“Getting an audience is hard.
Sustaining an audience is hard. It demands a consistency of thought, of
purpose, and of action over a long period of time.”
— Bruce Springsteen
Keyword research is typically done
as a means of identifying the verbiage a certain audience is using to track
down various products, services, content and other offerings.
Many have considered keyword
research to be a dying practice ever since Google’s Hummingbird came to town.
While this algorithm certainly did
change how people look at keywords and phrases, many remain unaware of the
various ways in which keyword research can be a wise teacher that provides deep
insights into your audience.
People who are searching for
offerings leverage specific words and phrases based on the outcome they wish to
achieve. If business owners begin to shift their focus off the keywords
themselves, and onto the motivating factors which spurred such a query, a
goldmine of characteristics and desires can be uncovered.
This is the real information that
you should be after. And once you have this data at your disposal, your brand
can craft content that aims to be the answer the searcher is looking for; one
of the most effective ways of driving traffic and conversions.
To help you read between the lines
and understand the user data contained within keywords, here are four common
audience attributes that keyword research reveals.
1. Who They Are
This one is the most obvious and most
important of the bunch.
Depending on the type of person
conducting the search, the verbiage they choose to leverage is likely to
greatly vary.
For example, a college freshman is
probably going to choose much different terminology than parents who might be
searching for the same thing.
While your company might create
buyer personas to help zero in on the ideal consumer types, keywords and
phrases are much more concrete in helping to determine if you will be able to
meet the needs of your audience.
For instance, if you come to find
that the keyword you target is often connected with the word “infographic,” you
then become cognizant that you need to be creating infographics that cater to
that topic, otherwise, that traffic will be directed toward a competing site
that is able to fulfill the searcher’s need.
While most keywords will remain the
same across audience and demographics, what will frequently vary is the keyword
qualifiers, or words that help to define the user’s intent; this is what helps
to determine who your audience is.
2. How They Speak
You might have your industry’s lingo
down pat, but that doesn’t mean you know the kind of lingo that your audience
is slinging.
It’s very likely that your audience
doesn’t have the same grasp of your sector’s language that those on the inside
do. This means that there is a decent chance they are using variations on
familiar terms or wholly different ones.
Keyword research helps to uncover
these subtleties and gradations in verbiage that surround problems consumers have
and solutions your business provides.
Searchers are only capable of
leveraging the terminology that has made its way into their awareness. This
means that by uncovering the words and phrases often used, you can create
content that meets consumers on their level and makes your offerings that much
more visible.
3. What They Are Interested In
Keyword research helps you to
discover the interests of your audience and where these attractions collide
with your brand’s offerings. Understanding this intersection can give rise to
an abundance of content ideas that are geared toward driving high-quality,
targeted traffic that is likely to convert in some way.
Be aware that you are doing more
than just crafting and optimizing certain posts around specific phrases; you
are digging through all your keyword data to establish any existing parallels
or correlations that will help you to draft the most comprehensive and
solution-oriented content on the Web.
This is the key to driving traffic:
Giving the audience what they want in language that resonates and mirrors their
current vernacular.
4. How to Meet Their Needs
As a business, you sell some sort of
product or service. The problem, however, is that your offerings may be missing
the mark on what consumers want or need.
For example, if you make an app that
helps people connect with psychologists in their area, there is a great chance
that users are hoping or expecting to find certain features present. If that
function isn’t there, users are likely to seek out a similar application that
does tout the features they are looking for.
Keyword research can help you
identify and fill this need by including the desired components before losing
out to rival brands. Moreover, the name of your product could change to
assimilate with the terms that audiences are using for your offering; it’s a
heck of a lot easier to change the name of your product than to retrain an
entire audience to search differently.
Source: - http://www.sitepronews.com/2017/09/29/4-audience-traits-keyword-research-reveals/
Establishing exactly what your
audience wants and needs is a prerequisite to gaining their patronage and
loyalty. At the end of the day, these folks are out there looking for a
solution. It’s up to you whether you are doing the homework necessary for your brand
to become that solution; no matter if it’s physical products or digital
content.
The knowledge gained from keyword
research goes much deeper than what words to target. It provides a bevy of data
on the people you are trying to understand more about. If you begin to view
keyword research through this paradigm, your business will be more well
equipped to deliver the types of content, products and services that reach the
top of the SERPs.
Which one of these audience insights
surprised you the most? What is your favorite keyword research tool?
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