► Destination image phrases follow the power-law distribution and long tail pattern. ► Travelers use destination image phrases to search destinations on Google. ► Aggregated volume of niche image phrases could be more than that of the head phrases. ► Online marketing demands a paradigm shift focusing on niche markets. This study examines the linguistic structure of destination image using China as an example. The phrases the tourists use to describe China’s image follow the power-law distribution and exhibit the long tail pattern. The destination image is dominated by a few very popular phrases, but contains a large amount of phrases in small niches. Analysis on Google keyword search volumes shows that those phrases are likely to be the keywords tourists use when searching destination information online. In addition, the tourists who use those niche phrases are more likely to travel to China. Thus, Destination Marketing Organizations should promote the niche images as well as the commonly held images in their online marketing effort.