Increasing SEO Competition and Change: Survival Not Mandatory

It’s safe to say the way search engines work is changing; but then, it’s been safe to say that since the first engine rolled out. Is SEO changing, though? Think about it:
Since people first started using the Web to advertise their business, they’ve been hiring other people to figure out how to make sure their business gets visibility.
Search ranking, and thus, SEO, is becoming more competitive. But then – hasn’t it been “becoming” more competitive each year for several years?
Choosing the right keywords to target is essential – but hasn’t it always been?
So, then is SEO, as in the whole, encompassing “Search Engine Optimization”, changing or are the number of methods just growing?

Changing SEO Methods
The number one, never changing method of SEO is the three T’s (tracking, testing, tweaking). As far as I’m concerned, Alfred Edward Perlman perfectly described the mindset of optimization almost 60 years ago:
“After you’ve done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully. After five years, look at it with suspicion. And after ten years, throw it away and start all over.” (New York Times, 3 July 1958)
In yesteryears, SEO might have been nothing more than a few reciprocal links and some on page optimization. Today, it could be a long list: article marketing, blogs and other content development, URL structures, back links, you name it. While methods may change, grow or depreciate, the same two truths hold firm. They are:
An SEO campaign cannot be thrown together. It has to be carefully planned – as any campaign should be.
An SEO campaign has to be revisited intermittently and adjusted as necessary – as any campaign should be.
This is not news. These are the basics.

A side note on SEO service providers…
If you’re starting a marketing campaign and know nothing about marketing, would you consult a professional before starting? More likely than not, you would – you’re pushing hundreds or thousands of dollars down the drain that way, and you know it.
Now consider this; how much is it costing you to keep your online business going? Hosting, website design, writing (whether you do it or hire someone, it costs time or money), marketing perhaps… Are you willing to see all that go down the drain as well? You don’t have to consult with an SEO professional, but there is a degree of risk without at least checking your campaign with someone in the industry. End of lecture.

Succeeding in a Continually More Competitive Marketplace
So what does it take to succeed nowadays? What steps can you take? Here are just a few:
1.Define your SEO strategy, content and site structure before beginning any of it. If you have a pre-existing site, define it anyway, and make necessary changes.
2.Make sure the company or person designing your website understands at least the basics of good on page SEO structure and uses it accordingly.
3.USE your analytics program. Most hosting providers have one and, if not, you can grab Google Analytics free. If you can’t see what’s happening on your site, how do you expect to know what to change and where?
4.Don’t automatically go for the high search, high competitive terms. Start with the lower ones (thusly called “low hanging fruit”) and build traffic gradually.
5.No matter what else you do, don’t ignore content. The search engines want and expect content. You have to provide it; it isn’t optional.

Lastly, understand the World Wide Web is the busiest place on Earth. Don’t believe me? In Africa, a continent full of third world countries,almost 111 million people use the Internet. In Asia, the last count was 825,094,396 Internet users. Worldwide, there’s almost 2 billion. (Statistics thanks to Internet World Stats )

It’s also the smallest place on Earth; companies in Germany can be your direct competition, even if you’re just a local online business shipping to three area codes. Be willing to change your strategy, your methods and your content to meet the needs of 1) your visitors and 2) the search engines. Survival isn’t mandatory, but it sure is nice.

In web analytics, everything is relative

What's a good bounce rate for my web site?
I get that kind of question a lot. What's a 'good' bounce rate? A 'good' time on site?
The answer, I'm afraid, is: Better than your current bounce rate. Better than your current time on site.
In web analytics, it's best to focus on your own data and on improving. Use yourself as the benchmark. This is your best strategy for two reasons:

Lack of accurate benchmarks
Accurate, internet- or industry-wide data on keyword searches, or competitors, or just about anything else, is scarce. Non-existent, really.
'Panel'-based statistics like Compete.com (which I love) and Alexa (which I'm starting to like again) sweep in an incredibly wide range of web sites. The bounce rate on your online bike shop won't compare to, say, the bounce rate on the New York Times web site.
Statistics within your own industry will include outliers at both end of the spectrum: At one end are the companies that have invested 100x your budget to become the shining pinnacle of conversion rate optimization. At the other, you'll be comparing yourself to the sites designed according to 1992 best practices. Even if you can narrow down the data in #1, it'll be inaccurate..
Keyword data from Google is about as trustworthy as a credit default swap.
Keyword data from other sources may be more trustworthy, but shows you a tiny sliver of total search traffic.

