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Short vs. Long Tail Keywords, A Strategy To Dominate Your Local Market

There’s a correlation between search phrases, search volume and conversion rates that anyone interested in dominating their local market should understand. The graph below illustrates this relationship between short tail (highly searched, low converting) keywords and long tail (low searched, high converting) keywords.

The balance that needs to be implemented in any search engine marketing plan is that of quality AND quantity. Dominating an online market involves a strategy of achieving top search engine placement for all relevant search terms and driving lots of targeted visitors who will ultimately convert into quality leads. So how do we accomplish this?

The Problem With Targeting Short Tail Keywords

The search phrase “Real Estate” is entered into Google 45,500,000 times/month and is highly competitive. For an example let’s think about this from the perspective of a someone looking to dominate the Seattle Washington market. Only a fraction of those 45,500,000 searches for “Real Estate” would find a Seattle real estate related website useful.

Would a Seattle website ranking at the top of this search term generate leads? Sure. But with such a general “Real Estate” term some of these leads may be looking at Seattle, Denver, Miami or other cities. The extra effort it took to rank for such a generic search term would have been better spent targeting many highly searched Seattle related terms.

The Problem With Targeting Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords by definition are very specific search phrases with low competition. An example of a long tail keyword is “Queen Anne 2 Bedroom Home For Sale” (Note: Queen Anne is a popular view neighborhood in Seattle, WA) and ranking well for this phrase is relatively easy.

Unfortunately, taking a quick glance at the search volume for “Queen Anne 2 Bedroom Home For Sale” using the Google Keyword Tool there is “Not Enough Data” to report the search volume meaning this phrase is hardly searched. Despite the fact that very specific search phrases enjoy higher conversion rates into leads, even #1 ranking for this term will generate little business. So, how do we capture many of these long tails and optimize and rank for high volume related search phrases?

Finding The Balance – Quality AND Quantity

Initially keyword research and then a long-term strategy, balancing what will produce the quantity and quality of search results, are invaluable in dominating a local market. Accomplishing this takes a two-fold approach.

1. BUILD AUTHORITY FOR THE MID TAIL:

First this involves selecting a ‘mid tail’ keyword phrase, something that is highly search and relevant to the website. Based on these factors for the Seattle market the keyword phrase “Seattle Real Estate” fits wells with 8,100 searches/month, enough volume to support lots of lead generation if ranked well and the visitors will be specific enough that they will convert at a decent percentage. Optimize the main page of the website for this keyword phrase by building links and Google authority.

(Disclosure: Working The Magic manages the #1 ranked website for “Seattle Real Estate” in Google with 10,000 visitors/month that converts roughly 5% of all visitors into leads)

2. CREATE CONTENT FOR THE LONG TAIL:

Once authority is built into the website, the second part of balancing quality and quantity is to then generate content for the long tail. This involves blogging, neighborhood and community information and additional commentary on the website. Using the long tail example from above it would make sense to add content to a Seattle website about Queen Anne 2 bedroom homes that would likely rank well for that search term. The additional content will add relevancy to the website as a whole and those pages will show up in results for all types of long tail keywords.

Permalink: Short vs. Long Tail Keywords

If you would like to learn more about our Real Estate SEO services please email me at GabeHoggarth@WorkingTheMagic.com or call me direct at 888-442-5115 ext. 104.

Posted by Gabe Hoggarth on 06/10/2009 10:21 PM

Comments (70)

keyword research, seo, search engine optimization, seo strategies

Post is included in group: Real Estate SEO
Post is included in group: Rainmaking - Internet Marketing Strategies
Post is included in group: Online Real Estate Agent Marketing
Post is included in group: Getting Visible on Google. How To's
Post is included in group: Blogging & SEO

70 Comments on Short vs. Long Tail Keywords, A Strategy To Dominate Your Local Market

JUN

I do a lot of short tail keyword I figure if I dominate enough small areas I become the expert in the area

I just learned this week when I attended Katerina and Nestor's webiner for Real Bird that a Long tail keyword by definition was a very specific search phrase. See what you can learn on Active Rain. Good helpful tips and knowledge like, Gabe, you just posted. Thank you, you made it even clearer to understand.

