The Long Tail Effect in Action

The Longtail Effect was first coined in 2004 by researcher Chris Anderson.

It is a term used both in SEO Strategy and Marketing Strategy . How it is applied in these functions may differ, but the meaning is the same.

In the case of SEO, the longtail strategy focuses on low search volume and low difficulty keywords, as they are easier to rank.

Similarly, in the case of a longtail marketing strategy , the focus shifts to low-demand, higher-value products that can deliver better value to the business.

Both rely heavily on low-cost, high-return strategies and finding gold in areas not sought after commonly.

Now let's delve deeper into these strategies with a couple of examples to enable us to understand the effect better.

What is SEO longtail strategy , and how is it used commonly?

SEO strategy begins before the website, blog, or App is ready. First, it is to identify keywords that need to be prominently covered in your website or blog. So, finding these keywords beforehand helps with the need for constant changes for your website.

When researching keywords, the general tendency is to go for high-volume keywords that are commonly searched. But high keyword volume also means higher competition and a longer time to rank. So instead, many SEO strategists generally focus on keywords with lower volume and lower competition, making it easier for the website to rank for those keywords. In addition, it results in getting organic traffic much faster than for high-competition keywords. This organic traffic can mean more transactions or brand recognition, which benefits a company.

An Example of a LONG TAIL keyword SEO strategy I have used.

In 2015, I worked for a startup out of Mumbai in the consumer services. They had a bouquet of services that the business owners wished to rank for. When I looked into the room and identified the businesses, there were at least a dozen more in a similar space. These businesses were actively trying to rank for the keywords with the most volume, even running SEM ads on Google. But some keywords had around 15-20 searches per day, which no one focused on. So I started work on ranking us for those keywords first, while alongside I kept my effort on for the high-volume keywords as well.

Within a month, we started getting at least 200-300 visitors cumulative for the 10 Longtail keywords that I had focussed on first. This resulted in subsequent business growth for us.

What is the Long Tail Strategy in Marketing ?

A marketing strategy is formulated before the Marketing Mix Model is reached. Here longtail implies identifying niche or hard-to-find products that some customers may desire. An example is when we launched our fresh food e-commerce platform "Kalingafresh," we added some niche products only found in Odisha and nowhere else. While these products were not coveted much, they had a loyal base of consumers. One such example is Ginger from Koraput, a district of Odisha. It has a unique smell and flavor. While selling mass products such as common vegetables, these few products acted as a unique differentiator for us, even bringing in search traffic from all over the country.

There are similar examples of longtail products, such as documentaries on Netflix; However, they have a very niche audience set, and by having this, Netflix enjoys a loyal fan base from them.