Numbers lie
Even if you could get accurate benchmarks, they still lie. Your business isn't like your competitors', no matter how similar they seem. Competitor A just fired his head of sales, so conversion rates tanked for a month. Competitor B happened to get on Channel 5 News. Her traffic tripled, lowering her conversion rate, too - but her sales skyrocketed.
Unless you've got the whole story, the numbers will lie. And you can't get the whole story.

Focus on improvement
So, if you're trying to figure out how many visitors you should be getting for 'slobber knocker', the answer is? More than you get right now.
If you're trying to figure out where your conversion rate should be? Yep. Better than what you're getting right now.That's what web analytics are for: Helping you improve. Which, as it happens, is also how you beat your competitors.

The Accidental Link Request Clinic

If you send me a link request, I’m going to go ahead and assume you want my feedback. What? You don’t? You just want the valuable back link that I can provide? Wow, I feel dirty and used. No not really, because unfortunately I’m used to it by now. Sure sometimes link requests are annoying, sometimes they make me giggle, and sometimes I just shake my head sadly with the knowledge that some poor soul spent time and money on these misguided tactics. I know I’ve ranted about terrible link requests but I still think there are…critiques… worth doing.
I’ve never directly responded to a bad link request. Perhaps someday I will, but in the mean time I’m going to do it here, as a sort of public service announcement. After all, knowledge is power right? So welcome to the link request clinic that you accidentally walked into. The names and sites have been changed to protect the unfortunate.

Email #1 – Bad Grammar, Bots and Outrageous Claims
Hi,
I run Random-site.com and I would like to exchange link with your website (mysite.com in parenthesis). I believe our sites are useful to our audience.
Please add your link to our directory at (Generic-link-directory.com) and once our link is up on your website, your listing will be activated and made available to public in our directory.
Our link directory was created two weeks ago so it has no pagerank at the moment. It will get a solid PR5 after next pagerank update.
Please reply with any questions you may have.
Greetings
Umm here’s a question…do you actually expect to get results from a request like this? Ok in the words of Connie D’ Amico, “prepare for itemized insults”. First the grammar is questionable, which is immediately off putting. Try using plurals and the word “the” occasionally, it makes you sound literate. Second, placing my site in parenthesis REEKS of an automated program. This tells me that your email is a bad template at best or at worst a bot scraped my domain and filled in the appropriate field.
Also, let me get this straight, you want me to add my site to your generic link list and in return you want a back link on the site I wrote page by page by hand? Yeah I don’t think so. I also highly doubt that “my audience” is in dire need on yet another pointless directory.
But my favorite part of this email about the world’s most amazing 2 week old directory is the claim that “after next PageRank update” this site will be a “solid” PR5.
Really Nostradamus? Exactly where did you get that info, your crystal ball or your tarot cards?
The fact is no one can ever legitimately make a claim like that. Toolbar PR is utterly unreliable and it’s impossible to predict what actual PageRank a new site will be assigned. True PR is about trust and value. And frankly with link building tactics like these I am highly skeptical that your entry-begging directory will be given much trust or value at all.

