The Confusing SEO Keyword Puzzle – Untangled!

So you have finally prepared a technically efficient, visually appealing and a contextually complete website. All you are left with is the promotion part, which won't be complete without Search Engine Optimization (SEO). There, you come to the part of picking keywords to target. Most people usually get this process wrong by picking the most searched keywords, without checking the amount and quality of competition for it.

Keyword selection is a technique which is best conducted by the website owner himself/herself, with aid from a specialist. Nobody knows the kind of audience you wish to target better than yourself. A specialist will simply aid you in the technical aspects of keywords which you might not know. Keywords may be specifically divided into two categories – short tail and long tail keywords. Picking one from each of these categories has its own set of pros and cons.

Short tail keywords generally consist of one, two or three words from the English language, depending upon the niche you are targeting. Sometimes, it may even exceed three words. These keywords are usually associated with huge competition. Again, if you are dabbling in a relatively rare niche, you will be lucky enough to find hardly any competition even if it's a single word. But it has been a long time since the invention of the web, so you are more than likely to find all the niches well explored. I say well explored, but not completely explored. If you have hit upon something unique in a particular niche, go ahead and target the short tail keywords. You will most certainly rise above the insane competition. Otherwise, you will be better off with the long tail ones.

Long tail keywords usually consist of more than three words. Long tails may be as short as 4 words, or may stretch for more than 10 words! The traffic for the latter will obviously be nominal – hardly a couple of searches a month. But there is a high possibility that those couple of searches may result in a sales conversion. The long tail keywords may be low on traffic, but the eventual conversion rate is much higher than that of short tail ones, primarily due to a highly targeted audience. But the bounce rates of the same may be a bit higher than the short tail ones too, since the landing page is all that the traffic scans. If the landing page doesn't quench their requirements, they will jump ship.

In order to rank better for a highly competitive keyword, you need to update your website regularly with unique, interesting content. Search engines don't give preference to static websites after all. Pure blogs with regularly updated content will rank higher than a static business website. We may safely conclude from the aforementioned analysis that blogs and dynamic websites may target short tail keywords for tasting success, and niche businesses and static websites will profit by targeting long tail keywords. The latter breed may profit better by targeting short tail ones, but that will take a frustratingly long time to be realized. Simply put, you will need to be featured right on top of the competition for gaining an exceptional conversion rate.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process, which can be used to promote websites and involves picking of keywords to target. Contact a digital marketing agency that provides a variety of SEO services. Click here for further details.