Just as customer experience has become the premier buzzword for marketing and advertising, so has customer intent become the new watch word for search. When considering the power of your SEO, it always begins with those relevant keywords. Now, however, it is time to expand them into long tail phrases that encompass a customer’s true intent. Start doing this, and watch your traffic, as well as you conversions, grow.
- Creating those initial keywords is critical because they will dictate the type and the direction of your content. Looming large behind any keyword search, however, is the particular customer’s intent. What exactly do they want or need and how are they looking to put it to use in their lives?
- From there, you can extend out their meaning. Most searches these days are coming to be conversational phases as opposed to simply keywords. When you begin to examine your data and outside research on what your potential customers are actually thinking, your phrases will get tighter and more direct. They will also allow you to have a better and more efficient focus on particular demographics. Rather than just coming up with “music” or “popular music”, you can refine it into something along the lines of “pop music for teens”. This will begin to target the true type of customer you want.
- Have your basic list of keywords and begin to expand out from there and cover as much search ground as you can. Plus, recent research has found that the closer the customer is to the end of their buying journey, the more specific their search phrases will become. The more specific you get, the more likely you will be able to catch them at the end of their journey when they are actually ready to buy.
- Finally, begin to fine tune your content so that it begins to reflect this new customer intent. Don’t stay so focused and obsessed on certain single keywords but rather expand out to cover specific wants and needs. You already know what your potential customers will be searching for so now is the time to give it to them.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