Email #2 – Aggressive Schizophrenia
My name is Random Female Name, Web Marketing Consultant. Ive greatly enjoyed looking through your site my-site.com and I was wondering if you’d be interested in exchanging links with my website, which has a related subject. I can offer you a HOME PAGE link back from my related website which is:
I-send-bad-link-requests.com PR5
If you are interested, please send me the following details of your site:
TITLE:
URL:
I’ll add your link as soon as possible, in the next 24 hours. As soon as it’s ready, I’ll send you a confirmation email along with the information (TITLE and URL) regarding my site to be placed at yours.
I hope you have a nice day and thank you for your time.
Kindest regards,
….Four Days Later…

Hi,
My name is Another Random Female Name, Web Marketing Consultant. Ive greatly enjoyed looking through your site mysite.com and I was wondering if you’d be interested in exchanging links with my website, which has a related subject. I can offer you a home page link back from my related website which is:
I-send-bad-link-requests.com PR5
Yada, yada, yada….
I hope you have a nice day and thank you for your time.
Kindest regards,

Another Totally Different Random Female Name.
Web Marketing Consultant
Wow. Ok, if I didn’t respond your first request on Thursday, you really think that I’m going to be game on Monday? I suppose there is nothing wrong with persistence, except when you’re spamming me. Which in spite of a weak attempt to personalize using my domain name, you are.
Because I’m morbidly curious, I checked out this “related” subject offering me a home page link. It’s a blog, which is fine, I love blog links. But this particular blog, in spite of having a few posts which are relevant to my site, has a ton of posts which are not only completely UN-related to me, they are topics that I actually would prefer to distance myself from. Add to that, poor writing and the compete absence of educational value. Awesome, because the web needs more blogs like that. And I’ve been dying to link to a not-even-thinly veiled attempt at making money off of useless content about highly competitive niches.
Finally, I know it’s difficult for your bots to keep track of all their identities, but could we get the dissociative identity disorder under control please? Sending me duplicate emails, 4 days apart, from 2 supposedly different “Web Marketing Consultants” and failing to close the second one using the same fake name you opened with, is a real deterrent to gaining my trust. Oh and speaking of trust I’m not sure where you got PR5 from because as far as I can tell, your green bar is white, and even though that doesn’t matter to me, it does lead me to believe that your ACTUAL PageRank is probably closer to a -5.
There are several other bad link request offenders which perhaps I’ll cover in a future post someday, if the rest of you are having as much fun with this as I am. There’s the long talker, a.k.a TMI Guy, the Shameless Advertiser (whose honesty I almost respect) among others. But I couldn’t close this entry without covering this last one…

Email #3 – The Deceptively Almost Sincere Generic Link Request.
Subject: Quick Question About
I’m interested in placing a promotional link on your page:
http://mysite.com./specific-blog-post
The link would be for a website which is all about search engine optimization services. I don’t have the biggest budget, but hopefully there is a reasonable price we could arrange. Please let me know if you’re interested, and if not thanks for your time.
Thanks!
Lovely Female Name
Oooh … You are a tricky little vixen. First, you filled in my contact form and second your subject line sounded like you might genuinely be interested in my site or my services. Alas, you are not. You just want to exploit me. Le sigh.
When are bosses going to teach their link builders to take the time to look at who they are emailing and not put themselves in situations like this? Why are you emailing an SEO site about linking to an SEO site and offering to pay for it! A “promotional” link no less. You couldn’t even pretend that the link will somehow add value to my site? Listen sister, maybe you don’t know this, but I know that buying links is a dangerous practice. And the guy you work for probably knows it too.
But here you are offering to pay me for links. Even though if you read my site, which I suspect you didn’t, you’d recognize that as an SEO I understand the full value of what it is that you are asking. I know the risks that come along with buying and selling links and your budget which is “not the biggest” probably isn’t going to be enough for me to sell my site’s integrity. Not to mention that my name is all over my site, so if you had glanced at it you could have at least done me the courtesy of an actual greeting. The use of my name might help convince me you aren’t just another link spammer. Might.
Oh and with a quick read-though you might also realize that I am your client’s competitor and therefore without content enhancing information, forming a relationship and/ or a mutually beneficial partnership I’m very unlikely to give a competitor a link of any kind.

