In website SEO optimization, what is the role of long tail keywords?

In website SEO optimization, what is the role of long tail keywords?

Long-tail keywords: what are they, how do you find them, and why should you use them?

According to Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine, youfind he came up with the Long Tail theory after studying spending data from Amazon, Google and Netflix.

In the first place, we have the long tail theory

According to the long tail theory, when goods are stored, circulated, and displayed in large spaces and channels, the cost of production falls so dramatically that individuals can produce goods, and when the cost of selling goods drops so dramatically, almost all products, even those that seemed to have little demand, are bought when they are sold. These low-demand and low-volume products share the same or larger market share as some mainstream products.

In traditional media, individuals encounter products handpicked by mainstream outlets (such as TV networks, radio channels, and newspapers) on a daily basis. This includes the monthly top ten songs chosen by each radio station and the highest-grossing movies of the month. The book industry follows a similar pattern, with reputable newspapers and magazines showcasing bestseller lists. Regardless of individual preferences, mass consumers are constantly exposed to this bombardment from mainstream media, resulting in uniformed consumption. As a result, everyone ends up watching the same movies, reading the same books, and listening to the same music.

No matter how big a physical store is, it can only hold about 10,000 books. However, video rental services, like Amazon and Netflix, aren’t entirely free from a physical learning environment. In Amazon Books, the website system itself is not just a huge database, the website can provide book design can be easily expanded to tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions.

On the Internet, consumers can find their favorite books and records no matter what their hobbies are. Online bookstores can sell rare books with little demand, and they can only sell one rare book per year to a single consumer without significantly increasing marketing costs. That is not possible for physical stores, and they cannot display one book a year to accommodate people with different hobbies. Physical store shelves are expensive to display.

According to Chris Anderson's research on Amazon, Netflix, and Google, this tiny, alternative product is huge, and its total sales are no less than those of the top products on the hot list. In the figure, a famous long tail chart, the typical sales figure curve for this type of website is shown.

Cover GIF

As displayed in the chart, the most sought-after aspect of the product is limited in quantity, yet its sales are significantly high. The "long tail" refers to the extended part on the right, where each product has minimal demand and sales. This section can seemingly continue infinitely. Despite having fewer individual sales, the long tail category contributes substantially to overall revenue and profits, rivaling that of the previous segment. This phenomenon enables online companies to establish virtual shelves with an extensive range of products, offering consumers a convenient "one-stop" shopping experience at virtually no cost for shelf space, often just requiring another web page to be set up. In today's age, many individuals turn to the internet to discover their desired items or perhaps something vintage.

Secondly, what are long tail keywords?

Long tail keywords are defined in many ways in network technology. To summarize, we can define long tail keywords by asking the following questions:

A long-tail keyword is a more specific search phrase (usually three or more words), which clearly expresses the intent of the searcher. This type of keyword has a lower search volume than a keyword, but brings more conversions.