We all know that the overall goal is for the search engines to provide good result to search queries. However, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is incredibly important for websites because being found is a priority. The goal of search engine optimization (SEO) is to be a result of many different search queries – and even better, to be the top result on many different searches. The most reliable way to accomplish this goal is to help the search engine accomplish its own goal. That is, to be a top search result, a website should be a good search result – provide high-quality content so the searcher will be happy he or she clicked on that website (Larsen & Draper, 2018).
From the user perspective, searching on an internet engine is one of the easiest things to do. “You tell the search engine what you’re looking for, then click the most promising link from the search engine results page. If that link doesn’t give you what you want, you click the ‘back’ button and try a different link (Larsen & Draper, 2018). However, users have no clue of the complexity and work involved to get good search results. Tasking search engines to perform searches based only on a very small clue given by the users is very difficult and users don’t realize this. They expect precise results from using two or three words for the search, which is not a thorough description of the information desired to begin with. Users have no concept of the reality of how search engines operate.
When it comes to SEO strategies, On-site and Off-site SEO strategies are key to ranking your website higher on Google’s searches. And still, webmasters are continuously looking for new ways to rank their websites higher in search rankings.
In the Expert Session “How to Use Search Intent to Get Results from SEO” speaker Mitch Causey, Director of Marketing at Lessonly, teaches how to use search intent to focus on SEO strategies that lead to actual revenue, not just website views. What is search intent? “Search intent refers to the results a user hopes to see when they enter a keyword into a search engine (Hughes, 2019). It is the ultimate goal of the person using a search engine.
Causey suggests boosting SEO through search intent and understanding the searcher intent funnel. There is a specific emphasis on Google search and the way Google looks at a website. Causey has organized this into three buckets: (1) architecture, (2) content, and (3) endorsements.
Architecture: Architecture includes things like an HTML sitemap or how quickly your page loads on mobile. Although these are considered to be nerdy things, they are important.
Content: Content is King! Content is key! It includes blog posts, any written word or copy that’s on your site (i.e. e-books, white papers, …). Search intent is crucial to content marketing success. So how do you come up with content that you should write and publish on your website? Marketing teams must be creative. Sometime content is locked into a media gram. Searchers don’t care about a lot of creative energy being put into content. They want to find what they are looking for. No one goes to the last page of Google unless you are desperate.
Endorsements: Third party website that link back to your websites.
The focus of search intent must be on all three buckets, and all three must be good to have success in SEO.
Understanding searcher intent is the key to everything. Anne Leuman, blogger at TopRank Marketing tells us “When we marketers understand search intent, we can create new content and/or optimize existing content to be more tailored to their audience’s specific needs, problems, and questions—helping gain SERP visibility in the increasingly crowded content landscape, and attract more qualified traffic and build trust with those visitors (who will hopefully feel like you ‘get’ them and their needs)” (Leuman, 2018).
People are making decisions at every step of the journey: beginning, middle, and end. The key is predicting that intent although it can be challenging. The search intent funnel has everything to do with the marketing funnel and is one of the most critical part. (See Figure 1 below.)
Fig. 1: Intent Funnel Basics:
By understanding what customers will be searching and looking for, understanding their desires, it’s possible to tailor content according. Determine how you content can deliver. Anticipating the customers intent is the secret to satisfying customers at all stages of the journey.
In conclusion, optimizing your site for search intent can lead to increased page views, as well as increased sales for e-commerce sites. It also helps establish a wider audience by increasing your brand’s visibility on Search Engine Results (Hughes, 2019).
References
Causey, M. Causey, M. (Lecturer). (2018). Expert Session: How to Use Search Intent [Online video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuaq9qWi6Oo
Hughes, J. (2019, February 15). What Is Search Intent and How Should It Factor Into Your SEO Efforts?. In Elegant Themes. Retrieved from https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/marketing/search-intent
Larson, J., & Draper, S. (2018). Digital Marketing Essentials (Fall ed.). Idaho Falls, ID: Edify Publishing.
Leuman, A. (2018, December 17). The Key to SEO & Content Marketing Success: Understanding Search Intent. In TopRank Marketing. Retrieved from https://www.toprankblog.com/2018/12/content-marketing-seo-search-intent/
The Digital Marketing Cafe 
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This was a really good summary of the video lecture for this week. I watched that one but chose to write about International SEO presented by Kate Morris. I actually read a few interviews with Kate Morris as I enjoyed her video lecture and found it to be quite useful for my own website optimization. She was interviewed about SEO in 2009 about Search Engine Optimization and stated that SEO is essentially a blend of technology and art as it is used to create a website that entices customers to buy. Search engines index and rank while partners engage and will do so willingly if the usability of the site has been considered and designed well. She further explains that content is essential to support traffic and conversions.
Content is essential as it can improve conversions by driving traffic to products that are relevant for website specific audiences (Morris, 2013). For this reason, it is important to create customized landing pages for each pay per click advertisement. Spending your time and resources to create such customized content can increase the traffic to a website exponentially and subsequently positively influence conversions. This content centered marketing also helps to build trust in the brand and can help to keep clients coming back and sharing their positive brand experiences with others.
To develop effective content one must first define their audience and then define the content centered goals for the company, the current advertising campaign, and the website (Morris, 2013). For example, content goals for the company may be to help grow the business globally to over 1 million users. The content goals for the campaign may be to drive brand and product awareness and sell a certain number of product units. Finally, the content goals for the website may be to increase organic search visits by a certain percentage over a specific period of time. So in order for the content to accomplish these goals it much be targeted to the right audience and also be useful and easy to understand. If your content is not better than your competitors then it is not going to be as effective as it could be. Therefore, it is important to research competitor’s content and ensure that yours adds more value to the consumer.
References
Morris, K. (2013) Developing Real Business Content. Slideshare.com Downloaded on 03/15/2019 from https://www.slideshare.net/MarketingFestival/9-kate-morris-pokrocile-techniky-tvorby-obsahu
Old Media (2009) Old Media Interview: SEO specialist Kate Morris. Oldmedianewtricks.com downloaded on 03/14/2019 from http://www.oldmedianewtricks.com/old-media-interview-seo-specialist-kate-morris/
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Excellent post Christina,
I agree that the overall goal is to provide a good, relevant result for consumer searches. ACE (architecture, content and endorsements) is a good way to do that as it groups the focus if the keyword searches into three main categories, or “buckets” as you mentioned in your post. You did an great job with inserting your diagram of the “intent funnel.” What I like about the method discussed in this lecture is that ACE is focused around getting the consumer into the next level. It is an ideal method for a business to utilize as the focus is on encouraging people to make a purchase. This in turn results in me revenue for the company. When doing research on ACE, what I found to be the most difficult aspect is the middle portion of the funnel where a company has to figure out how to use comparisons to encourage sales. This takes a lot of research.
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