So what are the Take-aways from today’s clinic?
1. Learn to write well. Seriously. A little good grammar goes a long way.
2. Be consistent in the use of names, mine AND yours.
3. Try to keep track of the people you contact, so you don’t inadvertently harass people
4. Don’t bother writing me unless you have something of real value to offer my content and my users. And don’t lie to me about your site’s quality…when I look at it, I’ll figure out you don’t have any.
5. Read the site you are writing to. You don’t have to memorize every page or blog post, but at least know who you are pitching so you don’t make a fool of yourself.
If you have any of your own examples or other insults constructive criticism for these link requests I’d love to hear it!

Great Link Building Ideas For Charities

A few years back my parents became heavily involved in a Kenyan Orphanage. Through some contacts they helped raise the funds for the build and have since carried on raising funds for the day to day costs and further developments. With talk of a website re-build on the cards I started to think about ways in which I could step in and get involved with some SEO work. None of this has been put into action yet, but the more I thought about it the more excited I became as the SEO opportunities here are huge. As I haven’t seen this subject talked about a great deal, I thought it could make for quite an interesting blog post.

For the purpose of this blog I’m going to leave the subject of how much to charge charities for SEO alone...that moral dilemma’s yours! However, for someone who’s looking to build up a portfolio, charity work could be a great opportunity to get your teeth stuck in, and help out at the same time.

Requesting Links From Associates

Networking is a central part of any charity, and in general most charities that prove successful in this area will end up with a good amount of associates. It’s also fairly likely that out of these associates, quite a few will have quite good authority on the web. Many charities team up with schools and government schemes so that means there’s a great chance of getting some really strong links from .edu and .gov domains. Most organisations that partner with a charity are usually quite proud of the fact, so gaining a link from them shouldn’t be a struggle. All good news for SEO!

Support With A Link

Giving a small contribution towards a charity has become a familiar tick box in ecommerce checkout systems. But what if ecommerce stores starting providing badges linking to their favourite charity? I think it would be much easier to team up with a successful online business if all you were asking was for them to send or provide customers with an embeddable badge instead of a % of profits or contribution at the checkout stage. For example:

“example.com is proud to support the cause of www.example2.com . Please help make a difference by simply embedding this link where possible”

If a website really got behind the idea, various types of embeddable content could be made available at the minimum intrusion to business. After all, if someone doesn’t want to link they don’t have to!

PR

Getting some great online PR when working with charities should be relatively easy to achieve. You’re never short of news-worthy stories (fund raising efforts, achievements etc) and the local press especially love to champion local causes. In my experience it is far easier to get a story run when it involves charity work, compared to a commercially linked story. Any online partners you have may also be willing to publish your latest news via their blogs and social media accounts, all creating links back to your website and raising your profile.

Social Media

Facebook groups/pages, twitter profiles and social bookmarking all provide an amazing platform on which to promote your fundraising efforts. If you happen to be organising a sponsored walk, run or sky-dive then social media can help you spread the word amongst your network and way beyond. As with PR, people seem a lot more willing and forward to share a link or post relating to a charity event or fundraising effort. I would start by setting up a Facebook page with all the relevant details and then encouraging everyone to spread it as best they can. Probably best to avoid the “unless this is sent to 10 friends, you will die by next Thursday” tactic.

Specialist Knowledge

Chances are that if your charity is based in specific area, you will probably start to develop quite a good understanding of different issues surrounding the work. This should give the option to contribute information and ideas to different stories, and quite often you’ll see charity leaders asked for quotes. This opens up quite a few possibilities to gain links within content from all manner of sources; great for improving on your high authority inbound links.

Some of these ideas may be basic link building techniques, but when put into the strategy for a charity the way in which you can easily spread yourself across seems really exciting.

Right, now I better actually go and start implementing these ideas...look forward to your comments.

