Head keywords, otherwise known as ‘head term’ are popular, highly competitive keywords that drive high search volume.

Conversely, long tail keywords can be defined as keywords that’re typically lengthier, account for less traffic, more specific and are less competitive when it comes to ranking.

Keyword research is an important first step that can help you identify what valuable head or longtail keywords are ideal for your specific website and what keywords you should target when you build your site content.

What are head keywords?

Head terms refers to keywords which are competitive, broad in nature and have a high search volume. These keywords are difficult to rank for. They can be popular search keywords that represent any industry or niche, a well-known concept or just about any topic.

In SEO, head keywords are a big part of maximizing your organic traffic ]while also staying competitive compared to other websites. Head keywords can be extremely short searches, where user intent is broad or not always clear.

And there are two key factors you must consider when developing your overall keyword strategy:

1. Competition – that’s the measure of how difficult it will be to rank for a particular keyword.
2. Search intent – or the reason someone enters a query into a search engine.

For choosing good head keywords you need to keep in mind-

1. They should be the first thing the customer might think of when they’re looking for something in particular.
2. They must be three words or less.
3. Appropriate to the topic.
4. Reader – friendly 

What are long-tail keywords?

Long-tail keywords are the longer, more specific, less frequently searched and therefore less competitive keyword phrases related to a chosen topic and its head terms. Visitors are more likely to use it when they’re closer to a point-of-purchase or when they’re using voice search.

These keywords have low to moderate search volume, are easier to rank for, and are a better way to connect with the audience or customers.

Long tail keywords are valuable for businesses who want their content to rank in organic Google searches. Where there’s search volume, there’s lots of competition, which in turn leads to higher cost for advertising. Long tail keywords with slightly less competition tend to be a little easier to rank for and thus low cost, or even free of cost, compared to paid promotions.

In order to integrate long tail keywords in your posts:

• Set your content marketing objectives
• Create buyer personas to help you understand user intent
• Research and select your long tail keywords
• Write the content answering people’s questions and targeting those keywords.

Besides using keywords you need to make sure you’re offering relevant content based on expected user intent.

By understanding how our target audience searches for the topics we want to rank for, we can develop an SEO strategy and create content that uses a mix of both head terms and long-tail keywords and related words and phrases to capture traffic at every stage of the user journey.

Contact us to engage in a free consultation on your SEO strategy.