Long-tail keyword
Also called long tail, long-tail query
A query specific enough to have low individual search volume, usually because it is longer or more qualified. Collectively such queries make up most of search, and individually they carry clearer intent than a head term.
A head term is short, general and contested. A long-tail query is specific, usually longer, and reported with a volume so small that a keyword tool may round it to zero.
Low volume is not low value. “seo tool” tells you almost nothing about what the searcher wants. “seo tool that shows cost per lookup” tells you exactly. The second query converts at a rate the first cannot approach, and it is winnable by a page that actually answers it rather than by the site with the largest link profile.
The tail only works in aggregate. No single long-tail term justifies a page on its own volume. A page that answers a question thoroughly will rank for dozens of phrasings of it, and the reported volume of the one you researched is a poor estimate of what the page will receive.
This is where volume data is least trustworthy. Estimates are modelled from clickstream and ad data, both of which thin out at exactly this end of the distribution. A term reported at 10 a month and a term reported at 0 are not reliably different from one another, which is why netweft’s keyword research shows twelve months of history beside the current figure rather than a single number — a series makes the noise visible in a way one integer cannot.
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