News on the vine tends to suggest that the long tail is getting longer! It is a fairly well understood principle of online marketing that those search queries which tend to be longer are more likely to convert. Also, a search query that contains a number of words is more likely to send qualified traffic than a single word query.
According to recent findings 1 and 2 word queries are in decline whilst 4 and 5 word phrases are increasing. This may suggest that users are becoming more search savvy.
Four-word search queries are up 12% since 2007, and five-word search queries are up 16%.
We have certainly seen some trends in the e-commerce sites we look after in the sense that many users tend to use the long tail in terms of looking for products and many of our e-commerce sites convert at above average rates. Our e-commerce systems also cater for the long tail on structure which we were aware of over two years ago.
It is a welcome change that the long tail is becoming more popular!