Thread by @I___DEREKflint

Shorter keywords vs longtail keywords in SEO -- And how to communicate about them to your CEO/clients [🧵🧵🧵]

If you’ve ever been thrown a keyword target by your CEO or your client, it’s likely been for a one or two-word keyword (aka head terms and seed keywords).

Why?

They come with the sexiest monthly traffic numbers.

Now, imagine you work for a company that sells pet fish and your biggest moneymaker comes from selling goldfish.

You can imagine a CEO sending you an email saying, “I want us to be number 1 for the keyword “goldfish.”

Even more terrifying is if they send you a screenshot of the keyword from one of the keyword research tools (like the one above.)

That 137k number on the right, of course, is Ahrefs monthly traffic volume estimate for that keyword.

It’s your job as an SEO to be able to set expectations around demands like this.

And that means that you need to know a bit about keywords.

What you need to know about short keywords in general:

1️⃣ Short keywords are hard for Google to interpret because it’s often less clear what exactly a person wants when searching for a single word.

To give a searcher what they “most likely” want, Google will deliver a diverse range of answers (intents) on these SERPs.

That means there is limited room on a SERP for any one type of intent.

And...

2️⃣ They are often the most difficult keywords to rank on page 1 for because:

They’re either so top-of-funnel and broad that Google will only give them to the most authoritative websites on that subject.

OR...

They are in fact so valuable that companies with the most amount of money to spend on SEO efforts will spend a small fortune on backlink building and updating their content to stay in positions 1-3.

Let’s take our “goldfish” example to the SERPs to illustrate my first point above.

When you type in the word “goldfish” into the SERP, the first result is a local map pack.

Google’s first guess for that keyword is that you either:

a) Are looking to buy a goldfish. And you want to know where you can buy one, locally

or

b) Are looking to attend the Goldfish Swim School that is nearby your location.

The rich snippet map result means that the results for this search will not be the same for every searcher.

Try it for yourself. Unless you’re located in the Tampa Bay, FL area, your results will be different than mine and anyone else that doesn’t live near you.

What else does Google think a searcher might be interested in when searching “goldfish?"

It looks like Google knows that other searchers are often interested in:

✅ understanding what they are, and some facts about them

✅ what to expect when caring for a Goldfish as a pet

✅ some existential wondering about the capacity of a Goldfish’s brain

✅ video results to learn about goldfish

✅ The Goldfish snack brand’s Twitter feed and products

✅ And even information about a DJ music duo

Explaining what this keyword means to a client or your CEO👇

Your role as an SEO is to help advise your CEO or your client on the hurdles and realities of ranking for such a query.

And you should advise on action steps to be taken to be optimized for results like these.

If you’re a small family-owned business that sells pet fish, the best you’re going to do in this space is:

1) Have an optimized product page for local search

2) Ensure your Google Business Profile is as descriptive and up to date as possible so that you come up in the maps

Beyond that, the sheer authority and size of the competitors, and the diversity of topics that the keyword “goldfish” displays should give you confidence in advising AGAINST sinking excessive funds into the pursuit of this keyword.

Understanding longtail keywords (longer phrases):

Longer keywords are much more specific in their intent than seed keywords are, and their specificity often results in less sexy search volumes.

An example, to continue our goldfish theme, might be:

What you need to know about longtail keywords in general:

✅ They are easier for Google to understand what it is that a searcher is looking for because the length of the phrase often adds context.

✅ They tend to have less monthly search volume associated with them

But what you give up in volume, you gain in control of both targeting an audience and the type of page you can create in order to rank on page 1.

✅ They tend to have less competition associated with them so longer tail queries often make great targets for newer websites.

✅ The specificity of a longtail keyword also means that whoever lands on your page is likely looking for the content that you’re serving them and can result in much higher conversion rates.

Let’s take a look at our SERP for “what do goldfish eat” to illustrate the above:

You’ll immediately notice that there is a common thread between all the organic results on this page. They’re posts about what goldfish can eat.

There is way less confusion about what people want to learn -- making this is a much more stable keyword to target.

You could understand why a pet food store might want to target a keyword like this.

1) Answer what it is that a goldfish can eat for users

2) Then sprinkle in how you have a product to help feed goldfish if they’re looking for a new food/treat option

If you really like the goldfish theme and you love learning SEO --> give this post a retweet!

This is one small fraction of my latest newsletter on understanding keywords to help improve rankings.

You can find that resource for free in the link below.

derekseo.substack.com/p/your-misunde…