Long Tails or Short Tail Keywords

[lindondaylon]

What do you think is most effective tactics for SEO when it comes to keyword? If i will gonna be using long tail or short tail what are the positive effect and negative too. Which goes the best? any reply is highly appreciated.

[Groovystar]

If you are already indexed on google and at least some people are finding you, you could try installing analytics like Statcounter. They will tell you what keywords people use to find you and then click your site. Those are the keywords you want to work for right there.

[ezhel]

most of the short tail kws happens to be in general or broad searches,I prefer long tail kws it is much effective though but make sure to analyze if it has a few numbers of competitors and searches not more than a one thousand.

[ashno88]

Originally Posted by lindondaylon

What do you think is most effective tactics for SEO when it comes to keyword? If i will gonna be using long tail or short tail what are the positive effect and negative too. Which goes the best? any reply is highly appreciated.

Long tail keywords are highly recommended for websites that are new and just beggining to compete with their competitors. Having long tail would give your website flexibility and chance to rank on keywords since the competition is lower than the major or core keyword itself. It may not give you significant traffic on a specific long tail keyword per say since not too many searchers may use that long tail keyword query , but it would give you a high chance of good positioning in the SERP. My theory for this is if you have a number of long tail keywords that your website ranks well, If you sum all the long tail keyowrds you got, it would give a number of descent traffic.

Major keywords on the other hand would give you guaranteed number of traffic since it's the most used query by searchers. Although a major keyword may be searched a million of times in a month(giving you a million of traffic for that individual keyword), it would mean that all your comepetitors are vouching for that major keyword also, giving you less chance of being listed in higher postion since they are already link build setup for that keyword.

I suggest you go with the long tail keyword first, if your website is new, and then gradually move to the major keywords. see reference for more on long tail vs short tail keywords, http://www.marketinghub.info/long-ta...tail-keywords/
http://www.searchingsolutions.com/lo...tail-keywords/

[telesto]

Once I've done my keyword research for a new site, I generally prefer to go with a mix of long-tail and "short-tail" keywords. Long-tail keywords are easier to rank for by far, but they will also bring in less traffic. If the site I'm working on is something that I plan to develop over the long-term, then I focus much more on the higher traffic keywords since I'm willing put in the time and effort to rank for them. For sites that are designed to yield more immediate results, I go with more long-tail keywords.

I've also found that if you go for medium to high traffic keywords and SEO those well, the long-tail keywords will naturally follow over time.

[mjtaylor]

The short answer is both.

Longer tailed keywords have at least two advantages:

1. They are highly targeted. When someone types in 4 or more words they have probably already searched or are very clear what they are looking for. That makes them more "qualified" traffic than someone who is typing 2-3 words.

2. Longer tailed keywords are often far less competitive so it's easier to achieve a page 1 position in the SERPs.

The combination of factors make long tailed terms very attractive, especially for a newer site.

Ashno's suggestion is good. I have often targeted longer terms first, and once my site is ranked well for those, I have targeted, the shorter more competitive terms. It seems to be a good strategy; it builds on strength.

Hope that helps. Perhaps someone else can add some additional perspective on longer tailed terms and their advantages?

[ashno88]

Originally Posted by mjtaylor

The short answer is both.

Longer tailed keywords have at least two advantages:

1. They are highly targeted. When someone types in 4 or more words they have probably already searched or are very clear what they are looking for. That makes them more "qualified" traffic than someone who is typing 2-3 words.

2. Longer tailed keywords are often far less competitive so it's easier to achieve a page 1 position in the SERPs.

The combination of factors make long tailed terms very attractive, especially for a newer site.

Ashno's suggestion is good. I have often targeted longer terms first, and once my site is ranked well for those, I have targeted, the shorter more competitive terms. It seems to be a good strategy; it builds on strength.

Hope that helps. Perhaps someone else can add some additional perspective on longer tailed terms and their advantages?

