What is an “Umbrella Keyword” in SEO ?

An umbrella keyword is one that has several long-tail variant keywords. It is, in that sense, a 'wide' phrase, the polar opposite of a specialized term.

Consider the umbrella keyword "auto insurance." The following graph shows that it gets the greatest traffic, yet it is also one of the most challenging keywords to rank for.

It's not always a good idea to attempt to rank for the core keyword, since the difficulty may make it harder.

In the above example, I would recommend attempting to rank for "cheap auto insurance." It gets the greatest traffic and is one of the easiest keywords to rank for.

If you want to rank for an umbrella keyword, create a page in your site map that is optimized for that term as a "parent" page. Such a major page would cover the subject of "auto insurance" in a very wide and thorough manner. In addition, the "parent page" would have links to further related long-tail items, such as "compare car insurance firms" and "best car insurance." To rank, each of these article pages must be thoroughly optimized.

You have a possibility to rank for umbrella keywords if your site covers the core keyword in sufficient detail, has suitable link structure, and on-page SEO.

The key to success is excellent content.

The advantages of ranking for a broad keyword

Once you've ranked for an umbrella keyword, you'll be able to easily pull up related search phrases. Unfortunately, ranking for an umbrella keyword is generally difficult, and the method to rank for it is to first dominate numerous of the simpler, related long-tail phrases. You will gain Google authority over time and get the benefits.

Extra Information

You may be wondering why the average cost per click for specific keywords is not proportional to the amount of traffic in the figure above. The explanation is that certain terms are more often put in by individuals who are seeking for something particularly specific.

A user searching for "auto insurance firms" is seeking for a new vehicle insurance provider and is likely to convert on a well-optimized landing page that speaks to their requirements.

Someone searching for "multi vehicle insurance" may just be curious about the notion and checking to see whether it exists, thus clicks are much cheaper.

The cost per click demonstrates that the umbrella keyword is not always the most valuable term. A simple measure of a keyword's SEO value may be derived by multiplying the projected visits (traffic) by the average cost per click. Following that, you examine the resultant value in light of how difficult it is to rank for that term.