Optimizing sites for TV

Just as mobile phones make your site accessible to people on the go, Google TV makes your site easily viewable to people lounging on their couch. Google TV is a platform that combines your current TV programming with the web and, before long, more apps. It’s the web you love, with the TV you love, all available on the sofa made for you. Woohoo!Because Google TV has a fully functioning web browser built in, users can easily visit your site from their TV. Current sites should already work, but you may want to provide your users with an enhanced TV experience -- what's called the “10-foot UI” (user interface). They'll be several feet away from the screen, not several inches away, and rather than a mouse on their desktop, they'll have a remote with a keyboard and a pointing device.For example, here’s YouTube for desktop users versus what we’re calling “YouTube Leanback” -- our site optimized for large screens:
YouTube desktop version on the left, YouTube Leanback on the right
See our Spotlight Gallery for more examples of TV-optimized sites.

What does "optimized for TV" mean?

It means that, for the user sitting on their couch, your site on their TV is an even more enjoyable experience:
Text is large enough to be viewable from the sofa-to-TV distance.
Site navigation can be performed through button arrows on the remote (a D-pad), rather than mouse/touchpad usage
Selectable elements provide a visual queue when selected (when you’re 10 feet away, it needs to be really, really obvious what selections are highlighted)
and more...
How can webmasters gain a general idea of their site’s appearance on TV?

First, remember that appearance alone doesn't incorporate whether your site can be easily navigated by TV users (i.e. users with a remote rather than a mouse). With that said, here’s a quick workaround to give you a ballpark idea of how your site looks on TV. (For more in-depth info, please see the “Design considerations” in our optimization guide.)
On a large monitor, make your window size 1920 x 1080.
In a browser, visit your site at full screen.
Zoom the browser to 1.5x the normal size. This is performed in different ways with different keyboards. For example, in Chrome if you press ctrl+ (press ctrl and + at the same time) twice, that’ll zoom the browser to nearly 1.5x the initial size.
Move back 3 x (the distance between you and the monitor).
Check out your site!And don’t forget, if you want to see your site with the real thing, Google TV enabled devices are now available in stores.

