Good question. It's used pretty loosely, but a rough-and-ready definition is "low volume, high conversion"

Examples include 3+ word searchs, manufacturer part codes, and searches phrased as questions.

Picture a graph that is high on one side where the large numbers are, then tapers off into hundreds or even thousands of small numbers.

The section of the graph where all the small numbers are is the "long tail". Individually they're small but collectively they can pack a lot of punch.

example

Short tail: widgets

Long tail: left handed green widgets

Chris Anderson's "The Long Tail" is definitely worth a read here. I bought the book to get a better understanding and it was the Netflix example that illustrated to me what long tail was all about.

Think search phrases rather than search terms. Plural as opposed to singular.

yes engine's example is good but it implies that more words = long tail, that's not strictly true.

>>but a rough-and-ready definition is "low volume, high conversion"

i disagree with this, it actually means low volume (but the conversions are not necesairily higher)

the Long Tail is actually the title of a book by Chris Anderson published in 2006 - i'm not sure if he coined the phrase or not.

the subtitle of the book is "how endless choice is creating unlimited demand"
which gives an insight to what it is about.

it's been a while since i read it, but basically

long tail terms/products etc are less popular/common ones and from an SEO perspective they should be much easier to rank for - on the basis that less people will bother targeting them.

the idea being that if you target enough long tail products/terms they can add up to a significant amount of sales/number of hits/whatever

(i understand that within the specifics of webmastering then many long tail phrases could be targeted knowingly or unknowingly within the same page)

Again referring to the Netflix example...

In the U.S. Blockbuster video has been big in the past. This is a B&M retail provider with limited shelf space restricting their inventory. What you see is what you get on the shelves at Blockbuster video. If your particular viewing preference on a given night is "Tomato Gardening in Subterrenean Environments," it would be unlikely you could find this title at a Blockbuster outlet.

Blockbuster just lost a rental. They don't have it - you couldn't rent it.

Netflix enters the picture. Netflix isn't limited by typical B&M restrictions. They have no actual customers browsing the aisles and inventory is stored in warehouses rather than on tasteful product display shelves. Netflix has the capacity to carry "Tomato Gardening in Subterrenean Environments" and, given the odds that someday someone will eventually request it, certainly the motivation to do so. If it's on DVD and Netflix has the right to distribute, you'll find it there, regardless of however obscure the title may be.

Netflix is capitalizing on the long tail. Blockbuster, due to physical in-house limitations, is unable to do so.

This was an eye opener for me.

i'm bored so i actually went and looked for that tomatos video, and its not there. i guess they must have lent them all out.

actually went and looked for that tomatos video, and its not there

That's because I have them all. My gardens are legendary, even underground.

Hi all,

Thanks for the explanations.

In that case I do have a site with good longtail results, often not phrases that I specifically targetted but rather included in the copy because they made logical sense.

For a few sites I can see going for good longtail results as a positive move, especially when singular key words may be much too competitive.

You may want to check this one out, Mark : [en.wikipedia.org...]