Introduction
Definition of SEO & the Buyer’s Journey
When you’re starting a new business, it’s essential to understand how your customers are making purchasing decisions. That’s where the buyer’s journey comes in. It’s a framework that describes the stages your customers go through before purchasing, from awareness to consideration to decision. SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is the process of optimising your website to be more visible and attractive to search engines like Google. By using expert knowledge and creative strategies, SEO helps your website stand out from the crowd and attract the right visitors at each stage of the buyer’s journey. Think of it as a map that guides people to your website, no matter where they are in the journey. So, let’s dive in and discover how optimising for the buyer’s journey can help your new business get noticed!
What the article will cover
This article is going to cover the three main stages of the buyer’s journey and what needs to be done to optimise correctly for them. So, let’s dive in and discover how optimising for the buyer’s journey can help your new business get noticed!
Stage 1: Awareness
Importance of keyword research
It is imperative at the beginning of any SEO strategy to begin a keyword research campaign. Though this task is the prelude to any holistic SEO strategy, it is no less important. Think of SEO as a big mansion. Keyword research is the foundation. Through this keyword research, we will discover all of our head, long-tail, and Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords for each stage of our buyer’s journey.
Creating a keyword strategy
The best way to strategise for keyword research in my opinion, is the Pillar and cluster model:
The pillar and cluster model is a popular approach to formulating a keyword strategy. It involves targeting head term keywords, which are usually one to two words and highly competitive. Ranking for head terms is difficult for not just new businesses but all businesses, as they typically have high search volume and require a lot of authority. However, head terms can be used to identify broad topics that are relevant to our business, which we’ll then create comprehensive content around.
These head terms will serve as our pillars. In addition to our pillars, we’ll also identify long-tail keywords related to each pillar topic. Long-tail keywords typically consist of three to five words and are less competitive than head terms; these will be our clusters. However, they should be highly relevant to the pillar topic and provide additional information or value to the reader.
We’ll use these clusters to create content that supports and expands on the pillar topic. By focusing our content on long tail keywords as clusters, we can create a comprehensive keyword strategy that improves our search engine rankings and attracts more traffic to our website.
- In the Awareness stage, the buyer is aware of their problem or need, but they may not be aware of the specific solution or product that can help them, so we will target keywords relating to:
How to… Best practices for… Tips for…
- In the Consideration stage, the buyer has identified their problem or need and is now considering different solutions and products, so we will target keywords relating to:
Product A vs. Product B… Reviews for Product A… Case study for Product A…
- In the Decision stage, the buyer has decided on a solution and is now comparing specific products or services to make their final decision, so we will target keywords relating to:
Product A features… Product A pricing… Product A specifications…
Creating high-quality content that addresses search intent
When creating our content, we’ll use long tail keywords as a starting point to identify topics that are relevant to our audience and our business. The content we create will be based on the E-E-A-T principle, which stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
Experience refers to if the content creator has first-hand or real-world experience on the topic. Expertise refers to the knowledge and skills of the content creator and how well they demonstrate their expertise in the topic. Authoritativeness refers to the reputation and authority of the website and the author of the content. Trustworthiness refers to the credibility and reliability of the information presented in the content.
While quality content is important, it’s also important to provide fresh and updated content. By focusing on E-E-A-T and relevance, we can create content that not only meets Google’s criteria but also provides value to our audience.
Optimising website structure
Website structure should be optimised so that users can easily navigate the website and find what they’re looking for without getting lost. Click depth, or the number of clicks it takes to reach a specific page, is imperative because users are likelier to abandon a website if they have to navigate through too many pages. Ideally, we want users to be able to reach their desired destination in no more than three clicks. Using the pillar and cluster model we discussed earlier, we’ll organise our website’s content based on the three stages of the buyer’s journey. When it comes to interlinking, It doesn’t matter where in the buyer’s journey the content is, it just needs to be interlinked with other relevant content. The relevant content will then be interlinked to the appropriate service page to create a hierarchy of pages that are both easy for users to navigate and optimised for search engines. This way we’re able to create a network of related content that improves the website’s overall relevance and authority in the eyes of search engines.
Stage 2: Consideration
Creating content that addresses common customer questions
Once a buyer reaches the consideration stage, they are already aware of the product or service. They are searching for information to confirm any queries or questions they may have and to solidify their intent to buy.
With good reviews, the correct Q&A content, and correctly SEO optimised, this will tip them straight into the decision stage. Conversely, if they come across bad reviews or poorly written and optimised content, this could be detrimental and turn them away.
It’s important to create content that not only answers the buyer’s questions but also provides unique value and insights to your target audience. The number one goal is to focus on creating high-quality content that meets your customer’s needs and concerns.
Stage 3: Decision
Creating content that showcases the unique value proposition of your business
By this point, the buyer has already identified a need or problem and has researched and evaluated potential solutions. They are now ready to make a purchase decision.
At this stage, it’s important to showcase the unique value of your business. In other words, you want to highlight what sets your product or service apart from the competition and why it’s the best solution for the buyer’s needs.
You can do this by creating content that highlights the benefits of your product or service, such as its unique features, superior quality, or exceptional customer service. You might also want to provide proof, such as customer testimonials or case studies, to demonstrate the effectiveness of your solution.
You need to include clear calls to action that guide the buyer toward making a purchase. This might include offering a free trial, providing a discount code, or directing them to a product page where they can make a purchase.
Conclusion
In conclusion, understanding and SEO optimising the 3-step buyer’s journey is imperative because it allows businesses to connect with potential customers at each stage of their decision-making process.
By creating targeted content that addresses the needs and concerns of buyers at each stage, businesses can improve their visibility, build trust, and ultimately increase conversions.
Failing to optimise for the buyer’s journey means missing out on potential customers and losing ground to competitors who are more attuned to the needs of their target audience.
If SEO is beyond any inherent skillset, then an SEO Agency can always be approached to implement all necessary optimisations.
6 Final Tips for the Buyer’s Journey:
- Understand the different stages
- Develop buyer personas
- Create targeted content
- Optimise your content for SEO
- Utilise lead magnets
- Measure your results
“The opinions expressed by BizWitty Contributors are their own, not those of BizCover and should not be relied upon in place of appropriate professional advice. Please read our full disclaimer."