Understanding the User Mind Model

User mind models matter when it comes to keyword research. They matter when you write the copy for Meta Descriptions, PPC Ads, on-site content, link names, and link placement. They matter when you’re creating that next viral social media piece, and when you’re establishing that Twitter usage policy. They matter in every aspect of the online experience, so they should matter to you.
Football or Soccer? Windshield or Windscreen? Lunch bag or sack lunch? Soda or Pop? One word links or five word links? Lots of images on this page or none? Put supporting info in PDF files or actual web pages? Is this site the best to get an inbound link from or is that one, over there?
Are this site’s users patient Internet age types or are they older people who get frustrated trying to figure out what a “right-click” is? Are they 3rd year graduate students or rocket scientists? Do they spend all their time outdoors or are they couch potatoes?
Are this company’s ideal customers Twitter twits or Facebook fanatics? Are they conservative or liberal?
Beyond The Technical
No matter how skilled you might be at implementing a technically stellar SEO, PPC or Social Media strategy, if you don’t first put in the footwork to understand the unique way a site’s users think, or how they digest their information online, you’re going to fall short. Because of this reality, I always put in just as much time into understanding the user’s mind model as I do any other single aspect of the marketing process.
A whole book could be written on this one topic, so I’ll just cover the bases here, imploring you to take away from this article the concept that understanding the mind model of your users is a critical responsibility…
Marketing – Its A Team Sport
Okay so you’re the one who wears all the hats. Your team consists of your ego, your inner child, your codependent parent, your favorite high school teacher – you know – all the voices in your head… In that case, good luck. You’ll need it.
For the rest of us, we rely on and are typically required to, collaborate with others. Site owners. Graphic Designers. Engineers. Sales people, ad agency creative types. Marketing people….
If you’re like me and you do participate on an IRL (not inner mind) team, the more YOU understand the reasons it’s critical to understand the REAL user’s mind model, the more you’ll also want everyone else to understand why it’s so important to figure that out as well. And the more everyone on the team grasps this fundamental truth, the more effortless YOUR job will be as the search and/or social media marketer.
So one of the best suggestions I can make to you is take responsibility to learn about site users for the next site you’re working on. And include that information when you’re trying to get the designer to change that butt-ugly neon-glow “buy now” button, or for the video script writer to reconsider including that half naked woman, even though you’re just the online marketing hack…
Expand Your Mind
Don’t just rely on keyword research tools, or the site owner’s understanding of keywords. Don’t just think you’re the average user of the site. Don’t assume just because YOU think that video is perfect, and funny, that people with purchasing power capabilities do. Don’t assume the graphic designer’s artistic flair is going to cut it. Or the engineer’s neat new widget is really going to be of value…
Take the time to step into the customer/end client’s shoes. “If I were looking for this product, these services, how would I search for it?” How would I feel when I see THIS page, or have to use THIS widget? How would I react to that visual in the video? Or that persona on Twitter?
Before you try and think like that person, the best action you can take is to clear your mind of your own personal way of thinking about the product(s) or service(s) you’re going to need to get found or remembered for the right reasons. Because it’s all too easy to cloud our vision with our own previous thinking.
Routinely Step Outside Your Vision
Actually take the time to envision who the ideal target person is. What’s their life like? Are they wealthy, middle class or poor? What is their cultural background? What’s their education level?
What kind of things might they read in their spare time? Yes – that’s right – I actually think about that. And it’s why I have subscriptions to
• Popular Mechanics
• Readers Digest
• National Geographic Traveller
• Popular Science
• Entrepreneur Magazine
• Newsweek
And it’s why I don’t hesitate to read
• Cosmopolitan
• USA Today
• Wall Street Journal
• People
• Time
• Lady’s Home Journal
• Scientific American
I don’t stop there though. If I’ve got a client with a site that targets a market in a different realm, or a social media channel inside a niche market web presence, I’ll seek out and read a lot of material that’s geared toward that unique market. Whether it’s in the health, nutrition, financial, education, Gen-Y, retailing, manufacturing, retiree or whatever field it happens to be in.
Don’t Trust Existing Sources
When it comes to discovering keywords, a lot of people in our industry suggest (rightly so) to look at a site’s analytics to see which long tail and alternate phrases you might have an opportunity to put more emphasis on. Alternately they’ll tell you to look to see what the competition is doing (also rightly so). This is just as dangerous when evaluating a “voice” – whether it’s for site content, a social media campaign, or a company Twitter account.
Yet I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to realize that you need to consider these sources with extreme caution.
First, if you’re looking at analytics data on the site you’re working on, that’s going to be heavily skewed based on the quality of the previous optimization process. There could be dozens, hundreds, or thousands of keyword phrases not showing up there that by all rights are as good as, or even better than what you see.
Second, just because your competition is using certain phrases doesn’t mean they put in the right kind of footwork either. Imagine a world where all the sites are optimized for the wrong phrases? Oh sure – everyone’s probably getting traffic. But what if it’s only a small fraction of the real market?
And just because the Old Spice guy was a hit, do you really think that concept would work for an ad campaign for abortion rights or Catholic Charities?
Question Everything
If you’re doing SEO or PPC or even Social Media marketing, to get maximum results you absolutely need to at the very least, participate in the decision process. Whether it’s PPC specific landing pages, or content writing, or link labels, or anything that can impact the success of the rest of the SEO, PPC and Social Media effort, understanding the user mind model while they’re on the site itself or following that Twitter account, or connected to that Facebook fan page, is as crucial as it is when choosing keywords, writing PPC ad copy, or which social media channels need attention.
And when it comes to the user mind model, assume nothing.
Test Test Test
Assume that the only way to optimize a user’s experience on a site is to do A/B split testing with the entire look and feel of the site, with the length of content most pages have before splitting out additional content to new pages, whether those text links you’re embedding directly in the content are annoying to users, or helpful, whether having “customer service” be a tiny link in the footer is enough or having it be a primary navigation link actually communicates trustworthiness…
And if that’s the case, that page or section is yet one more opportunity to optimize a top level page that can be used to support other sections or pages…
Remember- just because YOU are used to “FAQ” pages, doesn’t mean granny is. Or that nun who only spends an hour a year online does…
For Social Media, do A/B tests with small groups or a limited set of users. Don’t just hope you’ve got it right and go full tilt on your first try.
Everything Relevant To On-Site
The more the SERP relates to the page, the more likely the user won’t abandon the site right away.
The more the landing page relates to the PPC ad, the more likely they’ll consider converting.
The more a landing page relates and seamlessly transitions a user after they come to the site from a social media link, the more you’ll keep them, and ultimately convert them.
The more the page relates to it’s keyword topic, the higher it will rank for short and long tail. The more closely a group of pages relates to each other within a funneled section, the stronger all of those pages are, and in turn, the stronger that entire section is from an SEO perspective.
The more the user experience becomes intuitive for THAT user mind model, the faster they’ll find what they’re looking for. The faster they find what they’re looking for, the more likely they’ll be motivated to convert to a member, lead or sale.
The more enticing the user experience (again – for THAT user mind model), the more all of these will be even further increased.
I can go on and on – but hopefully you’ve gotten the message by now.
The Bottom Line
As much as it would be dandy if everyone on the team cared as much about the user mind model as I do, sometimes I’m the only one who cares. Or understands why it’s so important to care. And just like me, you too may be the only one on the team who gets it. Don’t ignore the opportunity. Jump on it. When you do, everyone may initially balk, yet they’ll all eventually come around. Hopefully.

