Long Tail Vs Short Tail Keywords

Keywords are those words that are selected wisely to promote a website on the search engines. People enter these words in the query box of the search engines to find information.These are those words or set of words which are used by the user to search anything on search engines and which are used by the search engines as search strings for matching against documents.Search engine optimizers make use of these keywords as their main strategy for promoting websites. Keyword research is one of the most important elements of search engine optimization.In Seo terms, single word search terms are known as keywords and multiple word search terms are known as keyphrase.

Examples of Keywords

Some of the common examples of keywords are given below:-

easy recipes
popular outdoor games
plumber in + (City name)
sweet shops in + (City Name)
party themes
top places to travel etc.

 How to choose keywords ?

Selection of keywords is a tricky thing. Professional search engine optimizers take a lot of time choosing the right keywords. Each and every website should be analyzed properly before choosing keywords for promoting the website. The site should be analyzed for content, the geographical market of the business, the local value of the keywords, the real business prospect, the conversion rate, the global search results etc.

Popular tools for choosing keywords are as follows:-

Google Keyword Tool
Wordstream 
Wordtracker
Youtube keyword tracker
Keyword Discovery
Bing Keyword Tool
Market Samurai

Long Tail Vs Short Tail Keywords

In the Seo world, we talk about two types of keywords- Long tail keywords and short tail keywords. Long tail keywords consist of 3-4 words and are easier to rank. On the other hand, short tail keywords consist of 1-2 words and are harder to rank. Long Tail keywords usually contain the city name in them while the short tail keywords are the more popular ones and not limited to a specific area.

It would be surprising to note but its true that Google handles a large volume on long tail searches per day. Long tail searches are really useful when you want something specific. Long tail keywords helps to refine a search and often gives you the best results within no time.It is easier to rank your website for long tail keywords rather than short tail keywords because the competition you experience with long tail keywords is less when compared to short tail keywords.

Examples of Long Tail Keywords 

• Pizza outlets in New York
• Send Cakes to Dothan Alabama
• Cheap Plumber in Mumbai
• Want a job in Texas
• List of Christmas recipes

 Examples of Short Tail Keywords 

• Buy gifts
• Online shoe store
• Rose
• Learn seo
• Books

How to Use Keywords Effectively

How to Use Keywords Effectively

Well, one of the most important elements of Search Engine Optimization is the effective use of keywords. Many webmasters ignore this tactic and then try to find out the reason why the sites are not ranking well on Google or the other search engines. You should use your keywords wisely and keep the important words in the title tag and the heading tag. The points below would help you in understanding the areas where you should focus upon in maximizing your chances of good keyword exposure.

Use Keywords on the Title and the Meta Tags

You should use your selected keywords on the title tag, Meta description tag and the Meta keyword tag. This is the most important thing to consider while creating web pages. Having your keywords in these meta tags maximizes your chances of ranking and it also becomes easier for the user to locate your website or web page. Remember title tag and description tag are being used by the search engines in their SERPS (Search Engine Result Pages) and therefore choose them wisely.

Warning- DO NOT STUFF KEYWORDS (One general point which I must cover is that please do not stuff keywords in your webpages. Write pages for your audience and not for the search engines. Remember the lesson is to use keywords and not overuse them.

Use keywords on H1 and <bold> tags

You should use your main keywords on the H1 tag of your page. You may also use the bold tags as the search engine’s gives more weight to the words which are present on the H1 tag or the bold or emphasis tag.

Provide Alt Tags to Images

I would not suggest you to use keywords in your alt tags but would definitely suggest you to provide related alt tags to images. For example, if you are having an image related to Joker then you must describe the alt tag as “Joker” and not “Jo12”, “J1”,”45s” or some other useless names. Having alt tags in the web pages adds to the usage of proper keywords on the page and ultimately your webpage becomes a relevant page in the eyes of search engines.

Warning: - Do not overuse keywords on alt tags but choose it wisely.

Use Keywords in the Anchor Text

This is an important point and you must not miss this. You should use keywords in the anchor text while linking to that web page. For example if your web page is about a Joker then you must use the anchor text “Joker” while linking to the web page.

Warning- Do not repeat the use of Anchor Text but use variations whenever possible or you might get penalized for this.

Use Synonyms of the main keyword

If you are using synonyms of the main targeted keyword on the web page then there is a greater possibility that the search engines might rate your web page more relevant to that keyword. The point to note is that – A quality and relevant article automatically contains some synonyms and you do not have to force synonyms into it. But if you still do not have synonyms in your web page then do get some.

Warning- Overuse of synonyms and spammy article written only for the search engines might get your website penalized. Always keep the audience in mind and add quality stuff to your article, I am sure, synonyms will automatically follow.

I hope you must have understood the real use of the keywords in your web page’s content. My personal advice would be to do proper research on the topic on which you are going to write an article and then make it quality, include some stuff that are not written elsewhere, include some stuff that would be useful for the audience, have some references if you think its necessary, use proper (not spammy) title and meta tags. Provide alt tags if you are having images and remember to keep the anchor text clean.

Golden Rule: - 

1. Go after relevancy and not after competitors. 

2. If you become relevant in your niche and provide some quality stuff then the search engines would be forced to rank you up.