The Long Tail Theory

Long Tail (or long tail theory) is the term that has revolutionised online marketing in recent years.

The expression "Long Tail" perfectly captures the concept of an analogue retail strategy in which it is preferable to sell a large number of unique products in relatively small quantities, rather than selling a few popular items in large quantities.

Applied to the world of the web, this concept means that it is better to appear in search engines with many keywords with a low search volume, rather than choosing a few keywords with a high search volume.

If we focus on more specific keywords, we will be able to refine the traffic to our website, so that it is seen almost exclusively by potential customers who are genuinely interested in our products.

Let's take a simple example: if you are a doctor and you concentrate on appearing on Google with the keyword "doctor Milan", it will be quite difficult to rank on the first page, given the huge number of doctors the city of Milan has. But if you instead address the real catchment area of your potential customers with keywords such as "doctor specialising in dermatology in Milan", competition will certainly be lower.

One of the main advantages of the Long Tail Theory is cost saving. Anyone using pay per click services such as Google Adwords risks paying very high amounts for overly generic words, whereas keywords with a low search volume cost far less.

If you think you have not reached a good position on search engines because of choosing the wrong keywords, turn to our web agency: the NewVisibility team knows how to exploit the Long Tail and apply it optimally to your website.