In search engine optimization campaigns the understanding of long tail strategy is crucial.  Just a basic understanding of this concept can completely determine the success of your campaign.

When people use search engines like google, yahoo or bing they type in a phrase that describes what they are looking for.  These terms can be very general (cars) for example or specific (black two door Chevy Tahoe).  Cars would be a short tail phrase, and black two door Chevy Tahoe would be considered a long tail phrase.

Likely there will be more total searches for cars, but what kind of people are the ones searching cars?  The probability of one of these people actually making it to your site and buying your Tahoe are very very slim.

While there may be fewer total searches for black two door Chevy Tahoe, a much higher percentage of people searching this term will convert to traffic and sales.

When someone gets online to look for something they normally do multiple searches, and these searches go from short tail to long tail.  The instant someone clicks they have an expectation of what will appear and your job is to match that expectation.

For this reason it is much more effective when doing seo to work on multiple long tail phrases than one short tail.  Also it is best that each product has its own page, so that you can have long tail terms for each product.

Phil Sanders
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