These are both very important concepts to understand and it is easier to read about than to implement. Thanks for the tips.

Thanks for the explanation, clear and concise.

Gabe, what you said makes perfect sense. Thanks for giving us the breakdown. Now we just need to put it into action. :)

Chanda panda

Hi Gabe ~ I'm having fun chasing the "mid-tail" but one of the best things about blogging for the long tail is how many irons in the fire it gives you. Every post creates another hook so the traffic builds and builds. It's a beautiful thing.

Liz

Thanks for all of the great comments!

@Joan - You're right these concepts are easier to read about than implement and something every agent needs to ask themselves is how their time is best spent. We have had a lot of success at Working The Magic dovetailing our SEO system to rank websites with our blog and social media coaching to build online personal brand.

Gabe nice job with your article. Most Realtors would not have a clue about what you are talking about. I have taken a keen interest in SEO because I know how much business it can bring. Having a good balance between the short and long tail is important.

Hi Gabe -- You put this into a very good context and easy to understand. I've seen a few results from implementing this.

We find you cannot target the long tail. Your viewers/users create it. If you track how they find you, you know what the long tail is. Keyword tools like Google and Yahoo cannot give you this data...you must gather it on your own by tracking the keywords users use to find you. We've found the best strategy is to dominate from the top of the tail down to the bottom - you can't rely on tools to achieve that...you have to gather your own data...

The great thing about long tails is that you can control A LOT of them with little effort.

We work on exactly what you are talking about and have done this with success. It's great to see it work. As an added bonus users stay on our site much longer. YAY. ~Rita

Great post Gabe. I am a big fan of long tail. Lower traffic but way better conversions. The keyword tools don't always shed light on what people are searching. For example about 6 months ago we decided to target a long tail search phrase that Google keyword tool showed 0 searches for. We now get at least 10 new sign ups per day from this long tail phrase. Good thing we didn't go off the keyword tool. The best resource we use is our server log files that show us all long tail searches people reach our sites from. We are always pleasantly surprised on what search terms people land on our sites from.

Thanks for posting this. I've bookmarked it so I can review it as I try to apply it.

Gabe.... this was explained very well. Newbies and beginners should pay attention to this. Nice job..

jeff belonger

Thanks for the post.

I'm just thinking I should do more to get my "tail" in gear!

Gabe your post clearly showed the difference between the long and short tail and how to best use it. As agents it is important we get it right.

Thank you for the great post and the great explanation. I've seen the terms short taiil and long tail in other posts but unitl I saw it plainly on your graph I simply didn't get it. Thanks for the enlightenment. I will certainly use these concepts when working on my site.

Gabe: This is great information to know.. now to practice to see which ones work for me

I had not heard of a mid tail search before. I thought Seattle Real Estate would be a short tail search.

JUN

I've tried different kinds of articles, and it surprises me, but neighborhood market reports get the most views. I plan to play that up.

These seems like a good approach. But it will take some work. I am rebuilding my web site now and will keep this in mind.

Gabe, Thank you for sharing, I have bookmarked for future referrence. Thank you again.

Thanks for this blogging tip. This will really help in optimizing my blogging efforts in the future. I'll be sure to share it with others oustide of my local area :)

Thanks Gabe. Very informative, clear and concise. Thanks for the tip.

I guess I have been focusing on the long tail too much. I think I need to take a step back to mid tail. Thanks!

This certainly makes sense, but once you have that balance can you add the 2 bedroom to the search term and still be found for Seattle Real Estate?

I have found when I blog about a specific event in the "Fishers Real Estate" (my key words) area I do get a ton of traffic. It is definitely a long tail blog but the really great thing is, it is how residents discover my blog. I have garnered dedicated readers from a post on something like a parade, a farmer's market, a shopping center, etc.

Thanks for stating that principle so clearly. Most of the agents in my company have a specialty and we have been employing some of these tactics in our business. You have given me several great ideas that will certainly help us work smarter and bring all the pieces of our marketing puzzle together.

