Short tail keywords are typically the most difficult and most competitive (i.e. AC Repair, AC Installation, AC Service). It’s important to remember that while our goal is to dominate a market for these types of keywords, it’s also important to come at SEO with a hybrid approach of targeting short tail and long tail keywords including geo-modified, non geo-modified, etc. This ensures that mta360 is casting a wide net to capture low hanging fruit at the onset of a campaign while working on gaining traction with the most competitive keywords.
Five years ago, SEO was a very different environment. Google didn’t understand that “ac repair” and “ac repairs” were the same user intent, using semantically similar wording. Every keyword was just that, a single keyword. Back then, SEOs looked at the exact volume of every keyword and only went after the phrases with the highest amount of volume. However, the Google of today understands that “ac repair,” “ac repairs,” “a/c repair,” and “air conditioner repair” are synonymous. We choose to report on the more common and more competitive phrases, but frankly, the amount of terms for which our dealers are ranked would not fit on a report. If we showed all of them and added up each of the unique phrases, the volume would be there.
The long and short of it is that we now go after a category, not specific keywords. Old school SEO targeted specific phrases, today we’re capturing an industry that includes 100s and even 1000s of unique phrases. At no time do we say “we’re trying to rank for keyword A and not keyword B.” Our strategy is all-encompassing and it has to be: Searchers are becoming more and more comfortable with Google’s ability to show relevant search results, regardless of how sloppy their input is.
Here’s how this change has occurred:
A few years ago, a hungry searcher would type in “pizzeria in Port Allen, LA” and not even try typing in just “pizza” because they knew Google would get confused and show them wikipedia or the definition of the word… today, Google is smarter and knows to show the local restaurants that serve pizza for all related terms. They do this through a highly complex algorithm combined with GPS data that locates where someone is searching from. HVAC is no different. What once was a few specific keywords has turned into tons of phrases that collectively present a huge opportunity for traffic to the site and driving the bottom line. Our job is to make you show up when someone types in anything from “A/C Repair Port Allen” to “air conditioning repair company serving Port Allen Louisiana.” Even phrases with very low search volume can be highly valuable if they bring in a high quality searcher who knows they need a new system; add that to service and repair keywords that drive more volume and we have a powerful position.