Long and short-tail keywords

Short-tail keywords are much more general search queries consisting of one or two words, while long-tail keywords consist of two to four or even more words.

Short-tail keyword examples include “travel”, “Joslin Smiths”, “Costa Titch, “SASSA updates”.

Long-tail keyword examples are “Brenda Fassie songs”, “Princess Kate Middleton photo”, or “best travel destinations in South Africa”.

Voice & Style guide refresher training – March 2024

Both keyword t ypes have t heir pros and cons.

– Short- tail keywords tend to have the most traffic. However, short- tail keywords are extremely competitive due to the large number of hits the keywords receive.

– Long- tail keywords are less popular (but not worse). They are more specific: a writer’s article will be far less competitive because the traffic generated is more likely to lead to conversions (in our case, pageviews, higher rankings and a longer Average Time Spent on Page). Long- tail keywords are more relevant and intent- driven.

How to target successfully when using long-t ail keywords:

1. The keyphrase must be in your headline. An example would be: “Kaizer Chiefs new coach”, “Ex-

Sundowns attacker Lerato Chabangu”, or “New Pirates signing”.

2. The keyphrase must appear in your opening sent ence/int roduct ory paragraph, preferably as near

to the beginning as possible.

3. The keyphrase must appear in your first sub-heading and at least 50% of all subheadings

contained within your article, if more than two.

4. The keyphrase must appear throughout the body of your copy.

5. Your blurb/excerpt/meta description must contain your focus keyphrase (again, the nearer to the

beginning of the sentence, the better).

6. Your focus keyphrase, as well as any other related keyphrases, should appear in the alt text block of

your featured image.

TAKEAWAYS:

Voice & Style guide refresher training – March 2024

– Keyphrase synonyms can simplify the optimisation process.

– Even if it is a long- tail keyphrase, it still needs to be correct, semantically and syntactically. Eg.

“Tshwane load shedding schedule” and not “schedule Tshwane load shedding”.

– Remember to balance between short- tail and long- tail keywords. Consider using short- tail

keywords for main topics, categories e.t.c. Long- tail keywords should be used for subtopics,

subcategories, and posts to rank for specific terms and draw in a more engaged and loyal

audience.

– To effectively gauge the success of your keyword research strategy, you should measure the

performance of your keywords using various tools and metrics. Eg; Google Analytics.

For additional information on long- tail and short- tail keywords, see Voice and Style guide page 41-43.