Why Targeting Single-Word Keywords Doesn't Work for Evergreen Content

Hey Hackers,

I've had to explain this concept a few times, so I thought I'd write an article on it, rather than start from square one every time.

In this article, I'm going to talk about keyword research and why (99.9% of the time) you shouldn't target single standalone words.

What is a Keyword in SEO?

In my Pocket Guide to SEO the word(s) someone types into a search engine.

This matters for writers. A lot.

If you optimize your article for a given keyword, your article could show up on the top of the SERP for that keyword and get hundreds or thousands of views every month.

In the future, I hope that AI models in search engine crawlers will be able to recognize quality content and we won't have to bother with keyword optimization.

But for now, we need to take it into account when we are trying to write evergreen content.

What are Short-Tail Keywords or Single-Word Keywords?

Generally speaking, a short-tail keyword is a search query spanning 1-3 words.

And the phrase single-word keyword, which I coined because I couldn't think of anything better (despite being a self-proclaimed writer), is self-explanatory.

In this short article, I will only discuss the cons of targeting single-word keywords, and why I think you should avoid them.

Why Shouldn't You Target Single-Word Keywords?

To put the answer in a single word: intent.

99.9% of the time single-word search queries are far too general and vague.

The chances that your evergreen article will match the intent of that query are slim, and the chances your article will rank highly on the SERP are even slimmer.

For Example

Let's say we're writing an article called How to Fix Amazon Echo Show Wi-Fi Issues.

You go to your keyword research tool and type "Amazon" and see the following data:

You think WOW! 345 million monthly searches! I'm going to be swimming in pageviews. I'm definitely adding Amazon to my list of targeted keywords.

But you'd be wrong.

The Search Intent is Too Vague

If someone is just typing "Amazon" into a search engine, who knows what they're looking for?

They could be looking for the Amazon logo.

They could be looking for the Amazon Wikipedia page to see the company's history.

Hell, they're probably too damn lazy to type amazon.com and are just looking for the Amazon storefront to click and buy something.

Even if by some miracle your article ranks on the first page of the "Amazon" SERP, the chances that someone is looking specifically for your guide on how to fix issues with the Amazon Echo Show Wi-Fi are incredibly low. You probably wouldn't get any clicks in the first place.

The Competition is Too High

The other reason not to pursue single words is that often those words just want to fool around and aren't looking for anything serious. And you deserve a more meaningful relationship. Get it? 'Single' words.

But seriously, the second, and perhaps equally important reason not to target single-word keywords is that the SERP competition is too high.

'Amazon' is a perfect example of this. Google 'Amazon' and what do you see?

When I Google that term in Tokyo, I get this:

Amazon is the name of a company/brand, and rightfully, Google will prioritize the pages owned by that brand.

So you see the first 4 results are all Amazon-owned pages: storefront, Amazon Prime, About Amazon, and Amazon Jobs.

After that, you see the Amazon company Wikipedia page. Finally, you see the Google Play store listing for the Amazon app. 

Looking at this SERP, you should come to the conclusion that your article about Echo Show Wi-Fi issues is never going to outrank Amazon the company, Wikipedia, or Google Play (they own the search engine after all).

One caveat to this is that if you were writing a news/timely piece about Amazon your article might show up in the "Top stories" widget for a short period of time.

However, since this article is geared toward evergreen content, this wouldn't apply to us anyway.

How to Apply This Knowledge to Your Writing

You should always take this information into account regardless of what you're writing.

For Bloggers:

If you're writing a review for the Super Mario World SNES video game (yeah I'm that old), you don't target "Super Mario" you need to target "Super Mario World Review" or "Super Mario World SNES Review" depending on the search volume.

For Marketers:

If you're writing a landing page or article to promote your drone delivery services in Japan, you don't target the word "drone" or even "drone delivery". You might instead go for "drone delivery services" or even "drone delivery services in Japan" (but we'll save local SEO for another article).

Those were just two examples, but you should be able to apply this idea to your writing, regardless of who or what you're writing for.

When writing about SEO, I try not to give any absolutes or write as though this were gospel.

SEO changes (slightly or not so slightly) with every algorithm update the search engine company pushes. 

The advice I give here is not just things I've learned by reading online, but what I've seen work and not work in practice (which is arguably more important).

Sometimes you don't know what will work until you try it. So take all this advice with a grain of salt and write your heart out!