Key Takeaways

How someone uses Google will vary based on their current need and position in the buying journey.

Focus on optimizing content for the need of your audience based on the position they are in in their buying journey and not on keywords or phrases only.

Do you really understand how people actually use a search engine? This question is important in planning out your digital marketing strategy and writing content for your website. Let’s look at how we use search engines today.

We use search engines to:

• Ask questions – Should I go on a trip? What is the value of this item I want to buy? Is there a local business nearby that can I can buy something from?
• Get ideas – we type in what we want and then watch for the other options Google offers up. Or we look at the results and what others searched for. This gives us more ideas and sometimes new direction.

Understanding how we use this tool is important to help us better understand our clients and customers and how they use search. 

Search Engines or Recommendation Engines?

Google has grown in how it works. It has adapted to our needs – this is what AI (artificial intelligence) is all about. The adjustments and changes Google makes to help their customers (i.e., our customers) means we have to change too. Businesses can no longer just create content to appease an algorithm, adding just keywords and phrases. We need to be thinking about the needs of our clients and what they are using Google for at each stage of their buying journey. 

Understanding the Funnel 

The marketing funnel is an important visual and provides context to discussing the needs of your potential customers and clients. Plan out your content strategy around the questions that often arise at each stage. These are often what clients are Googling and will connect with when they come up in search results.

The marketing funnel is an important visual and provides context to discussing the needs of your potential clients

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How Do You Know?

Not sure how to find out what your clients or customers are searching for? Listen to them. Observational data is one of the best ways to create a content plan. Outline the questions you hear most when you’re chatting with your audience. Then create stories and content around these important areas. You have an unlimited list as long as you listen to what your customers have to say.

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