Our Buyers Drive Content Marketing and SEO Decisions

The Theme Pulsing Through This Week’s Article Links. These expert pearls show why the problems keeping our buyers awake at night fuel content marketing and SEO (search engine optimization). Their wisdom touches on:

• The devices consumers use to find our businesses and articles online. (Hint: Rhymes with smartphone).

• The signals Google looks for and takes into account for ranking our websites and content.

• The importance of keyword density. (Hint: Not as much as we thought).

• Buyer personas rich with details on the buyer’s pre-buy research behaviors are a strategic advantage.

Check out these article summaries which I know will make us better marketers, writers, and search engine optimization professionals.

1. Our Buyers and Google Demand Fast Loading, Mobile Friendly, Conversational Search Worthy Content

3 Google Ranking Trends You Should Know for 2017 by Ellie Martin

Buyers Consume More Content FromTheir Smartphones And Tablets. Research shows smartphones now power more searches than our desktops or laptops:

• More than 50% of global searches originate from mobile devices

• Almost 60% of U.S. search volume comes from mobile searchers

Download the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) plugin if your WordPress website isn’t already optimized for mobile loading and viewing. Now.

AMP Optimization Is A Ranking Factor In Search Rankings. Google rewards higher search rankings to sites which load quickly and optimize content for mobile device screens (aka our smartphones).

Time To Write The Way We Talk. Why? Google’s voice search technology keeps getting better at recognizing our speech patterns. Their voice recognition errors are down to 8 percent (versus 25% in 2015).

Our content needs to reflect “conversational search” and not confine itself to traditional “keyword driven search.” Today’s teens will be tomorrow’s buyers. And, 55% of teens say they use voice search on a daily basis.

Google Acts In Its Best Economic Interests. Remember, Google is an advertising platform powerhouse. Google has to please buyers who want accurate conversational search results via voice recognition.

So, our writing, content marketing, and SEO better adapt and do the same.

 

2. Our Content’s Helpfulness Matters To A Buyer. Its Keyword Density, Not So Much.

What Is Keyword Density? by Eric Enge

Yoast SEO Says My Keyword Density Is Dangerously Low! Do you and your writing sometimes feel “held captive” by the green light signals of your Yoast SEO plugin?

Oh no! It’s the dreaded red signal light! Before reading Eric’s article, I worried and obsessed about hurting my post’s search engine optimization prospects.

My past solution: creatively and awkwardly shove more focus keyword(s) into the copy.

Stop Stressing Out Over Keyword Density. Eric’s advice relieved that unnecessary stress. He doesn’t worry about keyword density UNLESS it’s high (which may signal keyword stuffing). So, it’s the exact opposite.

Prioritize Your Time On Writing Helpful Articles. These direct quotes from his article will ease our minds about the modern SEO implications of keyword density. He says to focus and prioritize our time on publishing helpful content so our buyers can make informed decisions:

“Keyword density is a measurement of the percentage of occurrences of a given keyword (or phrase) on a page out of all the words on a page.”

“At Stone Temple Consulting, we don’t spend any time discussing keyword density with our clients. The only time it might matter is if you suspect keyword stuffing is happening (where a page deliberately over-repeats a keyword it’s trying to rank for), and this is not something we advise people to do.”

“We find that focusing on good content and great incoming links is where our energy is best spent.”

If a globally-recognized search engine guru like Eric Enge says not to worry about low keyword density, then I think the rest of us are safe.

 

3. Great Buyer Personas Capture Insights On Our Buyers Pre-Purchase Research Habits

5 Steps to Get inside Your Ideal Customer’s Head by Megan Golden

I love Megan’s article from LinkedIn’s Marketing Solutions Blog because she thoughtfully explains how to develop a B2B buyer persona profile. In this case, the buyer persona requires company political insights and individual buyer insights.

Most importantly, Megan drives home why our buyers drive content marketing and SEO choices.

Map Out The Buyer Committee. The article makes a great point about learning all the players involved in the buying decision: the check signers and the end users of the product or service. Understanding who signs the check and who uses the product or service is crucial.

Why? Each audience may require different content regarding information and messaging to help her/him sway the final purchasing decision in your favor.

Talk First-Hand With The Buyer. Interviews with our buyers reveal important insights of why we win or lose business. The ideal mix is to talk with current customers, people who might purchase, and prospects we lost to competitors.

Ask Questions Focusing On How The Buyer Researches And Evaluates The Product Or Service. Here’s a link to LinkedIn Marketing’s eBook: Your Hands On Content Marketing Workbook. There’s a sign-up form, and it’s worth filling out to learn about:

• Ideas on selecting your business goals and measuring how your content marketing is helping to achieve those goals

• Why a buyer’s intent powers keyword research activities and content choices

• How-To create “big rock” marketing content to sustain monthly demand generation

The buyer persona interview guide is on page seven (7). LinkedIn’s suggested buyer persona questions will help reveal:

• The types of information the buyer requires at different stages of the buying process / buyer journey

• The information sources the buyer trusts and goes to during the data gathering and research phase

• Important keywords the buyer types into the Google Search Box to find solutions to her/his problem

 

Your Turn

Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.   Comments are open. So let’er rip!

 

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Photo Credit: dcJohn