“Chasing your tail” has long been a euphemism for a circular and unproductive activity. But as cost-per-clicks rise and competition in the search space grows more fierce, more advertisers are finding that chasing the long tail of search terms is increasingly successful.

For example, take a look at this recent article in Marketing Sherpa which highlights work 15miles executed with a regional client. Finding itself in a highly competitive industry traditionally dominated by national brands, this client and 15miles teamed up on strategic search efforts that leveraged the opportunity that geo-modified long tail keywords presented.

These terms represent marketing gold for two reasons. First of all, they’re less competitive, so from an organic perspective, you can secure top rankings faster, and from a paid perspective you can gain clicks at a lower cost-per. Second, the rule of thumb with long tail terms is the more specific the query, the higher the user intent. So even though these terms don’t drive the high volumes of more generic phrases, the engagement and likelihood to buy of the user is much stronger.

If you’re looking for a way to boost conversions while stretching your marketing dollars, re-evalute your keyword selection strategy to make sure you’re fully leveraging mid and long tail opportunities.