Search engine advertising is fundamentally about identifying the intent of a person based on the keywords they used in their search. The more accurate the search is, the more intent can be inferred.

By identifying the searchers with intent to buy our products or services, we can target our advertising at these people specifically with a much higher chance of making a sale.

When examining historical search engine data we find that high volumes of searches are often the least specific in terms of intent. We also find that competition among advertisers is much higher at this end of the search spectrum.

As the number of terms used in the search increases, so does the clarity of intent. Interestingly we also find that competition among advertisers decreases along a similar curve.

So the more specific a search is, the easier it is to recognize an advertising opportunity AND it costs less to target ads at those searches.

This whole concept is known in the industry as the Long Tail.

But, as in all of life, there is a trade off. Since search volume also decreases as searches become more specific, advertisers must deploy a larger number of campaigns to cover the wider range of niche searches. With the right knowledge and the right tools, this increase in advertising complexity can be successfully managed.

When developing an aggressive search engine advertising strategy, dive deep into the long tail searches to find the high value target phrases.