Good posting! Thanks for further explaining a number of points I missed out on my previous post. Anyway here's some reference on the benefits of having long tails keywords,

http://contactdubai.com/seo/benefits...-tail-keywords
http://blogsessive.com/blogging-tips...-optimization/
http://www.wordstream.com/long-tail

[kbeus21]

mjtaylor has a good strategy one that I have done quite a few times. I personally don't think about it as long or short terms, but more and less competitive terms. For my newer websites I will go after the less competitive terms in my niche I will also do this for pages rather than sites such as squidoo, hubpages, articles, ect.. If it is a large website or blog then after gaining top position for a less competitive term I will move onto a larger traffic term. I have found this to work quite well and from time to time I need to check all of my pages/websites/blogs and stats to see where my rank is and will have to build a few links.

[mividazul]

its depend on you site PR, Popularity and Backlink bcz if you have PR, Popularity and Backlink so use sort tail keywords like Buy Computer, Computer shop, cheap computer and if your page not more popular so use like buy computer online, computer shop New York, Buy Cheap Computer

[umi.gold]

Originally Posted by lindondaylon

What do you think is most effective tactics for SEO when it comes to keyword? If i will gonna be using long tail or short tail what are the positive effect and negative too. Which goes the best? any reply is highly appreciated.

it totally depends on the keyword ..... i mean how competitive the keyword is.
If there is high competition for that than go for long tail kw else you can go for the same

[jannah is awesome]

In some regards it is going to depend on your objective. The reason I am an advocate of long tail keywords is that I can be a bigger fish in a smaller pond.

What do I mean by that? Long tail search terms tend to not have as many searches daily than more generic search terms. Thus, I have a better opportunity to dominate that search.

Long-tail keywords are generally going to show a higher conversion rate, as people are more specific in what they are looking for. Additionally, long-tail’s will usually be less competitive to target than short-tail; which means you have less work and will be in the SERP’s much quicker.

I have found that my clients who rank for a single popular term, do not get as many sales from that term than the longer more explicit key phrases.

Although, it all boils down to your website purpose and the industry you’re in. For example, if you are a banner serving site, you want traffic, so the more direct the keyword, the more traffic you will get.

It is also going to give me a better opportunity to get the business. Since long term keywords are more precise, the searcher probably has a better idea of what they are in fact wanting. In essence, they are shooting with a rifle vs. a shotgun.

And if they are shooting with a rifle in a longtail that is not as competitive, I will either dominate that category or refine what I do to be in the top 3 (where 50% of the clicks go to)

[jseod]

Originally Posted by mividazul

its depend on you site PR, Popularity and Backlink bcz if you have PR, Popularity and Backlink so use sort tail keywords like Buy Computer, Computer shop, cheap computer and if your page not more popular so use like buy computer online, computer shop New York, Buy Cheap Computer

yes i am agree with mividazul. If your site have no good pr, backlink, and popularity, you using short keyword its not useful for you bse its never come in
SERP. Its a totally time waster for you. One more thing keyword is depend upon on your site service.

[SEO Seeker]

I say, mix it up. Use both short and long tail. Simply put it will make you more searchable.

[Jeff Collision]

First use Google Keyword Tool for getting more number of KW suggestions., Long tail keywords can be best.For new website always start with the Long tail keywords and after 5-6 months you can change it and target on short keywords ( main keywords ) Its not a big deal to identify long tail KW - just use 'your service' + 'target audience' - will make one long tail KW for you..
carefully note the no of searched for any KW that you chosen - that is more important, it must have descent search volume.

[lindondaylon]

Thanks guys for all the explanation, tips and insights. It really helps me a lot and the confussion makes a clear clarification on my part. I really appreciate it.

[Hafsoh]

There is less competition for long tail keywords, so you can rank high for the keywords far easier than ranking for short tail keywords, another benefit of long tail keywords is that the visitors convert amazingly well to sales and ad clicks.

[coolguy27]

Long Tail Keyword is really recommended if your site is just new and you have plenty of competition...

[joelchrist]

Its totally depends on your site niche, If it is short tail keyword, it wold be more easy to promote.

[rypher21]

long tail kw's is much preferred...more people prefer searching using longer phrases

[leena1]

Selection of long tail or short tail keywords depends on your site business as well as domain age and keywords competition and searches.