SEO 101: Defining the long tail

Just what is the long tail, in SEO?
I do lots of writing about SEO and keywords, and I throw all kinds of terms around. But sometimes I suddenly realize I don't define them. I'm building a glossary for The Fat Free Guide - one of the first terms I'm working on is the long tail.
Here's my shot at the short version:
The Long Tail
Specific, niche search phrases, usually more than 2 words in length, that offer a low competition, low search volume and high searcher intent.
Now, for a little more detail.
An example of the long tail in SEO
This example is from real data, with the terms and business changed.
Say you sell socks. You obviously would love to rank #1 for 'socks'. So you hire an SEO professional, and they go to work. After spending a ton of money, you still aren't ranking #1 for 'socks' - you're #3. That ain't bad.
So you look at your data, and sure enough, 'socks' is by far your biggest traffic generator:
Socks is your 'head' term. After that, there are hundreds of other phrases that generate little dribs and drabs of traffic. Examples might include:
'red wool socks''socks with cats on them''socks that knock my socks off'
At first, it seems like you should dismiss them. But when you add them all up, they're generating as much traffic as 'socks':
And they convert better, because the people searching on them know just what they want:
The end result is that all those long tail phrases actually generate more revenue:
Huh.
In this example, 'red wool socks' and the other lesser phrases are the long tail.
Long tail: It's opposite the head
SEOMOZ has collected some great data about the long tail, so I'll just summarize:
'Long tail' terms comprise 70% of all search queries;
The top 1000 terms searched only comprise 10% of all search queries.
The long tail is where it happens. No one long tail phrase will show up in an SEO's portfolio - getting a high ranking for 'socks that are blue with spots' is far less sexy than ranking #3 for 'socks'. But they do the work, because folks who search for them are more likely to buy/become leads, and because the vast majority of searches are long tail.
Long tail phrases are the blue collar workers of the search world. They make it happen. Ignore them and your whole internet marketing economy may fall apart.
I'm not saying you should ignore head terms. Just understand that they're only half the picture, at most.
Long tail optimization to-dos
If you want to capitalize on the long tail, look beyond rabid link grubbing and learn to optimize your pages. Optimized, relevant content is what gets long tail traction.
Also, learn to make your site 100% visible to search crawlers. Content can't be indexed if it never gets crawled, right? Most important, don't forget about the long tail in your pursuit of high rankings for high-traffic 'head' phrases. Your boss wants the head rankings. Your sales team wants the head rankings. But your business wants the long tail as well.