A long-tail keyword is a specific search query with low search volume, usually made up of several words. The name refers to the long, flat end of a distribution curve where a small number of terms get searched very often and a huge number of terms get searched only rarely.
At a glance
- Type
- keyword type (specific, rarely searched query)
- Boundary
- no fixed boundary, neither by word count nor by search volume
- New queries
- per Google in 2019, 15% of daily searches had never been seen before
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Where does the term come from?
Chris Anderson described “the long tail” in Wired in October 2004. He was writing about markets where many niche products together can sell as much as a few bestsellers. SEO borrowed the picture for search queries: a handful of popular “head” terms on one side, and on the other a very large number of queries that each occur only now and then.
How long that tail is can be seen in a figure Google published in 2019. According to Google, 15 percent of the queries it sees every day are ones it has never seen before.
Word count or search volume?
A common rule of thumb says a long-tail keyword has three or more words. Other definitions, such as the one used by Ahrefs, rely on search volume instead. By that measure a single, rare technical term can be long tail, while a long phrase that many people search is not. The two criteria overlap in practice, because the more precisely a query is worded, the fewer people type exactly that.
| Type | Characteristic | Example | Category in Google's rater guidelines | Origin of the label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short tail | short, broad term at the head of the demand curve; intent is often unclear | “coffee machine” | – | counterpart to the long tail; no clear first source |
| Mid tail | between the head and the long end of the curve; more specific than short tail, broader than long tail | “coffee machine with grinder” | – | no clear first source |
| Long tail (this term) | specific, rarely searched query, usually several words long | “coffee machine with grinder under 300 euros” | – | term from Chris Anderson, “The Long Tail”, Wired, October 2004 |
| Informational | find information on a topic | “how to descale a coffee machine” | Know, special case Know Simple | Broder 2002, “A taxonomy of web search” |
| Navigational | reach a specific website or page | “reddit login” | Website | Broder 2002, “A taxonomy of web search” |
| Transactional | perform an activity on the web, such as buying or downloading | “buy coffee machine” | Do | Broder 2002, “A taxonomy of web search” |
| Commercial investigation | consider a purchase and compare first | “best coffee machine” | no category of its own | industry usage; neither in Broder nor in the rater guidelines |
| Visit-in-person | go to a nearby place, such as a shop | “gas stations” | Visit-in-Person | Search Quality Rater Guidelines, section 12.7.4 |
No primary source defines the boundaries between short, mid and long tail, whether by word count or by search volume. The table therefore gives no thresholds; the characteristics of the three tail types are based on practical experience. Google said in 2019 that 15 percent of daily queries were ones it had never seen before. Mapping Broder's types to Know, Website and Do is an inference, not a Google statement. According to the rater guidelines, a query can have several intents, and the line between Know and Do is often blurry. Examples are chosen freely; “reddit login” and “gas stations” come from the guidelines. Sources: Google: Search Quality Rater Guidelines, Abschnitt 12.7 Understanding User Intent (Ausgabe 11.09.2025); Broder, A.: A taxonomy of web search. SIGIR Forum 36(2), 2002; Anderson, C.: The Long Tail. Wired, Oktober 2004; Google Blog: Understanding searches better than ever before (2019). Last checked: .
What does long tail mean for SEO?
Specific queries usually reveal the searcher’s intent more clearly than short ones. Someone searching for “xml sitemap lastmod format” has a precise question. Someone typing “sitemap” may want a definition, a generator, or a site map in the sense of a navigation page.
Keyword tools often report zero or very low volume for long-tail queries. That doesn’t mean nobody searches them. Google Search Console shows the queries that actually brought impressions and clicks to your own site, but it omits very rare queries (“anonymized queries”) from its tables for privacy reasons. Those still count toward the chart totals.
Example
| Query | Type | Monthly search volume (EN) |
|---|---|---|
| sitemap | short tail, ambiguous | 14,800 |
| xml sitemap | mid tail | 1,600 |
| xml sitemap lastmod format | long tail | no value in our data |
Search volume: own data query, October 2026.
FAQ
What is the difference between long-tail and short-tail keywords? Short-tail (head) keywords are broad terms with high search volume and mixed intent. Long-tail keywords are narrower, searched less often individually, and usually point to one clear need.
How many words does a long-tail keyword have? There is no fixed number. “Three or more words” is a widespread heuristic, but search volume is the more useful criterion.
How do you find long-tail keywords? Typical sources are autocomplete suggestions, “People also ask” boxes, keyword tools with a low-volume filter, and the query list in Search Console for your own site.
Sources
- Chris Anderson: The Long Tail – Wired, October 2004wired.com
- Understanding searches better than ever before – Google Blog (Pandu Nayak, Oct 25, 2019)blog.google
- A deep dive into Search Console performance data filtering and limits – Google Search Central Blog (Oct 19, 2022)developers.google.com
- Performance report (Search results) – Search Console Helpsupport.google.com
- Long-tail Keywords – Ahrefs Blog (secondary source for the volume-based definition)ahrefs.com
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