Long-tail keywords and high-volume keywords are often misunderstood. Volume in this case refers to how many searches a keyword gets per month. Many people assume “long-tail” means “low-volume”, hence people asking the question of long-tail vs high volume. The truth is, long-tail keywords are keyword phrases that are longer than others and usually 3-4+ words in length. There is an assumption that they are also low-volume, as the longer the keyword phrase, the more specific the search is, and because of that most people land on the keyword having less volume. BUT, just because a keyword is long-tail, does not mean it can’t also have a lot of volume. Many long-tail keywords do. The correct question to ask here is should you go after low-competition keywords or high-competition keywords. With enough time and money, you could rank your website for almost anything, but since most of us do not have unlimited budgets, this is a very important question. A good rule of thumb is to use an authority metric, such as domain authority or domain rating, and the average number of backlinks needed to rank for a given keyword. While not fool-proof, if you’re website has a domain rating of 25 and all of the websites on page 1 of the keyword you’re optimizing for have a rating of 80, it’s going to be a tough hill to climb. Whereas if page 1 has a couple of websites that are in the ballpark of your website’s authority range, it’s a sign you might be able to compete.