If I optimize for a long tailed keyword, will I also catch the short keywords within it?
-
Say my long tailed keyword has three words in it that I also consider keywords. Will I catch the searches for those short keywords, or just the long tailed keyword phrase?
-
I usually optimize mainly for the short tail keyword, and try to include lots of diverse content that will also qualify my page to rank for long tail queries. Why? Because many of the long tail queries contain the short tail keyword within them.
I will make an effort to place my most important long tail queries in the title tag to give the page extra ranking strength for them.
If you have really strong content that is competitive with what is ranking on the first page of Google for a short tail query, you should not hesitate to go after the short tail query. If you can produce competitive quality content - Do Not Fear Competition - because where you have heavy competition there is also lots of traffic and lots of money changing hands. Optimize your page, make sure that is as good as you can make it, toss it up, and you will probably connect with traffic. Promote it as you feel necessary.
Although I currently don't believe anyone who claims to understand RankBrain, I believe that it is going to strongly favor long tail content that is highly competitive.
-
Not really sure about what to say except, yeah pretty much. This happens quite a lot for me on a couple of my key phrases that I have worked hard to optimise. Depending on either of the searches we rank well.
But remember it is not just about the phrase but all of the peripheral page and site optimisation that also contribute to the page doing well as without all of the elements coming together you may lack behind any competitors / authorities.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
What do You Think the Biggest Search Trends will Be in 2020?
Just interested to hear everyone's thoughts. Personally I think that, even though voice search is already pretty big - it's about to get much, much larger and this may even entirely change the infrastructure of the web. What are your thoughts for changes in search 2020?
Algorithm Updates | | effectdigital2 -
Optimising meta tags: How to write them perfectly without duplicating? Impact of using different keywords?
Hi friends, Generally most of the articles about tags are either title rag or header tags, but not about both. I would like to know how to write perfect title and header tags. How much they must be relevant and different? Can we use the same tags for title and H1? If we are planning to rank for different keywords, can that different keywords can be used? I'm really curious to see some interesting answers for this. Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Using Brand value for SEO: Can we use keyword with brand name?
Hi Moz community, I am curious to know this. Let's say there is a brand value for a company. It has it's own popularity that it's been mentioned across the internet and social media directly with brand name without their service or industry keyword. Now if the company started promoting themselves like keyword along with their brand name, will it help them to rank for that keyword. For example, Moz is already famous, now they want to rank for "SEO" and related keywords, so they started calling themselves on internet "Moz SEO"; will this fetch them in ranking for keyword SEO? My ultimate question is, using primary keyword along with brand name will work out in ranking for that primary keyword or not? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Optimize for separate words or combined word.
I can't find good answers to this question so I'm asking here. Thanks for any help you can give. Most people, 4 out of 5, search for our product using two separate words, while the trademarked name of the product is one word. Think: CleanCar(tm) vs Clean Car. However our product is a leader in the industry so it would be like searching for perhaps "Play Station" vs "Playstation" if people were looking for a gaming console in general. Google separates them in the search volumes so I am assuming it does not see Clean Car in the same way it sees CleanCar. I (obviously) want to rank as highly as possible in both while keeping brand integrity in mind. Should I SEO for just the CleanCar or both? Perhaps using CleanCar in the title and Clean Car in the description? Does Google distinguish? Thanks! bnew
Algorithm Updates | | mcampanaro0 -
Losing rank to Scholarly Articles and Keyword Description Stuffing
I began reviewing the rankings this week and noticed that many of our #1,#2, etc rankings had been bummed down as a whole. After reviewing many of the search terms it seems Google has begun to rank a group named Scholarly Articles in the #1 position. Has anyone else noticed this change? Secondly, many of the rankings we have lost are due to some competitors stuffing their descriptions with keywords. #1 Rank Description Failure Analysis; Scanning Electron Microscopy & EDS Analysis. Paint Chip Analysis and Evaluation; Paint Tests Physical Testing of Paints. #1 Rank Description NACE certified coatings inspector, paint inspector, coating inspector, coatings inspector, lining, failure analysis, survey, corrosion, rust, evaluation, testing, expert Is this a possible glitch occurring with the new humming bird release and has anyone else noticed an issue like this? It dropped our #1 ranks from 37 to 23 overnight. Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | ChazSztroin0 -
I thought META KEYWORDS tag was dead?
http://www.wpkube.com/wordpress-seo-plugin/ this article just came out as a one of the many guides to Yoast's Wordpress SEO. I am surprised it mentioned: Use meta keywords tag: Google reportedly doesn’t use the keywords that your enter for your posts but as Google isn’t the only show in town, you might want to check this box.Recommendation: check I stopped using meta keywords tag because Google doesn't use it any more, plus if you are in a competitive field by using keywords you are giving free keyword research to your competitors? Does any one still use meta keywords here? If so why? Google doesn't use keyword tags, has anyone experienced a dis-benefit to meta-keywords tag from Google ie. dropped rankings etc.?
Algorithm Updates | | vmialik2 -
Why is my client's website, ranking higher for serps on bing and yahoo for competitive keywords
My client is in the competitive Private jet charter space. Why is my client's website, ranking higher for serps on bing and yahoo for competitive keywords phrases? like Private jet charter as an example. http://www.jetcharter.com/
Algorithm Updates | | AndrewSEO0