The days of SEO being a stand-alone service / task are over. SEO is often over-simplified to: 1) technical on-site work, and 2) off-site back link strategies, and 3) content creation centered on SERP position and volumes of traffic. SEO has evolved into a more holistic “inbound marketing” approach, and the Muller Consulting is at the forefront of pioneering this evolution.
Our approach is simple: Optimize for people first.
Today’s Searchers:
- Have multiple devices;
- Have unique searching and browsing habits;
- Have an ever-changing “search intent”;
- Are web-savvy individuals;
- Have been influenced by social media;
- Have minimum expectations regarding website function, intuitiveness, and availability off data;
- Want to be interacted with;
- Expect plenty of free resources;
- Want to feel part of your community;
- Do not want to be sold-to;
- Want to take action when they are ready to take action, high pressure sales are out;
- Want your sales process to be easily found and barrier free.
All of these factors have to be weighed, balanced and taken into account when doing SEO.
Never before has there been so much available data about the way Searchers interact with the web. It is our job as your SEO’s to stay current, fully grasp the implications of this ever-changing behaviour and craft actionable strategies in response.
A prime example of this is our understanding of “Searcher Intent” and how this is linked to:
- Search Behaviour;
- Search Sources;
- Search Method;
- Content delivery;
- Sales funnels.
Searcher Intent can be divided into three groups:
- Stumblers – Those individuals who haven’t yet recognized their need for your products and services, and don’t know of the existence of your brand or product. These individuals can be found in forums, communities, and related content sites. They want to be introduced to your relevant product, but rather than be delivered to a “commercial Intent” page, they want to be delivered to a research section of your site. These interactions usually take place on a desktop or laptop computer.
- Researchers – Those who are looking for solutions to a specific problem. Usually searching with a specific question and looking for content and solutions that specifically answers that question. These searches usually include: “Who”; “What”; “Where”; “How”; and “When” as well as comparison phrases. They want to be interacted with, and find a volume of research resources, but not be sold to. These interactions usually take place on a desktop, laptop or tablets, but rarely on mobile devices.
- Commercial Intent – Individuals ready to make a purchasing decision whether or not they know of the brand or service. These searchers are looking for product comparisons, testimonials, contact information, pros and cons lists, price comparisons, and clear calls to action. These searches often take place on desktops, laptops, and mobile devices and rarely on tablets.
The Muller Consulting team factors search intent into strategies we craft for clients. In our next article, we will discuss how we approach internet marketing priorities. Thanks for reading, and don't hesitate to reach out with your questions either here, or tweet me @ainsleymuller.
