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Wayne Zuhl, The Last Name You'll Ever Need in Real Estate (Remax First Realty II)

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Katerina Gasset
The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services - Provo, UT
Amplify Your Real Estate & Life Dreams!

Several people answered your question correctly like Debbie Gartner  and Barbara Todaro  and Tammie White . 

The true definition of short tail and long tail is about how much competition each phrase has, not necessarily the length of the phrase. 

Florida Real Estate is a short tail keyword because it is 1. very competitive, and 2. Very broad. 

Florida Homes for sale is also a short tail keyword. It is very competitive and still very broad. 

It used to be that most SEO companies would tell you to go after those kind of short tail keywords because there is more traffic for those keywords. IN other words, more people type those into Google to find the info than they do other keywords. 

But those companies have NO zippo nada experience in what works in a real estate space. They go by generic filters. You can not do that in real estate if you are not Realtor.com or another big company like zippo, etc. 

Not only that, short tail keywords that are this broad - are NOT the kind of traffic you want to deal with in the first place. 

It takes at least me 4 hours to get from Keywest to where we live and another 10 hours to get to Tallahasee and the panhandle, the other side of the state. So no way would anyone putting a search like that into google be ready to buy a house. They don't even know where in Florida they want to move. Not a good quality lead. 

Long tail keywords do not always have to be long. There are a lot more long tail keywords being indexed by Google than short tail keywords. It is the accumulation of the long tail keywords altogether that benefits you when you set up your website and blog with longtail. 

So going back to my example: 

Loxahatchee homes for sale is considered a longtail but Chicago homes for sale would be considered short tail. This is because the competition for Chicago homes for sale is much fiercer than Loxahatchee homes for sale and more searches are done for Chicago. 

Wellington equestrian properties for sale is a long tail because the search is medium, the competition is strong BUT I can rank for it and zippo does not do well with ranking for avatar based keyword phrases. 

It is not as simple as just answering the question:) There are a lot of variables involved. You want to fly under the radar of zippo so choose keywords that will get you to to the top of google and get you some leads. 

If you are in a very competitive market you will need more longtail keywords because as we said, you don't get as many searches... however.. the traffic that you do get, will be highly targeted and the leads will be very qualified without you having to chase them down. Hope that makes sense. Katerina 

Jul 11, 2016 04:45 AM
Rainmaker
1,622,432
Inna Ivchenko
Barcode Properties - Encino, CA
Realtor® • GRI • HAFA • PSC Calabasas CA

I think, there is a webinar here in the Rain about them. I think it was from Nestor & Katerina Gasset , Katerina posts a lot of great info on SEO and marketing.

 

Jul 09, 2016 05:46 PM
Ambassador
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Fred Griffin Florida Real Estate
Fred Griffin Real Estate - Tallahassee, FL
Licensed Florida Real Estate Broker

If you are targeting neighborhoods, go with long tail. 

Nestor & Katerina Gasset can give you some great advice.
Debbie Gartner  posted an answer already.

 

Jul 09, 2016 11:03 AM
Rainmaker
2,817,671
Debbie Gartner
The Flooring Girl - White Plains, NY
The Flooring Girl & Blog Stylist -Dynamo Marketers

You should use long tail to try to rank better. (if you do enough of these, sometimes it will help you rank for shorter tail as well over time).

short tail are shorter/broader phrases (e.g. New Jersey real estate).  More searches, but less targeted and much harder to rank for.

Long tail are more specific (e.g. 2 bedroom condos for sale in maplewood NJ, 3 bedrooms homes with a pool in Mahway, NJ,  how to find an affordable home in XYZ neighborhood, etc)

 

Jul 09, 2016 02:07 AM
Rainmaker
5,583,278
Barbara Todaro
RE/MAX Executive Realty - Happily Retired - Franklin, MA
Previously Affiliated with The Todaro Team

that's a great question for Nestor & Katerina Gasset (katerina)..... short tail, as I was taught, have much more competition for you than longtail.... can't really compete with the big boys until you've been recognized as a player....but I hope Katerina tunes in to this for you....

