When Chris Anderson, editor of Wired Magazine, coined the term "The Long Tail" he wasn't talking about search engine optimisation, but rather the fact that online retailers can make significant profits from niche markets. However the graph that represents the long tail has strategic implications for SEO, many of which marketers can ill afford to ignore. Translated, the long tail measures valuable and yet ignored aspects of optimisation that SEO companies could exploit for better rankings.

The Long Tail
Statistically, the long tail is a graph or distribution that is heavy at the start and then tapers off asymptotically (very close to but never reaching zero). Since this behaviour is observed in keyword selection for search engine optimisation, it has been widely discussed by SEO experts. The long tail graph for SEO would be one of search traffic versus keywords. The most popular keywords would form the heavier or larger distribution at the start of the graph while the more obscure ones are the long tail. Long tail optimisation calls for a focus on the less popular keywords. This strategy is a whole new way of looking at selection based on high performing and less competitive keywords.

SEO Thought and Practice
Keyword analytic tools provide terms that generally fit into the highly queried section of the graph. The drawback to optimising for these keywords is that improved search rankings might not always translate into sales conversions. With heated competition over a small group of words that do not guarantee performance, marketers are now realising that they need to shift gears towards the long tail. The long tail can be used to analyse market specific keywords that do not necessarily provide instant search engine benefits. However, these keywords can have a dramatic improvement on the sales or conversions of a website.

Long term Benefits
Unfortunately even for those who wish to employ long tail SEO, there is much confusion over keyword selection. A very clear-cut approach is to focus on content development that adds keyword phrases naturally to a site. Improved, enhanced and informed content will generally contain new keyword permutations that could possibly be successful in the long term. Additionally, good content generally contains technical terms that a purchasing executives, or anyone closely related to your business would use in their search queries. The key to long tail optimisation is to understand your product and service comprehensively and create quality content that will broaden the scope of your keyword groups.