Short tail keywords

In the realm of search engine optimization (SEO), short-tail keywords are vital for attracting significant traffic to websites.

While they can attract a large audience, short-tail keywords also face intense competition and do not always match users’ specific intentions.

This introduction explores the importance of understanding short tail keywords and how they can be used strategically in an effective SEO strategy.

What are short tail keywords and what are they for?

A short tail keyword is a keyword of one or two words that users use to search on Google. They are usually keywords that have a large search volume but are general and do not respond to specific search intentions.

Therefore, they are usually quite competitive in the SERPs and in the field of paid advertising.

It is very difficult to rank a short tail keyword in the top positions of search results, but if achieved, it will attract a lot of traffic.

However, sometimes it can be useless or even counterproductive.

For example, if you offer hairdressing services at home in Chicago and you rank for “hairdressing at home” you will be contacted by a huge number of people to whom you will not be able to offer your services.

You would have to rank for “hairdressing at home in Chicago.”

Short tail keywords are part of long tail keywords, as you can see in the example we just showed you. That is, within “hairdressing at home in Chicago” includes “hairdressing at home.”

For that reason, they are usually used as a seed to find long tail keywords, which are easier to rank for but attract less traffic.

Also, think that by ranking long tail keywords, you can also start ranking the short tail keywords they contain.

Examples of using short tail words

Let’s start with the example of the short tail keyword “sneakers“. In principle, we assume that you want to buy sneakers and the SERPs prove us right since we see several online stores in the top positions.

It has approximately 368k searches per month, but nothing confirms that the user can find what they are really looking for at first.

We don’t know if you want men’s, women’s, or children’s sneakers, if they are for running, if you want them of a specific brand or color…

If you have an e-commerce, you are interested in ranking for short tail keywords that cover several products.

In the example we have given, if you sell sneakers, you are interested in ranking for this word.

This also applies to services. In the example, we have used the keyword “lawyers” which has a large number of monthly searches.

However, it includes not only specific types of lawyers (labor lawyers, criminal lawyers, public defenders…) but also locations (lawyers in Chicago, lawyers in San Francisco…)

In this case, if you are a labor lawyer who works in Chicago, it could be counterproductive to dedicate efforts to ranking for “lawyers.”

It would be more profitable for you to opt for the long tail keyword “labor lawyer in Chicago” so that users who are specifically looking for what you offer can find you.

If what you have is a niche to monetize, for example, precisely what interests you is using short tails to attract a lot of traffic, although it will not be easy.

The keyword “fitness” has 368k searches per month but is very competitive. If you search on Google, it will give you more than 4,050,000,000 results.

In contrast, the long tail keyword derived from it, “fitness to lose weight,” reduces the results to 12,500,000 and the searches to just a couple of dozen.

Therefore, the usual strategy is to first rank for long tail keywords.

And, from there, work on short tail keywords if you see good possibilities to earn a place in the top positions.

Remember that everything will largely depend on the competitors you find in the SERPs and the options you have to overcome them.