There are 2 types for keywords which can be targeted for a website:
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Branding Keywords
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Long Tail Keywords also referred as Sales Generating Keywords
Branding Keywords: Are basically keywords related to products and services like: SEO India, Car Finance, Car Loan. There is no location attached to these keywords neither any supporting phrase like: Car Finance Company, Car Finance Services, Cheap Car Finance, here Company, Finance and Cheap are supporting phrases. Usually these keywords are targeted for websites which have very old domain names or the website have been online for a very long time. Branding Keywords have the maximum traffic and are the most competitive to rank on. Another important factor is you are able to rank on any Branding Keywords you would be able to rank on any supporting phrase very easily.
Long Tail Keywords: also referred as Sales Generating Keywords. Long Tail Keywords are specific keywords related to products and services or they are generally used with the location where you are located like: Guaranteed SEO India, SEO Company India here SEO is the branding Keywords and I have used 2 supporting phrases: Company and India which make it a long tail keyword. Long Tail Keywords have less competition and traffic compared to branding keywords however it is better to rank on something and have some sort of share from the online enquiries rather have nothing.
Strategy: Depending on the theme of the website, domain age and competition of the keywords I would suggest to start with long tail keywords and then move on to the branding keywords.
Example: First target Long Tail Keywords like: SEO Company India and when you have achieved the ranking on this keyword, target SEO Company and SEO India through Link Building Services and Content Writing Services and in the final stage target SEO. As you keep moving from Long Tail Keywords towards Branding Keywords the competition would be getting tougher and tougher.