Jul 09, 2016 12:30 AM
Rainmaker
2,443,250
Evelyn Johnston
Friends & Neighbors Real Estate - Elkhart, IN
The People You Know, Like and Trust!

short tail would be Elkhart Real Estate-the buyer has no idea where they want to live.

Gingerbread Subdivision, Elkhart In home for sale 3 bed 3 ba with basement is someone who knows what they want and where they want it.  They are close to picking a home.

Jul 09, 2016 12:41 PM
Rainmaker
1,503,028
Ryan Huggins - Thousand Oaks, CA
https://HugginsHomes.com - Thousand Oaks, CA
Residential Real Estate and Investment Properties

Short: Thousand Oaks homes for sale

Long: Single story thousand oaks pool home for sale

 

Longer has less competiton (right now).  For the short I can't rank at all on Google.  For the long "What is my <city name> home worth" I'm in the top 3, with several #1 spots and almost always beating out the "brand name sites" of ZTR

Jul 09, 2016 05:30 AM
Rainmaker
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Sam Shueh
(408) 425-1601 - San Jose, CA
mba, cdpe, reopro, pe

short tail gets 11 times more visibility than long tail.

Here is the description: long-tail-versus-short-tail-keywords

 

same with urls....

Jul 09, 2016 12:11 AM
Rainmaker
5,772,575
Ron and Alexandra Seigel
Napa Consultants - Carpinteria, CA
Luxury Real Estate Branding, Marketing & Strategy

Wayne and Jean,

You have some wonderful answers.

Jul 09, 2016 01:56 PM
Rainmaker
3,988,007
Debbie Reynolds, C21 Platinum Properties
Platinum Properties- (931)771-9070 - Clarksville, TN
The Dedicated Clarksville TN Realtor-(931)320-6730

Absolutely the longtail keywords which will fine tune the search and enable you to dominate in that category. The short tail ones are mostly owned by Z, T, R. Nobody can compete with that.

Jul 09, 2016 07:14 AM
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Bob Crane
Woodland Management Service / Woodland Real Estate, KW Diversified - Stevens Point, WI
Forestland Experts! 715-204-9671

I have learned a bit from the answers here, thanks for asking this

 

Jul 09, 2016 06:17 AM
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Anna "Banana" Kruchten
HomeSmart Real Estate - Phoenix, AZ
602-380-4886

It's tough to rank with short tail terms as you're up against the big boys and girls who have millions of dollars to support it.  You can rank by using long tail terms and get found in your area all while building a niche.

Jul 09, 2016 06:06 AM
Rainmaker
1,231,853
Mary Yonkers
Alan Kells School of Real Estate/Howard Hanna Real Estate - Erie, PA
Erie/PA Real Estate Instructor

Thanks for Q and the very helpful A's offered here Wayne and Jean Marie Zuhl 

Jul 09, 2016 04:19 AM
Rainmaker
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Gabe Sanders
Real Estate of Florida specializing in Martin County Residential Homes, Condos and Land Sales - Stuart, FL
Stuart Florida Real Estate

Long tail is what is recommended.

Jul 09, 2016 03:47 AM
Rainmaker
1,844,301
Lyn Sims
Schaumburg, IL
Real Estate Broker Retired

G is getting very good on long tail. I would no longer consider long tail as 3 words. I've typed in some unbelievable sentences & G gets it spot on.

Don't forget that the more you drill down on the keyword phrase, the results will get smaller obviously.

Jul 09, 2016 02:16 AM
Rainmaker
667,715
Tom Burris
NMLS# 335055 - Baton Rouge, LA
Texas/Louisiana Mortgage Pro - 13 YRS Experience

Short tail: home, for sale, real estate. Terms that are searched for a lot.

Long tail: abc subdivision, split floor plan, city level search words. Terms not searched for as often,

The idea is that long tail search strings are easier to rank higher in the search engines.

 

 

Jul 09, 2016 01:44 AM
Rainmaker
921,504
Annette Lawrence , Palm Harbor, FL 727-420-4041
ReMax Realtec Group - Palm Harbor, FL
Making FLORIDA Real Estate EZ

The difference between the two should be the closeness to the citizen to making a decision.

