Why You Should Power Up Your SEO With Audience Understanding

How well do you understand your target audiences? If you’re a diligent modern marketer, you’ll have already developed audience personas. These give personalities to those most likely to do business with you in your target market, and personas can really assist with things like marketing content development, PPC campaign targeting, and search engine optimisation (SEO). So, why is it so important to understand who you’re speaking to before you start optimising your website for the likes of Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.? How can understanding your audience improve your SEO game? This article investigates:

How We Use Google

Chances are you’ve Googled, or you’re going to Google, something today. We turn to the likes of Bing, Yahoo, and Google to answer some (okay, most) of our questions. Our intent is to find a solution, and thus what we type into the search bar is a look at our intent at the time of the search. Someone must have bitten off more than they can chew, for example, and I’m sure you will agree if they Google “emergency dentist near me”. This means that, by looking at the things our target audiences type into their search engines, we can see what words and phrases with which we should be optimising our websites.

SEO And Keywords

Google indexes websites to gauge the content’s relevance in its industry. Multiple websites feature the exact same keywords, so when an internet user types them in – who should be shown in position one? This is why there are more ranking factors than just link-building and keyword use. Brands should endeavour to understand their audiences well, to the point where they can figure out what their audiences want to see, hear as well as feel on the websites they visit – and then optimise their website accordingly.

Leverage Analytics

Audience understanding also extends to understanding how website visitors interact with the brand online, and how they interact with competitors too. Tools like Google Analytics offer amazing insights regarding website visitors, including geographic location, the device used, time spent on the website, etc. It also pays to participate in social listening, which gives a brand an idea of what topics and discussions are trending, and how your target audiences are engaging with your competitors online.

It’s clear to see that search engine optimisation has a lot to do with understanding intent. In other words, we really do need to understand how our audiences use the internet and how they search for the information they are looking for. This drills down to the specific words they use, and even how they spell those words.

Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing

Discover what the ins, as well as outs, are of search engine optimisation, and make 2021 the year you introduce yourself to the exciting world of digital marketing, with our SEO and Web Analytics course!