Gabe,

Real clarity for this newbie! ARRGGG - Guess I have some more editing to do. ;-)

Interesting post today. Hmmmm

Patricia aulson/portsmouth NH Real Estate

Gabe, Thank you for sharing, great explanation. Now to put it to work. The mid tail term is new to me. But makes sense.

If I had read this a year ago, the info would have sailed right over, but through AR I have gradually started putting the pieces together. Thanks!

So many bloggers think that if i blog it will come. Your analysis is so helpful to all of us. I saw a Google stat the other day that long tail searches are up 22% while 3 word is flat. I am sure by the end of the year the dynamics will change and we will be scrambling to keep up.

The stats I get on my web site show me that 4 word phrases are searched more than anything and I get more hits of them than short or longer.

Great article. It's wonderful to see the truly worthwhile content that people share on our site.

Gabe- that is a great explanation. I agree, mid tail is the way to go. If you are blogging alot you can use a combo of a lot of long tail that adds up and the biz generation is huge. That is what we do and we get 60% of all our listings from just blogging. Short tail proponants don't understand you might get more hits but you also get a higher bounce rate. It also goes to niching. The more you niche down, the more money you make. That is proven for marketing online. Katerina

This is great! I am learning so much and slowly evolving into creating a following. When I get Google alerts and my blog is among them, it makes my day! I got my first listing from such placement this week! Thanks again for the great information!

Gabe,

Thanks for the great graphic! I've seen these terms before but this certainly illustrates it well! It seems that anyone trying to dominate their market needs to give you a call!

The best example description and explaination of "the long tail" I have come upon.. Now I truly get it.. and am off to my site to adjust key words.. THANK YOU!

Hi Gabe....excellent post. As time goes on I think we (I) relax and don't pay enough attention to what got us there in the first place, thanks for the nudge.

Gabe,

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the effects of Google's improving geolocation on the value of short tails. When I was briefly involved in SEO (albeit, only peripherally), shelling out for "REALTOR" was among the worst ways to spend your money. Now, it's still debatable, but at least if I'm in Austin and I query "REALTOR", I will get mostly local results. Forgive me if you've already posted on this before, or if I'm flat wrong.

Thanks for the post.

I have been playing with this for awhile. It would be so much nicer if it were an exact science or I guess I should look at it as an exciting challenge to work at getting my web pages higher up on the search engine rankings. I can tell you that it boils down to good quality content.

Hi Gabe, thanks for this post! I too have been highly involved in SEO for the past 10 years and have been implementing mid-tail and long-tail on my brokerage site and other real estate sites. I wanted to let you and the readers of this post know that by writing articles and submitting them to article sites is a great way to create those one-way links. I have launched a network of these sites directed at the general public for real estate industry folks to submit articles to - the main site is www.HousingMarketMedia.com and it is totally free for the launch.

Thanks again for the explanations in this post - I hope that my offering adds value to it and it's strategies.

To Our Success!

Gabe - great article. I still think it's a worthwhile strategy to target long tail keywords if you want to buidl a niche in an area because of the higher conversion rate.

The long tail I get, and have been working on. The mid-tail - that's another story, as I have been incorporating them in my tags and posts but am only showing up on the second or third pages of google,yahoo, etc. The suggestion to write articles to help bolster the mid-tail and build up links is great. Thanks.

Great timing just what I've been researching. Thanks for the post.

Thanks to everyone for all of the great comments!

@Starfish Real Estate - That's an important point and agree with the top down approach to building out keywords. Ranking in the search engines for a highly searched term will result in all content in that site showing up in results for long tails. Great reminder to make sure sites are installed with Google Analytics or a similar analytic program to track exactly what keywords are generating the traffic.

@Jon Boyd - haha

@Jenny Durling - Elightenment! Gosh thanks. You're welcome!

@Christine Donovan - I consider "Seattle real estate" mid tail when looking at the entire real estate industry from the term "Real Estate" down to "Queen Anne Seattle Real Estate" because it didn't make sense to call it short tail from such a large perspective. When talking about specifically the Seattle real estate market I refer to that phrase as short tail.

@Joetta Fort - Neighborhood information is so important for any website as you found out. More visitors to a website are in the exploring phase and they more relevant detailed information they can find on a website for free the better! Great job keeping an eye on your analytics!

