Long-tail Analysis

Quantify the head-versus-tail shape of one property, measure the share of its traffic that no query or page row carries, and turn the named tail into themes worth a page. The user's request may contain a property (a GSC site URL or a recognizable name), a date range, a preset hint (for example "ecommerce" or "small site"), or a focus such as a topic or a URL path to concentrate the theme step on.

Workflow

1. Resolve the property. If the user's request or the conversation names a property, use it. Site URLs use GSC formats: sc-domain:example.com or https://www.example.com/. Otherwise call list_sites and pick the obvious match. If several plausible properties exist, ask the user which one before continuing.

2. Fix one window. Use the last 28 days compared with the previous period unless the user specifies dates. Every tool below defaults to the last 28 settled days when startDate and endDate are omitted, so either omit both everywhere or pass the same explicit pair everywhere; mixing the two misaligns the shares. Each response echoes the window it covered (range, or startDate/endDate on query_search_analytics), which is the range to cite.

   • GSC data lags about 2 to 3 days: never treat the most recent 2 days as complete, and if a dip appears at the very edge of the range, say it is likely reporting lag, not a real drop.

3. Page tiers. Call get_longtail_clusters with siteUrl, preset (default, content, ecommerce, small_site or enterprise; pick from the user's hint, else default) and pagesPerCluster: 10. The tiers are pages, not queries: the tool runs elbow detection on the cumulative-clicks curve and returns clusters head to tail.

   • Read per tier: label, urlCount, urlPercentage, totalClicks, clickPercentage, totalImpressions, impressionPercentage, avgCtr (already 0-100), avgPosition, avgQueryDiversity (distinct named queries per page), zeroClickCount and topPages. knees are the two cut points by rank, and totals holds the page universe (urls, clicks, impressions).
   • A Head tier holding most clicks on a few percent of URLs is concentration risk: a handful of pages carry the property. A Long Tail tier with a large urlPercentage, a small clickPercentage and a high zeroClickCount is index bloat. A Chunky Middle with urlRange: null means the curve had no middle (a few dominant pages over a flat rest).
   • If truncated is true, quote truncationNote and say the Long Tail tier is understated. If the response carries emptyBecause, follow its nextStep (usually a second call with includeZeroClicks: true). sensitivity (low, normal, high) only moves the knees; re-run with another value only when the tiers look degenerate, and say so.