Not long ago, traditional keyword research was the backbone of SEO strategies. Marketers relied heavily on tools like Ahrefs to find the perfect keywords and optimise website content around those terms. While keyword research still holds value, the landscape of SEO has changed dramatically.
Why Traditional Keyword Research Is No Longer Enough
Traditional keyword research involves identifying high-traffic keywords related to your industry and creating content around those terms. While this approach can still be effective, it must often do better to engage your audience completely.
Today, search engines like Google are becoming smarter. They focus more on user intent and provide the most relevant content to satisfy search queries rather than just matching exact keywords. They now prioritise user experience metrics, such as how long users stay on a specific page and how they interact with the content.
Your customers will leave if your content doesn’t engage them, provide unique value or insight beyond what competitors offer, or effectively answer their questions.
This shift means that understanding your audience and creating content that aligns with their needs is now more critical than simply inserting the right keywords.
The Importance of Creating Relevant Content
Creating relevant content means focusing on what your audience truly cares about and addressing their needs and interests.
At the heart of this approach is understanding user intent. User intent is the underlying goal or motivation behind a user's search query. It’s about figuring out what users want to achieve or find when they type a specific phrase into a search engine.
It’s time to shift your focus from purely keyword-driven strategies to more audience-centric ones to ensure you benefit from:
- Building Trust and Authority: When your content consistently addresses your audience’s questions and concerns, you establish yourself as a trusted authority. This leads to stronger customer loyalty and higher conversion rates.
- Better Engagement and Interaction: Content that resonates with your audience encourages more interaction, whether through comments, shares, or social media engagement. This engagement helps increase your content’s reach.
- Enhanced SEO Performance: Relevance leads to better SEO performance. Your customers reading and interacting with your content will help boost your rankings.
Understanding the Types of User Intent
To create good content, it’s essential to understand the different types of user intent. User intent refers to the purpose behind a user’s search query, which can typically be categorized into three types:
- Informational Intent: Users look for information, answers to questions, or general knowledge. For example, users searching for “how to improve email marketing” seek guidance and tips on enhancing their email campaigns. Creating detailed, informative content that answers these questions can attract and engage these users.
- Navigational Intent: Users have a specific website or page in mind and use search to navigate there. For example, someone searching for “LinkedIn login” intends to find the LinkedIn login page. For content creators, ensure your brand and pages are easy to find and clearly labelled.
- Transactional Intent: Users are ready to purchase or complete a specific action. For example, searching for “buy noise-cancelling headphones” indicates the user wants to purchase this product. Content aimed at transactional intent should emphasise product benefits and features with clear calls to action to allow the purchase to happen.
By understanding and identifying these types of user intent, you can tailor your content to meet your audience’s specific needs and expectations, ensuring higher engagement and better satisfaction.
How to Research Your Audience and Discover Relevant Topics
Here are some tips on discovering what your audience is reading instead of relying solely on traditional keyword research tools.
- Use tools like Google Analytics, social media insights, and customer surveys to understand better your audience’s demographics, interests, and online behaviour. Identify which types of content they engage with most and on which platforms they spend their time.
- Social media platforms are a goldmine for understanding what topics are trending and what your audience is talking about.
- Forums and online communities are great places to see firsthand what issues are essential to your audience. Participate in discussions, observe the questions, and note the topics that generate the most engagement. Websites like Reddit can provide valuable insights.
- Use YouTube and TikTok as a discovery tool to help you identify popular topics and content that resonates with your audience. By analysing what types of content get shared the most or receive the highest engagement, you can tailor your strategy to incorporate similar ideas.
Shifting Your Content Strategy to Focus on Relevance
With a clear understanding of your audience’s interests and needs, create in-depth, well-researched content that provides real value. Great content that covers a topic thoroughly is more likely to satisfy user intent and perform well in search rankings.
- Ensure your content is easy to read and navigate. Use headings, bullet points, and visuals to break up text and make it more engaging. Paying attention to user experience can lead to higher engagement rates and better SEO performance, showing your audience that you are considerate of their needs.
- Regularly updating your content with new information, insights, and relevant keywords can help maintain its relevance and improve its ranking. Enhancing your content with images, videos, and other multimedia elements makes it more engaging and illustrates critical points.
- Ask your audience to share their experiences, ask questions, or provide feedback. User-generated content can provide new perspectives and insights that add value to your content strategy.
Do you need our help building stronger connections with your audience and driving more traffic, engagement, and conversions using well-written content? Contact us; we’d love to hear from you.