@Gene Riemenschneider - Please get in touch if you have any questions about structuring your new website to maximize search engine benefit.

@George Paukert - Absolutely and that's part of the balance. Focus on the short tails for the main page of the site and have additional content pages that speak to keyword like "2 bedroom home for sale in Seattle".

@Cindy "in indy" - Great work!

@Ian S. Greenleigh - Google's geolocation and personalized search results are evolving. Generally the best keywords to target for real estate are geographical already (ie "Seattle Real Estate") and I don't image seeing any major changes to those results anytime soon. The biggest changes are for terms like "coffee shop" that will vary depending on where you are in the world when you search that phrase. If I search "coffee shop" when I am in Seattle it will weight any Seattle based coffee shop results to the top.

@Peter Clarke & @William James Walton - Article submissions are one way to build links into a website although Google is smart enough to give less search ranking value to links on unrelated websites like article submissions. It still works but there is a substantial amount of effort needed to rank for a highly competitive term.

If you're interested in learning how Working The Magic can help you dominate your market please visit my website!

Great explanation and I'm glad I had the terms straight in my head. Thanks for the clarification on a tough subject - now back to work on those long tails!

Great to see you sharing such a worthwhile blog. I've been working on this same line of thought, so thanks for confirming that I'm on the right track!

Gabe, this is exactly what I've been trying to learn lately. Thank you for the detailed "how to". I had not really understood the long tail and its purpose.

Hi Gabe, Terrific explanation using specific examples. Now if I can just get it implemented !

Hi Gabe, you are right that Google is pretty smart about unrelated sites - that is why my article sites are for real estate industry articles only - thus creating lots of google juice. I hope you check them out!

Cheers!

To Our Success!

Hi Gabe.....Great Graph to explain Short and Long Tail.

I find Long tail description work well in my post headings like two bedroom top floor condo in Victoria BC..of course I also add the property address in the beginning such as 501-2940 Harriet rd top floor 2 bed 2 bath condo victoria bc. The Interesting part of doing a long key word discription Google picks up on all the Key words searches such as Top Floor Condo in Victoria BC

This example helps me getting listing when I show Home Sellers how we market their home online.

Other Long tail descriptions could be Private Schools in your city, or Daycare in your area..these usually bring buyers buying in the next 30 days...as opposed to Highly search key words in my area like Victoria BC Real Estate.

Cheers, thanks for sharing with everyone here

Gabe - Great graph.

Great post with solid information presented well.

I was aware of Google Analytics and the importance of the tail keywords. I appreciate your post because there is still a lot more to learn. Currently I am learning more about Search Engine Optimization.

I have heard about the concept of "long tail" searches before. You explained it very clearly and reminded me that I should start implementing this more on my blog ... thanks!

JUN

Gabe. Interesting insight. I will have to check out my key word phrases.

Gabe I am still learning about whole SEO,inbound links,long tail keywords,short tail keywords etc here on Active Rain. I guess I have to spend more time on these topics. Deanwood DC,Petworth DC,Congress Heights DC and Anacostia DC are cities that I cover in my Real Estate Market Reports but I have not had much success. Don't have a clue what I am doing wrong. I might have to talk to you. Great post.

JUN

Gabe, so well said and a great reminder of what I need to do - thanks!

Gabe- Excellent post and explanation of the long-tail advantage. With so many more potential buyers using the web now smart agents are getting their A-game on when it comes to utilizing the webs power.

JUN

Thank you Gabe, now I finally get it.

So it has to be a little of both.

Tommy

Good post. I have had an analysis of my web site recently. Results were similar to what you reported here. Shorter is better.

JUN

That makes a lot of sense! Thanks for the tips...It's something I've definitely working on!

JUL

Thanks everyone for the great comments, I'm always glad to help!
Here are two ways to continue learning about online success...

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AUG

Hi Gabe, You provided an excellent explanation!

OCT

Gabe, thanks for this information. I'm going to work on my "mid tail" titles.

DEC

Hi Gabe. Great post, and fantastic chart showing volume vs conversion.

Will you please consider joining and including this post in my new group SEO Bootcamp?

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