The long tail search

In trying to explain things, I find it best to do it using analogies. This is a technique I learned from public speaking when I was still doing them several years back. It worked really well for me because my audience can easily understand what I'm saying plus it gave them an impression that I really know what I'm talking about and not just reading the lines projected on the wall from the Powerpoint slide. I remember several years back when I was invited as a resource speaker for a bunch of non-IT senior managers. The talk was about leveraging on the Internet and websites. And I remember comparing the client-server architecture to a customer going to a restaurant, looking at the menu, ordering a meal, and the waiter getting the order, serving, etc. etc. Everybody could relate to this and it made my work that day easier. And since then I developed a habit of making analogies, technical or not.

A couple of days ago, somebody asked me what is the long tail search? And for a brief second or two, I found myself browsing through my drawer of analogies in my head. No luck. For fear of losing my credibility to her, I gave her the jargon treatment; pausing only every time she would nod that probably meant "I wish you would stop now my ears are bleeding". I swear if I went on for another 5 minutes of technical terms other people in the room hearing me would think I was speaking in tongues. I feel sad I wasn't able to answer her the right way. I wish to redeem myself but the thought of being asked again about it is like Web 3.0. It can happen, but not yet.

I'm taking the initiative to put into writing my explanation, using analogies, of the long tail search. Maybe she'll stumble upon my blog and finally give me my redemption.

Say you need to buy a particular pair of shoes. You already know which brand and style you want. So, off you go to the mall. Inside the mall you see the sign "Shoes for sale" placed on top of a number of shops. And you see each shop packed to the brim with shoppers like you. You battle your way inside to find every brand and style except the one you want. It's almost closing hours when you finally found the pair want, after so many shops. Now you think, if only the sign on top of the last shop said "Green Celine Shoes for sale", the whole ordeal would have been easier.

The shoe sale may not be the best example and really it's not my field of expertise but please bear with me for a while. The key points here are: You're already sure of what you want to buy and you're already ready to buy it. Keep that in mind for a second.

In Search Engine Optimization and Search Marketing, the long tail search focuses on the keywords or key-phrases that are not popular or highly targeted but will most likely to convert. For example, I have a website about online dating. There are probably millions of websites about online dating and maybe a thousand of them are considered my tight competitor. Naturally, all of us would be trying to optimize our website for the key phrase "online dating". So that if someone inputs those words in Google, all I have to do is hope that my website appear at least on the top ten list. If that doesn't happen, chances are I'm losing customers to competition.

Now applying the concept of the long tail search, I can shift my focus on key phrases that may not be as popular as my first choice but would still be effective for me. For example, I focus on the phrase "meet Asian singles online" or "single white cancer-ian female". This narrows down the choices. Remember the shoe sale analogy? The idea is, "I know what I want, and I want it now". It makes sense to consider the long tail search strategy in SEO as consumers who are led to your website through these keywords/phrases are those who are most likely to buy your product or service or whatever conversion goals you have set.

I learned about the concept of the long tail search from my step dad. It will surprise you to know that he's not an SEO professional nor a marketing guru. I'm not even sure if he knows what the acronym HTML stands for. My step dad is a professional river guide. And here's the story.

One autumn day, I showed him the things I do; a lot about the Internet and websites. And I guess he thought it was a great idea, he can add them on his list of "things to do in winter". I made a website for him without really thinking of the impact it would create to his profession. Eventually he learned more than one would expect. Stuff like how his website would appear on search engines and how customers are led to him. He then told me one day something like, maybe if we re-word the content that would say something like "I am a professional river guide from Eugene, Oregon.", it will help my potential customers find me. And that idea stuck to me! From the words of my step dad, "it's like a sick cat laying down a hot rock". It's smart and it felt good. We continued working on his website. Optimizing page after page. And true enough, inquiries started piling up. Not just from across the state, but from Europe and other parts of the world as well. These inquiries are coming from people who want to take fly fishing vacation or catching river run salmon or fathers and grandfathers who needs somebody to teach their boy how to fly fish, or people who want a fishing hole found only by maneuvering through the perilous rapids . And since Oregon is a popular destination for this leisure/sport activity, all we needed to do was to capture those who were or willing to stay within his radius.

They know what they want, and they're ready to get it. This is the underlying concept that the long tail search is leveraging on. Here's a another explanation of the long tail search.