Search marketing has three stages, and each stage has two priorities. Let’s look at these stages and gain a deeper understanding of search engine marketing aspects.
Intent and Context
Behind every search, there is always an intent—the want or need—whether it’s for a solution, more information, a product, or a service. Intent and context are both critical variables in search marketing. All brand engagement and sales funnel start with intent.
So, how do intent and context relate?
Usually, intent occurs inside the context of what Internet users are doing and what they’re looking for or need. Understand the intent or context of the users before targeting a specific keyword.
Knowing the user context is vital in helping you craft content that provides solutions to the user’s problem. Try to figure out what the user is looking for from your brand, product, or service. And why is it so important for the user to find that information?
You need to know how to anticipate the needs of the users. Find out the keywords they will most likely use to try to figure out the intent and context behind the searches.
Type your keyword into the Google search engine and look at the auto-suggestions; these suggestions are the most commonly searched keywords by people. From there, you can predict what they are looking for.
Intent and context research is something you need to understand so you can create long-term success with your SEO, keyword research, or search marketing strategy.
Asset and Channel
Now that you know what people are searching for and the reasons behind it, the next step is curate assets that will address those interests.
Create content that will address these questions:
• What intent are you targeting?
• What asset will address the search?
• Where will the asset live?
Your aim here is to select an asset that will address the intent or context of the people, then find a suitable channel for it to live on (YouTube, blog post, Pinterest, etc.).
Optimization and Ascension
The last stage is the optimization of your asset. Once you have created your asset based on the intent or context of your prospect and you are ready to upload it, optimize it for the search algorithm, then build your lead ascension plan.
After you have attracted traffic to your site, you need to convert them to leads and sales. This will only happen if you provide your visitors with the steps they should take once they have seen your solution. Incorporate the steps in your asset.
Don’t just optimize your content for search traffic—optimize for sales too. Pull traffic and convert it to leads and sales.
Here’s how to optimize your page:
• Head to Google Analytics and find the pages on your website that rank top or has the highest traffic.
• Figure out the next logical steps for the traffic on those pages.
• Insert a CTA in the pages to lead your visitors to the next steps.
Search marketing aims to increase the traffic to your website, but that’s not its main goal. Think of converting visitors into leads and guide them through the accession path to make them buy your product or services.