to boost your search engine rankings While most content writers understand that they need to use keywords to get high rankings in search engine results, many do not know that there are different types of keywords.

The two major types of keywords used in common SEO practice are long-tail and short-tail keywords.

Short-Tail vs Long-Tail Keywords.

Short-tail keywords contain one or two words that have high search volume.

Short-tail keywords generally show that the search engine user is looking for information on a broad topic.

Examples of short-tail keywords include "Apple computers," "easy recipes," and "SEO". These keywords receive a high volume of searches each month, and the competition to rank highly in search engine results for these keywords is fierce.

Long-tail keywords contain three to five words that have varying degrees of search volume.

These keywords are generally specific phrases or questions that users search for, such as "howto choose Apple products," "easy chicken casserole recipes," and "SEO" tips for entertainment bloggers.

Because long-tail keywords are more specific than short-tail keywords, SEO competition is less fierce.

Long-tail keywords are typically searched for between a few hundred and a few thousand times each month, while most short-tail keywords receive tens of thousands of searches each month.

At first it seems counterproductive to intentionally choose keywordsthat receive less search volume than others but it is actually a powerful way to boost your SEO rankings.

Competition for short-tail keywords is intense.

If your blog or website is not already well-known, it is almost impossible to get featured on the first page of search engine results for a short-tail keyword.

The Role of Authority in Search Engine Rankings.

When determining which sites feature prominently in search engine result the major search engines like Google and Bing consider a variety of factors. One of the top factors considered by their ranking algorithms is authority.

An authoritative site features high quality content by subject expert and content writers tend to have some level of recognition and authority in their chosen field.

For example, the top results for the short-tail keyword "health" will always be from highly authoritative websites I ike WebMD, CNN and Wikipedia.

A fledgling blog or website stands little to no chance of competing with these highly authoritative websites in search engine rankings for such a heavily searched keyword.

On the other hand, smaller sites and blogs have a huge advantage in search engine rankings for long-tail keywords.

Small sites have the freedom to specialize, and they can target niche topics in which they have both knowledge and authority.

Search engines consider specialization when ranking results according to authority, which is why choosing targeted long-tail keywords is such a crucial part of achieving the search engine rankings and traffic you want.

A relatively obscure website can make it to the top simply by targeting the specific phrases and questions that search engine users are searching for. Search engines view long-tail keywords as more authoritative for searches with dearly specific intent.

Even though long-tail keywords have fewer searches, your blog or website is much more likely to receive traffic from those searches than from the great volume of short-tail keyword searches.