What would be your reaction if I told you that, technically, there is no short-tail keyword?
I am sure your immediate reaction will be, then why write a blog on what is a short tail keyword?
Let me tell you why.
Short-tail keywords are also called head terms, which is a more technically appropriate term.
Let’s take the example of the keyword “shoes”.
This head term can be part of many other long keywords like “sports shoes for running,” “best office shoes for men,” “Best office shoes for women,” etc.
If you have noticed, the so-called short-tail keywords are actually the heads of the long-tail ones.
These keywords are super competitive and challenging to rank in search engine result pages.
To know why, just dig in.
What is short-tail keyword?
Short-tail keywords or head terms are broad topics from where specific and super specific topics come out.
For example, “cooking oil” is an example of a short-tail keyword, while “best cold compressed sesame oil for cooking” is a long-tail keyword.
“Cooking oil” raises many questions about the user’s intent, like whether they want mustard oil, olive oil, sesame oil, or coconut oil. At the same time, “best cold compressed sesame oil for cooking” tells you about the user’s intent.
The example also shows how the broader short-tail keyword is a part of the super-specific long-tail one.
For the same reason, short-tail keywords are called as “heads” or “seeds” that you can use to search different, more extended versions of keywords.
They are also called “broad keywords”.
As i have already said, long-tail and short-tail are the names given depending on the keywords’ position in “search demand” curves.
Source: https://ahrefs.com/blog/long-tail-keywords/
The image above shows how popular and highly competitive short-tail keywords are.
Let me help you understand with an example.
Amazon is an online retailer which sells almost everything under the sun. And whenever anyone needs anything, they just search on Amazon.
Myntra, on the other hand, only focuses on fashion, and those who want to buy apparel, accessories, or anything related to beauty and grooming would go to it for their needs.
Sirona is a brand that deals in women’s menstrual hygiene products. Sirona is super niche, and it has very few competitors.
Now imagine if you plan to open your online retail store following Amazon’s model, your journey will be extremely challenging as you will be locking horns with the king of online stores.
But if your debut is super niche and specific, like Sirona, your journey as an online store will be much smoother.
Similarly, if you write a blog on “cooking oil” after checking its search volume (20K), you need to be prepared to face 7,37,000 competitors.
But if you write a blog on “benefits of mustard oil for cooking,” you will have only 9 competitors.
I can understand if you try to avoid short-tail keywords seeing the colossal competition it has.
Before you jump to any conclusion, let’s check what role short-tail keywords play in your keyword research so that you can make informed decisions for your future projects.
Why are short-tail keywords important?
Short-tail keywords or head terms are essential for keyword research since they are unavoidable and always there as “seed” keywords.
These seeds lay the foundation of your keyword research and help you generate keyword ideas.
Take the example of “T-Shirt.” Using this seed keyword, you can get many other keywords like “white t-shirts for women,” “stylish full sleeve t-shirts for girls,” and “loose t-shirt for women.”
What is the difference between short-tail and long-tail keywords?
Check these differences between short-tail and long-tail keywords to understand them better:
- Short-tail keywords are broader and general search queries, while long-tail keywords are specific search queries.
- Despite the large number of hits short-tail keywords receive, they are extremely competitive.
Long-tail keywords give you a clear picture of searchers’ intent. Hence, the conversion rate increases when you create high-quality content using these keywords.
- The traffic that long and short-tail keywords bring to your site differs from that of long-tail keywords.
Long-tail keywords have lower search volumes than short-tail ones. But they are more specific search terms that clearly signal the intent. Searchers use these keywords when they are about to buy some product or service and for voice searches.
That’s why these keywords lead to more conversions. Short-tail keywords can bring huge traffic to your site, but you cannot expect the same conversion rate as you will get from the long-tail ones.
- Content creation is much easier with long-tail keywords as they are super specific queries that help you understand the user’s intent.
- On the contrary, short-tail keywords are used for broader topics, so creating content on them is challenging.
Need an example?
Let me ask you a question.
Between “Calculator” and “how to use a calculator,” which one would you choose to write a blog about?
Should you use short-tail keywords?
Short-tail keywords will be part of your keyword research, regardless of whether you want them.
Before including or excluding short-tail keywords, check these important points:
Source: https://raventools.com/marketing-glossary/short-tail-keywords/
- Short-tail keywords have the highest monthly searches. They allow you to get more traffic to your site from organic searches. “Calculator” is a search query with a 4.6M volume per Ahref keyword explorer.
- That said, they are highly competitive, and you will be locking horns with some of the mightiest competitors.
If your primary keyword is “Calculator,” and you create content around it, you will have 1,91,00,000 competitors.
- Mind it, short-tail keywords will be there in the long-tail ones as heads or seeds.
- So even if you use long-tail keywords, they will help you rank for short and broad keywords.
- Most importantly, if your brand is not strong and well-established in your niche, you would have to invest a lot more resources to rank in short-tail keywords than the long-tail ones.
Final thoughts
Finally, long-tail and short-tail are the terms that are given based on the search volume and competition of the keywords. Short-tail keywords are search queries with huge search volume and competition; long-tail keywords are search queries with low search volume and competition.
Ranking for short-tail keywords can give you a tremendous return on investment as they have massive search volumes, that is if you tore through the massive competition.
They are like a head of an animal. They will always be there, as the animal cannot survive without the head. Likewise, long-tail keywords always have
short-tail ones as seeds, without which they cannot exist.
Long tail keywords give you a better conversion rate as they aim at niche topics. Also, they will allow you to rank for short and long-tail ones.
I hope I have answered all your queries related to short-tail keywords.
Do you still have questions about them?
Feel free to shoot them in the comment section.
FAQ’s
What are mid-tail keywords?
Mid-tail or medium-tail keywords are search queries with medium search volume and competition.
What are the pros and cons of short-tail keywords?
Short tail keywords are the search queries that are used by a huge number of searchers. In short, they are super popular and have high search volumes. That said, they are very tough to rank for.
