Long Tail Searches Are On The Rise
Posted: February 21st, 2008
An introductory post was made here on SEP last November about capturing long tail search traffic, and this subject is getting more attention as of late. An exclusive meeting was held earlier this month, where Google?s Analytics expert Avinash Kaushik disclosed an interesting trend.
In Q4 of 2007, the average query on Google reached four words for the first time ever. All previous averages were limited to three words or less, and the three-word average was unwavering for quite a while. In light of discovering this trend, I thought it was time that we revisit the topic of long tail searches and how to optimize for them.
Every good SEO endeavor begins with keyword research, and optimizing for long tail searches follows this doctrine as well. Pay a visit to WordTracker, Trellian’s KeywordDiscovery and maybe even the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. You’ll probably find that KeywordDiscovery is more useful for this particular exercise.
Pull out your handy list of your main target keywords and keyphrases. Plug each of these into KeywordDiscovery and extract search phrases of up to six, seven or even eight words.
Voil? your new long tail keyphrase list! Sprinkle these on the relevant pages wherever they naturally fit, rewrite some of the content, and even copywrite from scratch if you’re overdue for an update.
Good luck. 
New to your blog and this is the first post I read. Informative yet not bloated, great job!
KeywordDiscovery is a great tool, but I have had better luck using Nichebot.com, particularly when doing deep dive research on long tail phrases. I recommend taking a look.
-Steve
Longtail keyword research is certainly an essential these days ? I?m trying to get to grips with Keyword Elite, if anyone has an opinion of it, I?d be interested in hearing it.
This is a really helpful post, especially as the additional information contributed by your commentators genuinely adds to the overall picture.
@Mike: Thanks.
@Steve: Nichebot’s site seems to have a MLM/HYIP/Forex/E-book sort of feel to it… which I’m not a big fan of.
@Reward Rebel: Keyword Elite is sending me the same vibes as Nichebot. I probably won’t be using either unless KD/WT start to fail on me. I’m glad you’ve found this post helpful.