Should forum names be geared toward exact match or long tail?

[Johnny5]

I am trying to nail down the names of the actual forums which will appear in urls. Should these be concise exact match to what the particular forum is about, i.e., "Green Pickles" or broader, more long tail oriented like "Salty and Sweet Green Pickles"?

The difference would effectively be

pickleforum.com/Salty-Sweet-Green-Pickles/pickles-taste-like-trash-113.html

vs

pickleforum.com/Green-Pickles/pickles-taste-like-trash-113.html

Which do I want for optimum traffic? The shorter as it's more geared towards "Green Pickles" or the longer because it will get Green Pickles++?

I need to decide on forum names and stop changing them before search engines really hate me. Please advise!

Thanks

[Joe Ward]

• Which gets more search volume every month?
• Which has less competitors (roughly estimated by the # of results received, but also the authority of the sites you see in the top 10)
• Which of those do you think you could harness more traffic from?

You might find a term that would deliver 10 Million hits to the #1 result, but is locked up with high quality top 10s that you cannot budge.

You might find another term would deliver 10,000 hits to the #1, and the results are filled with weak competition that you can easily displace.

So in that case, it seems like a logical idea to simply harvest those 10,000 hits!

That is in a general sense. You are also talking specifically about a forum and preparing for maximum long tail results. In that context, you have to remember that the "sub forum name" IS going to be reflected on all thread pages that are within that sub-forum. So having the "general" sub-forum name allows you to develop combinations of threads titles plus the generic forum name on the page (although not all in the title of the page).

For "Salty Sweet Green Pickles" you have the most general included so that could be a good choice. However, are there any other types of pickles other than "salty", "sweet", or "green" that you think you can generate traffic from?

You also have to remember that the title of the forum will decide whether or not actual users check inside to post or read what others have to say. So if the title makes it seem like its too specific you might ward them away from the sub-forum.

In your case, I think I *would* go with "Salty Sweet Green Pickles". It sounds more interesting than "Green Pickles" and covers a few more term variations.

Check out this related keyword strategy:
Strategy for Optimizing Keywords in Your vBulletin Forum Title and Descriptions