Search Intent: The Recipe to Success
Marketing success for small and large entrepreneurs is not always centered on generating more revenue as the end-of-the-line goal. Although it is one objective to achieve, there are other elements that come into play when creating more traffic and awareness on websites.
Senior Director of Marketing, Mitch Causey establishes a series of criteria that enable businesses position themselves among the top choices of Google search for their respective markets, which is a priority when it comes to generating traffic.
However, there are key ways to turn the generated traffic into actual revenues, which comes down to understanding consumers’ intent of purchase, much like combining the right ingredients to make the perfect dish.
Analyzing the Recipe
The several factors that Cause establishes for website success are designed so that industries on any scale can follow in order to properly engage customers and generate traffic.
Some of the most notable set of guidelines for successful websites involve:
- Proper architecture of the website in computer and mobile platforms
- Significant content provided to consumers.
- External recommendations from other websites to the business.
Uncovering the Secret Ingredient
Despite all the factors that can come into play for successful websites, perhaps the most important one that is required to set businesses’ websites up for success is the mastering of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) through Google search prioritization which is a direct sign of the practicality of a website.
Understanding searcher intent is essential in order to guide consumer traffic into the website of a business, which if executed correctly can enable conversion of traffic into revenue.
Going Down The Funnel
Matching consumer search keywords with their needs has been traditionally exemplified with the “funnel” representation for narrowing down purchase intent and traffic.
The basics of the funnel intent diagram is that there is an inverse relationship between purchase intent and traffic volume, where the top of the funnel symbolizes low purchase intent but with a great traffic volume of consumers, and the opposite at the very end of the funnel.
Assembly & Presentation
As with all great recipes, creators need to gather all the ingredients to complete the final creation, and in the marketing field it involves research of strategic keywords that will provide insight as to the intent of consumers, which for many businesses this is facilitated by Google Adwords Keyword Planner.
Therefore, the accuracy of the specific keywords can dictate the degree of purchase intent that consumers have for specific products, a task that experts on the field are consistently studying.
The key to understanding SEO comes from balancing intent and traffic volume, as Causey and many other experts have stated that a great amount of volume to websites may not always involve direct engagement in terms of purchase.
The content displayed must inspire and motivate the incoming traffic to engage into purchase, thus possibly ensuring a long-lasting customer relationship.
Project Coordinator @ Pine Rest | Facility Services
2ySarybell, Your blog post on Mitch Causey’s Stukent’s Expert Session How to Use Search Intent to Get Results from SEO was a fun read! I love how you connected it to a recipe for success. The layout is very engaging and easy to follow. I also focused my analysis blog post on Causey’s expert session. I appreciated how you pointed out the importance of the final step in the recipe was to narrow in on the keywords using Google Adwords Keyword Planner. Like most things, however, simply following the basic steps on the Google Keyword Planner may not be enough to give you the specific keywords words for the highest results. As with anything further research must be done on how to best utilize the site. I did some searching and found a reputable blog post from Joshua Hardwick, Head of Content at Ahrefs. Hardwick gave some great tips for maximizing the potential out of the free portion of the Google Adwords Keyword Planner site. One of the most helpful sections of his post was detailing seven hacks to make the site work to your advantage. Of those seven recommendations, two of them stuck out to me. Google Keyword Planner currently provides a search volume range, and it can be difficult to locate the exact search volumes for a keyword. Hardwick shows step-by-step how you can navigate the site to unlock the exact search volumes to select the keyword that will give you the best rate of return. The 4th hack he mentioned also interested me based on the intent funnel, “find the questions people are asking.” Hardwick mentions how you do not have to go to another site to collect this data you merely have to tab to the right section of the website to select “keyword text contains who,” “keyword text contains what,” “keyword text contains why,” “keyword text contains when,” “keyword text contains where,” “keyword text contains how.” Properly understanding and manipulating the site can be the key to completing the recipe. Hardwick, J. (2019, February 25). How to Use Google Keyword Planner (Actionable Guide). SEO Blog by Ahrefs. https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-keyword-planner/
Strategic Business Leader | Educator | Mentor | Marketing/Advertising/Project Management
2yExcellent post Sarybell Del Valle Vega. Love the quote in the header image! Very true for SEO success.
Hey Sarybell, great blog post on Search Intent and the Recipe to Success ! Your post is very well thought out and very easy to read and understand. I really enjoyed how well your sections flow! It is definitely true that turning traffic into revenue can be meticulous, much like creating the perfect dish! The “recipe” is a great starting point for beginners in SEO, to fully understand SEO we must understand the beginning steps that need to be taken to be successful in the end. From a searchers stand point, the 3 guidelines that you mentioned are key to keeping me intrigued enough to continue on your page and website. Without these, most searchers will move onto the next page without a second thought. I 100% agree with you that SEO is the “secret ingredient” once SEO is understood and applied properly, revenue conversion is a given! Mitch Causey's funnel really breaks it down even further for us, not only do we need to use the correct keywords but we need to use them in the correct spot for each and every searcher. I also came across the Google AdWords Keyword Planner, such a great tool to make sure your keyword will work as intended!
Sr. Communications Advisor at AF - Group
2yHi Sarybell, I truly enjoyed reading your piece. It was put together exceptionally well and flowed perfectly. Causey’s analysis makes complete sense. As he noted, it is vitally important to build a website that one can easily navigate, has content that resonates well with various audiences and takes full advantage of search engine optimization. When watching Mitch Causey’s video, one thing that stood out was the funnel concept, which you reviewed in your post. While there are various funnels, including AIDA, AICC and a whole host of others, they all seem to follow the same premise – converting potential, interested parties into customers who pay for your product or service. If a business can successfully apply the funnel approach to their website, they are undoubtedly setting themselves up for success. How exactly does one do that? While Causey gave an excellent overview of the funnel process, I reviewed a few other resources to get some more perspective on the matter. One that I found quite helpful was an article Stephanie Burns recently wrote for Forbes entitled “How To Master The Art Of High-Converting Sales Funnels.” In her piece, she references a Hubspot post that notes, “65% of businesses admit that generating traffic and leads is their biggest marketing challenge.” That is an astonishing number, which Burns states can be solved by circumventing a few rudimentary mistakes. She focuses on three areas: 1. Solve the problem your ideal client thinks they have – some products or services are rather dull, but selling the benefits makes all the difference. 2. Write copy that sounds like your customer (not you) – ensure your dialect matches that of your customer, so they better comprehend the messaging. 3. Design the funnel the way we speak – the website must have an exciting and legible-friendly design so users do not bounce. These all seem like relatively simple aspects to keep in mind when building or restricting a website, but they are often overlooked. I noticed in your introduction that you are in the healthcare field. I would be interested to see how hospitals and healthcare facilities use the funnel approach. Have you had any history applying it in your role?