Long distance: Remove stain from carpet

Short distance: remove cat pee from wool carpet.

But it really boils down to what you can afford. Can you afford to support lots of people who are way upstream or fewer people ready to act.

Jul 09, 2016 01:19 AM
Rainer
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Steve Snyder
Private-Money-Loan.com - Los Angeles, CA
310-948-8585 |100% LTV | Stated | Private Money

I am not an SEO guru, but why not plan on using both. If you read the article that Sam Shueh posted you can go after the more competive key words or the less earched key words and dominate that. Personally I would go more targeted with less competition at first. It's easier to see results and get results that way. Then move on to the mroe competitive ones. That's just me though.

Jul 09, 2016 12:25 AM
Rainmaker
544,892
John Mosier
Realty ONE Group Mountain Desert - Prescott, AZ
Prescott's Patriot Agent 928 533-8142

Wayne and Jean Marie Zuhl -- Thanks for asking this question. I agree that Katerina knows and teaches this best. I have known about long tail keywords for a long time but I have not been taking advantage of them.

Sep 09, 2017 02:20 PM
Rainmaker
3,071,489
Tony and Suzanne Marriott, Associate Brokers
Serving the Greater Phoenix and Scottsdale Metropolitan Area - Scottsdale, AZ
Haven Express @ Keller Williams Arizona Realty

parked and reading...

Jul 09, 2016 10:22 PM
Rainmaker
7,836,442
Roy Kelley
Retired - Gaithersburg, MD

You have some good answers. I am not good with keywords.

Jul 09, 2016 10:00 PM
Rainmaker
989,652
Jennifer Mackay
Counts Real Estate Group, Inc. - Panama City, FL
Your Bay County Florida Realtor 850.774.6582

You should be using all of them

Jul 09, 2016 10:00 PM
Rainmaker
4,319,419
Praful Thakkar
LAER Realty Partners - Andover, MA
Andover, MA: Andover Luxury Homes For Sale

Wayne and Jean Marie Zuhl - I think ActiveRain University has few good webinars on this.

Go for long tail - based on what I learned from that.

Jul 09, 2016 04:05 PM
Rainmaker
3,986,258
William Feela
WHISPERING PINES REALTY - North Branch, MN
Realtor, Whispering Pines Realty 651-674-5999 No.

This is an area I have issue with

Jul 09, 2016 02:25 PM
Rainmaker
2,224,473
Debbie Laity
Cedaredge Land Company - Cedaredge, CO
Your Real Estate Resource for Delta County, CO

This is a great question and I'll have to read the answers, but as I understand it, the long tail questions are more honed in on what market you want to target. 

Jul 09, 2016 01:29 PM
Rainmaker
1,771,867
Noah Seidenberg
Coldwell Banker - Evanston, IL
Chicagoland and Suburbs (800) 858-7917

You should talk to Dick Greenberg he helped me so much on this subject.

Jul 09, 2016 09:33 AM
Rainmaker
4,434,127
Gita Bantwal
RE/MAX Centre Realtors - Warwick, PA
REALTOR,ABR,CRS,SRES,GRI - Bucks County & Philadel

Good question.

Jul 09, 2016 04:42 AM
Rainmaker
1,157,785
FN LN
Toronto, ON

Kenneth has a great answer.

Jul 09, 2016 03:08 AM
Rainmaker
4,572,595
Michael Jacobs
Pasadena, CA
Pasadena And Southern California 818.516.4393

Good question and members with a far better understanding of the subject have provided some good answers.  

Jul 09, 2016 02:10 AM
Ambassador
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Kathleen Daniels, Probate & Trust Specialist
KD Realty - 408.972.1822 - San Jose, CA
Probate Real Estate Services

I have nothing more to add than what Kenneth J. Jones said. 

Jul 09, 2016 01:59 AM
Rainmaker
823,579
Susan Laxson CRS
Palm Properties - La Quinta, CA
Realtor in San Diego, CA & Naples, FL

Sam Shueh has provided a great link to the differences and I also recommend using both, when possible.

Jul 09, 2016 01:41 AM