Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific searches, such as "water heater repair near me" rather than "plumber", and for a local service they usually name the exact job the customer needs done. Below are real long-tail examples from 10 trades, with their monthly US Google searches measured on 2 November 2026.
What makes a keyword long-tail
The usual definition is "a search with low volume". For local services, a more useful test is how specific the search is. A long-tail search names a job, a type of customer, a deadline or a quality the customer cares about. The person typing it already knows what they want, and is often close to picking up the phone.
Long tail does not always mean small. Nationally, "transmission shops near me" gets 201,000 searches a month, against 301,000 for "auto repair" itself. It counts as long-tail because of what it asks for: one specific repair, from one kind of shop. In any single city, of course, these figures split into much smaller numbers.
One head term and one long tail from each of 10 trades
| Trade |
Head term |
US searches a month |
Long-tail example |
US searches a month |
High-end bid, head term |
High-end bid, long tail |
| Plumbing |
plumber |
673,000 |
emergency plumber near me |
135,000 |
$87.36 |
$105.22 |
| Roofing |
roofer |
60,500 |
commercial roofing contractors near me |
14,800 |
$70.60 |
$113.55 |
| HVAC |
hvac repair |
74,000 |
air conditioner installation near me |
40,500 |
$100.00 |
$72.20 |
| Electrician |
electrician |
368,000 |
licensed electrician near me |
8,100 |
$54.17 |
$42.54 |
| Dentist |
dentist |
1,000,000 |
dental implants near me |
90,500 |
$22.68 |
$50.20 |
| Landscaping |
landscaping |
165,000 |
landscaping design near me |
12,100 |
$11.63 |
$17.61 |
| Pest control |
pest control |
201,000 |
termite inspection |
60,500 |
$45.63 |
$60.96 |
| Auto repair |
auto repair |
301,000 |
transmission shops near me |
201,000 |
$9.56 |
$10.00 |
| Moving |
moving company |
165,000 |
long distance movers near me |
33,100 |
$46.27 |
$103.97 |
| Law firm |
lawyer |
246,000 |
car accident lawyers near me |
165,000 |
$44.35 |
$414.00 |
Monthly Google searches for the US, measured with KeywordQuasar on 2 November 2026. The bid columns are the high end of the top-of-page bid range advertisers paid, in US dollars.
In eight of the ten pairs, advertisers paid more at the high end for the long tail than for the head term. The gap is widest for lawyers: "car accident lawyers near me" ran from $95.00 to $414.00 a click, against $7.73 to $44.35 for "lawyer". Specific searches tend to come from people with a specific, paying job, and the businesses bidding on them know it. HVAC and electricians are the exceptions here, so check each phrase rather than assuming.
Five kinds of long tail that work for local services
1. The specific job. The customer names the work. "water heater repair near me" (90,500 a month), "furnace repair near me" (74,000), "termite inspection" (60,500) and "wasp nest removal" (40,500) each describe one job a business can build one page around.
2. Urgency. "emergency plumber near me" (135,000), "24 hour plumber near me" (60,500) and "emergency electrician near me" (14,800) come from people who need someone today. If you answer the phone out of hours, these deserve their own page with that promise near the top.
3. The type of customer. "commercial plumbers near me" (22,200), "commercial roofing" (18,100), "commercial electrician" (14,800) and "residential electrician" (14,800) split the market by who is paying. A business that serves landlords or offices should not leave these to a homeowner page.
4. The material or speciality. "metal roofing" (90,500), "standing seam metal roof" (49,500), "pediatric dentist near me" (201,000) and "hardscaping" (27,100) attract people who have already chosen what they want and are now choosing who does it.
5. Trust and price words. "licensed electrician near me" (8,100), "cheap plumbers near me" (14,800) and "local movers near me" (60,500) tell you what the customer is worried about. Answer that worry on the page: show the licence, explain the pricing, say where you are based.
How to use long-tail keywords on your site
- Give each job with real demand its own page. A page called "Water heater repair" that explains what you fix, how fast you arrive and what affects the price will answer that search better than a line on a general services page.
- Use the phrase where it reads naturally, in the page title, the main heading and the first paragraph. Then write for the person, not the phrase.
- Don't build a page for every word order. "emergency electrician" and "electrician emergency" both get 12,100 searches a month. They are the same request, so one page answers both.
- Group a long tail with its close relatives. "long distance movers near me" (33,100) and "long distance moving companies" (22,200) belong on the same page.
Finding the long tail in your own city
The figures above are national. In your city the same phrases will be far smaller, and some will be too small to have a figure at all. Figures for a small place are also less precise, so use small city figures to compare phrases rather than to forecast calls.
To see the long tail for one place, KeywordQuasar takes a keyword and a city and lists the related Google searches there, each with its own monthly figure: up to ten ideas on a free search in the US, UK and Canada, and more on the Plus and Max plans. The trade reports go further for each trade: see the plumbing, roofing and HVAC keyword reports for the top national ideas and demand in 20 US cities.
Frequently asked questions
What is a long-tail keyword?
A longer, more specific search, such as "emergency plumber near me" instead of "plumber". For a local business it usually names a job, a type of customer, a deadline or a quality, so the person searching knows what they want.
Are long-tail keywords easier to rank for?
Often, because fewer pages are written for the exact request, but not always. The competition band only counts advertisers, so it cannot tell you how hard a phrase is to rank for. Look at the pages already ranking for it.
Do long-tail keywords have low search volume?
Not always. "car accident lawyers near me" gets 165,000 US searches a month. What makes it long-tail is that it is specific. In a single city, the same phrase gets far fewer searches.
How do I find long-tail keywords for my business?
Write down every job you do and how customers describe it, then check each phrase's monthly searches in your city. KeywordQuasar lists the related Google searches for a keyword and a place, free for 5 searches a day in the US, UK and Canada, with no account needed.
See the long tail for your trade in your city: try a free search on KeywordQuasar.
