Short-Tail Keyword

A short-tail keyword (or head term) is a broad, typically one-to-two-word search phrase with high search volume and generally ambiguous or mixed intent.

Short-tail keywords are usually the hardest and slowest to rank for, since they attract the most competition and the largest, most established sites. Most sustainable SEO strategies use long-tail keywords to build initial traffic and topical relevance before a site has the authority to compete for the head term directly.