Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific searches with lower volume and much clearer intent. Here is why they are usually the better place to start.
A long-tail keyword is a longer, more specific search phrase with lower volume than a head term. “Shoes” is a head term. “Waterproof walking boots for wide feet” is a long-tail keyword.
The name comes from the shape of the demand curve. A handful of short phrases get enormous volume, then a very long tail of specific phrases each get a little. Added up, that tail is most of all search traffic.
Why they are usually the better bet
They’re easier to rank for, because fewer sites have built pages that specifically answer them. They’re cheaper if you also run paid, since bidding competition is thinner. They convert far better because the specificity tells you exactly where the person is in their decision.
Someone searching “CRM” might be a student writing an essay. Someone searching “CRM for small estate agencies UK” is shopping. The second search gets a fraction of the volume and is worth many times more.
Length is not the point
This is the part most definitions get wrong. Long tail is about specificity and volume, not word count. “Barbour jacket rewaxing” is three words and unmistakably long tail. “How do I get more customers for my business” is eight words and hopelessly broad.
If the phrase narrows the possible answers down to something you could actually deliver, it is long tail, whatever its length.
Where to find them
The autocomplete suggestions, the “people also ask” box and the related searches at the foot of the results page are free and take five minutes. Search Console is better still because it shows the long-tail phrases you already get impressions for. Your inbox and your sales calls are better again, since customers rarely phrase things the way marketers do.
Community sites are worth a look too. Reddit threads and industry forums give you the messy, real wording people use when they are not talking to a search box.
Building pages for the tail
Don’t write one article per long tail phrase. Twenty near-identical posts about slight variations of the same question will compete with each other, and none will rank well.
Group them instead. One comprehensive page that genuinely answers a cluster of related specific questions will pick up all of them, plus dozens you never listed. The subheadings do the work: each one can address a different version of the question in the searcher’s own words.
Long tail is also where most AI search visibility comes from. Assistants pull answers from pages that address a specific question directly, which rewards exactly this kind of content. For that reason, our search team builds most content plans from the tail upward.
Common questions
How much volume counts as long tail?
There’s no threshold. It depends on the market. In insurance, 500 searches a month is a long-tail term. In a niche B2B sector, 50 might be a head term. Judge it relative to the biggest terms in your own space.
Can long-tail keywords bring real traffic?
Yes, but through accumulation rather than any single term. A page ranking for 300 phrases at 20 searches each is worth more than a page scraping position eight for one phrase at 2,000.
Should new sites only target long tail?
Mostly, at first. A new site has no authority, so head terms are out of reach for a year or more. Winning the tail builds the rankings, links and engagement that eventually make head terms realistic.
See our glossary entry for long-tail keyword for the short definition.
