Joe Ward

[FONT=Arial] Your search long tail can be measured very easily. The main metric you should be considered with is [B]how many different keywords do you get traffic for?[/B]

You can determine this with your [URL="http://analytics.google.com/"]Google Analytics[/URL] account or other stats program. You should also be tracking your process using your [URL="http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/"]Google Webmaster Tools account[/URL]. [URL="http://www.vbseo.com/f2/google-webmaster-tools-recommended-all-vbseo-customers-21230/"]Here[/URL] is how vBSEO customers can make efficient use of their Google Webmaster Tools account.

When this number is growing, you are [B]effectively growing your search long tail[/B].

[B][COLOR=Blue] You can also determine the average # of search hits per term. The lowest this #, the more powerful your search long tail is likely to be.[/COLOR][/B]
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The search long tail at vBSEO contained more than 18,000 search terms in the last 30 days.

[SIZE=3][B]Example A: NOT Long Tail Dominated / Search Traffic for Top Terms[/B][/SIZE]
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[LIST][*][FONT=Arial] You have 100 keywords delivering traffic.
[/FONT][*][FONT=Arial]Your top 3 keywords get 10,000 hits.[/FONT][*][FONT=Arial]Your remaining 97 keywords get 1,000 hits total.[/FONT][*][FONT=Arial]10,000 hits / 100 keywords = [B]100 hits per keyword[/B][/FONT][/LIST]
[FONT=Arial][B] Analysis:[/B] The above is a very high # of average hits per keyword, and accurately indicates that this search traffic is more dominated by top keywords than long tail search keywords.
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[SIZE=3]Example B: Long Tail Dominated[/SIZE][/B]
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[LIST][*][FONT=Arial] Now, let's say you have 2,000 keywords delivering traffic and you get 30,000 hits from all keywords.[/FONT][*][FONT=Arial]30,000 hits / 2,000 keywords = [B]15 hits per keyword[/B][/FONT][/LIST]
[FONT=Arial][B]Analysis:[/B] The above is a lower average # of hits per keyword, indicating it's more [B][COLOR=Blue]long tail dominated[/COLOR][/B]. However, a bigger long tail can lower the average significantly, even as low as 2-5 hits per keyword.

In fact, Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch [URL="http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/050314-164653"]mentions a long tail search metric[/URL] indicating:

[B][SIZE=3][COLOR=Blue]Top 50% of All Unique Search Keywords = 80% of Total Hits[/COLOR][/SIZE][/B]
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Keep this in mind when you are looking at your stats the next time. [B]If you see your total # of search keywords growing, you are seeing vBSEO help your forum capitalize on the long tail search phenomenon.[/B]

If the trend continues, you are going to be positioned to get [B]*a lot*[/B] of traffic! [/FONT]