How Long Tail Search Changed Automotive SEO and Paid Search Forever

Updated September 4, 2025

Long tail search terms are the key to more qualified traffic and more sales.

Long tail search keywords defined

First, let’s define long tail search terms. And why they’re important for automotive SEO and paid search, especially in the aftermarket.

Long tail keywords are search phrases with three or more words, such as “Audi A3 performance parts” or “Acura Integra GSR turbo kits.” Long tail search keyword terms and phrases make up as much as 70% of all searches, according to Moz.

Long tail search terms are the opposite of “head” search terms. The most common search terms are “head terms.” These are one- and two-word search terms. Head terms account for around 19% of all searches, leaving the rest of the two-word search terms in the “chunky middle.”

Several years ago, Google reported about 1 out of 6 searches were new, and had never been seen before. Considering the trillions of searches done every year, it’s astonishing there’s still such a wide variety of searches. You’ll see why there are so many, a little farther down this page.

Shoppers use long tail search terms in automotive paid search

Now we know about 70% of searches are for long tail keyword phrases. Let’s dig into how automotive parts and accessory shoppers use these phrases.

Long tail searches are in two categories. These are pre-purchase and post-purchase. This is very important for automotive paid search since pre-purchase search terms should be effective keywords to bid on.

Pre-purchase long tail search

Pre-purchase long tail searches show high purchase intent and are used by consumers when making buying decisions: “turbo kits for Acura Integra” or “Audi A4 suspension upgrade.” These searches look for reviews, specifications, recommendations, prices, availability, and technical information.

Post-purchase long tail search

Post-purchase long tail searches are done before or after the consumer bought a part, or after the decision has been made on what or where to purchase: “install Integra turbo kit B18B” or “installing Bilstein PSS10.” These searches are more technical in nature and can be for finding how-to instructions, videos, or reviews.

Why long tail search terms are important for automotive paid search and SEO

Automotive parts and accessory shoppers are increasingly using long tail search terms and we’ll explain that trend at the bottom of the page. The main point about long tail search is that many online retailers are missing out on their share of these long tail searches. Shoppers instead find discussion web sites, magazine web sites, or go to YouTube.

There are two reasons for this missed opportunity.

How online retailers can miss out on search

One reason is because many online retailers don’t have their paid search campaigns optimized correctly. They don’t capture these long tail searches. Another reason, in the case of organic search, is they don’t have their websites correctly structured. They don’t use correct search engine optimization (SEO) to show up for these organic search results, or generative engine optimization (GEO) for AI search.

In many pre-purchase searches, shoppers look for technical information, and use verbs like “buy” and “purchase.” They also use very specific combinations of year/make/model. When websites aren’t optimized, shoppers find enthusiast discussion sites instead of eCommerce websites. Many shoppers look for discussion sites anyway, but online retailers can get more traffic for some of these long tail searches.

This why it is so important to understand the concept of year/make/model, or automotive part types, in automotive paid search and SEO. It’s also why campaigns set up by agencies outside the automotive aftermarket are often ineffective.

Post-purchase long tail searches end up at YouTube, magazine web sites, or sites where enthusiasts have posted a lot of installation-related content like videos or photos. Here again, online retailers can get more traffic after the sale by optimizing for these searches, where there’s an opportunity to sell related parts.

Long tail search terms explained

Google announced a new algorithm, called Hummingbird, way back in 2013. Hummingbird was designed to produce better results for “semantic search,” which tries to understand searcher intent and the contextual meaning of search terms. This was before AI turned semantic search upside down.

You can see an example of this today by searching for “Chinese restaurant” on your phone and computer at the same time and looking at Google’s autocomplete phrases or AI Overviews. Google’s suggestions for your search on your computer might include “Chinese restaurant near me” while suggestions on your phone might include suggestions for your city or surrounding cities since mobile searchers are probably on their way to a restaurant.

Google is obviously working hard to not only improve search results for us, but they’re anticipating the future increase in verbal searches from mobile devices and cars, spoken in natural language.

As natural language and verbal search increases in the future, especially with AI search, consumers will increase their use of long tail search terms making this a more important trend today and beyond (and natural language search is a big reason why around 1 out of 6 searches have never been seen before).

Long tail searches produce more conversions: true or false

Many blogs on the Internet show a correlation between long tail search visits and higher conversion rates.

Is the correlation true?

The answer is yes and no.

Here’s where the answer is yes. If you strategically plan with your digital marketing agency how shoppers find your site today and in the coming years, and combine that with appropriate site content, you are rewarded with an increase in qualified traffic. This leads to higher conversion rates and more sales.

Here’s where the answer is no. Lower conversions and higher bounce rates aren’t unusual for long tail searches, for unoptimized websites. It should be designed to take full advantage of these long-tail visits.

It is important to analyze your own site statistics. See if you get higher conversions for long tail search traffic. Look at long tail traffic from Google Ads, make sure you include your own brand term in your analysis. Note that your analysis could be skewed if your brand is one, two, or more words on its own.

For more information on long tail searches there is useful information over at WordStream.com. Click these links for an overall view of our approach to paid search or automotive SEO.