The Long Tail theory applied to keywords and SEO
It was way back in 2004 when Chris Anderson, at the time director of Wired USA, introduced for the first time the long tail theory to study economic models, especially those of Amazon and Netflix. According to the US journalist, in short, “products with low demand or low sales volume can collectively build a better market than their rivals, surpassing bestsellers and blockbusters, as long as their sales channel is large enough”. This theory was then used and applied in the world of SEO, but how can this “long tail” theory be useful?
What does long tail keyword mean
Long tail keywords is the name by which we identify the keywords that are typically composed of three or more terms, which are more specific than the more generic search keys, therefore, they have a significantly lower search and traffic volume than exact-match keywords instead.
A definition of a long-tail keyword can thus be “specific and highly targeted search phrase, usually consisting of three or more words”: apparently, taken individually these keywords are often less popular than shorter and more generic keywords, but together they account for the majority of Internet searches.
Take, for example, the keyword “shoes“: it is very generic and highly competitive. But if we extend it to “marathon running shoes,” we have a long-tail keyword, . The latter is much more specific, less competitive and aimed at a more targeted audi