The easiest way to produce long-tail content is by building it from a well-organized database. Many companies got started by publishing the contents of an existing database, either purchased from another company or accessed for free from government or public sources.

Take Yelp, for example. Yelp collects and publishes consumer reviews of service providers (restaurants, cafes, hair salons, dentists, medical clinics, and more). To get the site off the ground and keep it current, Yelp purchased existing databases of those service providers. (Remember the Yellow Pages?)

By drawing on existing data sources, Yelp and its competitors built out their initial content, creating a page for every listed business. Now, when users search for almost any business name, Google includes Yelp in the results, driving a steady stream of traffic to their site.

What is a Database?

A database is essentially a large spreadsheet or table, where each row represents a particular item and each column contains a specific attribute of that item.

Take a restaurant database as an example. Each row contains information about a specific restaurant, the name, the city, the exact address, the year it opened, its hours, cuisine type, price range, whether it takes reservations, whether it delivers, and so on.

Each row can then be translated into a well-designed, organized content page on a website, highlighting exactly the information the company wants to feature.

A classic example is geographic databases containing information about addresses and locations. As we highlighted in a previous article, Zillow and its competitors have turned exactly these kinds of databases into platforms for buying, selling, and renting homes.

Databases of companies, institutions, universities, hospitals, doctors, and more form the backbone of many successful businesses across a wide range of industries. The core idea is to create a long tail with a dedicated content page for each item, whether it’s a hospital, a restaurant, a doctor, or even a book, and then allow users to take actions such as adding reviews and ratings, updating information, or contacting the institution directly.

Where Can I Find Existing Databases?

The US Government collects vast amounts of information on just about everything it’s involved in, oversees, or funds with public money.

This information is almost always publicly accessible under the Freedom of Information Act, which requires the government to disclose all information in its possession unless it compromises national security, citizen safety, or personal privacy.

As a result, there is very little publicly available information about private individuals or security organizations, but there is an enormous amount of data on public and private companies, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, doctors, schools, kindergartens, universities, aircraft, trucks, and much more.

The government has set up a dedicated website, data.gov, to bring this vast amount of information together, actively encouraging users to use these databases to build commercial applications.

As the data.gov homepage puts it, it is “the home of the U.S. Government’s open data. Here you will find data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more.”

Data.gov is particularly useful for generating company-specific datasets, as many government databases are cumbersome and difficult to search on Google. Data.gov solves this by allowing companies to download and work with publicly available datasets in a format that is user-friendly and easily indexed by Google.

A good example of an unwieldy database is the hospital data collected by the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on data.cms.gov. At least three commercial companies have taken this information and reorganized it in a far more user-friendly way, notably the American Hospital Directory (ahd.com), the American Hospital Association (ahadata.com), and Advameg Inc.’s Hospital Data site (hospital-data.com).

How to Use a Database Effectively

As mentioned, almost all databases are organized as a large spreadsheet or table where each row contains detailed information about a specific item, a restaurant, for example. The next step is straightforward. Create a separate content page for each item using the information in that row.

With a little creativity, however, the data can be reworked into original configurations, allowing you to build a long tail even if competitors have already published the basic information.

For example, instead of, or in addition to, a page for each individual restaurant, you could publish tens of thousands of pages organized by city and cuisine type, such as a list of all vegetarian restaurants in every city in the United States.

You have now created 15,000 new content pages, one per city. Additional lists could cover other cuisines, like Italian or Chinese, or highlight all the bars and clubs open late in each city.

Another way to build an original long tail is to cross-reference different databases to enrich your content. By merging different datasets, you create opportunities to present the data in ways that maximize how easily your target audience can find your product.

Say your company makes backpacks for hikers who travel frequently. Your target audience is likely very interested in hiking trails, nature reserves, and interesting natural destinations. Many existing databases are already organized by location and trip type, making the information easy to find, but getting Google to surface your results on the first page is still a challenge.

To build a long and unique tail, you need to add dimensions that speak to specific audiences, such as, families with young children, people with disabilities, or couples where one partner loves hiking and the other doesn’t. Each combination produces unique content tailored to a specific, targeted audience.

For example, you could cross-reference maps of nature sites with attractions for children and create regional lists of destinations that appeal to both kids and seasoned travelers. Another list could combine biking and hiking trails for groups where some prefer to walk and others want to ride their mountain bikes.

In Yelp’s case, they built on their foundation by creating a rich online experience that encourages users to add reviews and testimonials. They also gave businesses the tools to contribute their own content, such as, menus, photos, history, biographies, press reviews, and the ability to respond to customer feedback.

Other companies, like CrunchBase, applied a similar model. CrunchBase started with existing company information from LinkedIn and layered on unique fundraising data for companies that had raised capital. This significantly extended their tail. Today, almost every Google search for a company returns a CrunchBase result showing whether that company has raised outside funding.

Final Thoughts

The beauty of the long tail is that once you’ve put in the work to build your databases and content pages, the site essentially works on its own, no ongoing advertising investment required, and steadily builds an audience that closely mirrors your target market.

In our next article, we’ll dive into Search Engine Optimization (SEO), or in plain language, how to get Google to bring your content to the first page of search results.