Long-Tail Keywords
Long-Tail Keywords are search queries that are longer, more specific, and individually lower-volume than broad “head term” keywords. The phrase “best CRM for small SaaS companies under 50 employees” is a long-tail keyword; “CRM” is a head term. Long-tail keywords typically have lower search volume per query but higher intent and lower competition.
The “long tail” reference comes from the long-tail distribution curve: a small number of high-volume queries account for some of the searches, but the cumulative total of millions of low-volume long-tail queries accounts for most of search activity. Going after the tail wins more search than going after the head, in most niches.
Why long-tail keywords matter
Three structural advantages:
Lower competition. Few competitors specifically target “[oddly-specific use case] for [narrow audience].” More competitors target “best CRM.” Lower competition means realistic ranking timelines and lower acquisition costs.
Higher intent. Someone searching “best CRM for small SaaS companies under 50 employees” knows what they want and is close to deciding. Someone searching “CRM” might be doing research, school work, or anything else. Specificity correlates with buying intent.
Cumulative volume. One long-tail query gets 200 searches per month. A site targeting 100 well-chosen long-tail queries can collectively pull 20,000+ monthly searches with much lower per-query competition than a single head-term campaign.
How to find good long-tail keywords
Three sources:
Search Console queries you almost rank for. Filter Performance to queries where your site ranks position 8-25 with real impressions. These are long-tail opportunities you’re already partially competing for.
Customer language from sales calls and support. The phrases customers use to describe their problems are usually long-tail keywords. Most aren’t in tools because nobody has yet aggregated them as standardised queries - but real people search for them.
Question-based research tools. AnswerThePublic, AlsoAsked, Google’s “People Also Ask” boxes. Surface the questions related to your topic that real searchers ask. Many are long-tail gold.
Where long-tail strategy goes wrong
Three patterns:
Targeting low-volume queries with no commercial intent. A long-tail query with 50 monthly searches and zero buying intent is worth less than a head term you can’t rank for. Long-tail isn’t automatically valuable - intent fit still matters.
Spreading content too thin. Producing one tiny article per long-tail query rather than topical pillar pages that cover multiple related queries. Pillar approach usually outperforms one-page-per-query because pages with topical depth rank for many queries simultaneously.
Ignoring the head term entirely. Long-tail-only strategies miss the brand-building effect of competing for at least some head terms. Even ranking #20 for a high-volume head term contributes to topical authority that lifts your long-tail rankings too.
An example
A B2B SaaS team had been targeting head terms in their category for two years - competitive queries like “best CRM” and “marketing automation software.” Twelve months in, they ranked nowhere notable for any of these.
The pivot mapped 80 long-tail queries from sales call transcripts and Search Console data: things like “CRM for solo consultants who hate enterprise software” and “marketing automation for B2B agencies under 10 people.” Each got either its own targeted article or substantial coverage within a relevant pillar page.
Six months later: ranked top-10 for 38 of the 80 long-tail queries. Combined organic traffic from those queries: about 14,000 visits/month. Trial signups attributable to long-tail traffic: 6x higher than what the head-term effort had been generating from much smaller traffic.
We built Penfriend specifically for long-tail keyword strategies. Capturing the long tail requires producing hundreds of narrowly-targeted articles, which breaks manual content teams’ economics; with Penfriend, per-article cost makes the long tail economically defensible.
Related terms
- Keyword - the broader category long-tail keywords are a subset of
- Keyword Research - the practice that surfaces long-tail opportunities
- Google Search Console - the tool that exposes existing long-tail rankings
- Conversion Rate - the metric long-tail traffic typically out-performs head-term traffic on
- Featured Snippet - the SERP feature long-tail queries often produce