The “Longtail” is based on statistical phenomena where less common events can cumulatively become more significant than high frequency events. In a business this would mean the top 20 selling items in a shop might collectively make £1000 in revenue but the other less popular items cumulatively make £1500.
This can be applied in the world of PPC too. At the moment you might have 50 well performing keywords if you were to increase your keyword list to 1000 you could benefit from the longtail. Each keyword might only earn a small fraction of your top performing keywords but in total they can be more lucrative.
There are four great reasons why it’s worth advertising on the longtail
Cheaper – PPC advertising is built around the auction model. The more desirable the keyword is the more people are willing to pay for it. As PPC has become more competitive obvious keywords have in many sectors become prohibitively expensive. Advertisers are less likely to advertise on longtail phrases they are cheaper. This means you can afford more clicks.
More specific – If you were the owner of a hotel, it might make sense to advertise on the keyword hotel. But what if the searcher is looking for a hotel in a different city, or in different price bracket? By mining the longtail you can bring traffic to your site that is more likely to be happy with your content. As you pay for every click it’s in your interests to make sure every click is worth its cost.
Less Competitive – When anyone searches on a generic phrase they are greeted by a large number of organic and paid results. In this kind of environment your ad copy has to work much harder to draw attention. With less competition it’s easier to stand out and get searchers to click.
More Likely to Convert – Normally the longer a search term is the more likely the search is to convert into a sale. This is because longer terms tend to show that the user is further along the buying process, they may have done some research & have a clear idea of what they are looking for. Would you rather have a visit from a searcher looking for a “car” or “BMW 3 series 100,000 miles Brighton”?
There are main benefits of understanding the possibilities of the longtail. We can learn a lot from the statistical phenomena which can help every business’s bottom line.
You can read more about Linkbait & the Longtail at the Site Visibility Blog
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kelvin_T._Newman
