If you’re looking to improve your store’s search engine rankings (and who isn’t?), you know the value working to a clear SEO strategy. However, many stores overlook the potential of customer insights when it comes to their SEO strategy. By incorporating customer insights into your SEO approach, you will better understand your ideal customers and tailor your content to meet their specific needs and questions.
Customer insight-led SEO involves using search data and analytics to gain a better understanding of your customers and their behaviours… what brings them to Google in the first place?
For larger brands this can include information such as demographics, search habits, and purchasing patterns. But, we’re going to get a little more qualitative here and start using customer voice insights to help you create better, more resonant content. By analysing this data, you can identify trends and patterns that can inform your SEO strategy, such as the keywords and phrases your customers are searching for.
Incorporating customer insights into your SEO strategy can help you create more targeted and relevant content, which can improve your Google rankings and drive more quality traffic to your website. By knowing your own customers’ needs and preferences, you can create content that speaks directly to them and addresses their pain points.
Kraftful… An Easy Route To Collating Customer Insights
Kraftful is a tool I’ve only discovered recently (mainly down to the fact it was only launched recently…). It’s powered by Chat-GPT to gather all of your customer reviews and testimonials (from your current Review platform such as TrustPilot, Yotpo, Junip, Judgeme etc) to provide a summary of findings. It takes minutes to do what you would normally do manually in days or weeks…. which is the main reason we never find time, as marketers, to do this… it’s a lot of data mining.
Whilst at the time of writing, Kraftful is still in beta, the output is nothing short of brilliant. Whether you’re mining 100 or 10,000 reviews across your store or product-specific, Kraftful will read every word of your customers and provide a bullet point summary of findings. This isn’t just a few key points, this is a true deep-dive into everything your customer is telling you, spotting trends, commonalities in how customers describe your products, or make use of your products. Kraftful is a insight discovery tool that can help you gain clarity on Product-Market Fit, but more important to your work in SEO… gain access to the reasons people buy your products and to help you plan your content strategy accordingly.
How To Discover SEO Opportunities Using Customer Insights
Importance of SEO in Gaining Customer Insights
One of the main benefits of SEO is that it can help you identify the keywords and phrases that your customers are using to find your products or services. This is data you access through for free Google Search Console. By analysing the keywords that are driving traffic to your site, you can gain a better understanding of your customers’ needs and preferences. This information can be used to create more targeted content and marketing campaigns that are tailored to your customers’ interests.
However, within GSC (Google Search Console) you are looking at 1,000s of lines of data across 16 months worth of site traffic. Whilst valuable data, the task at hand of decifering the search data into usable insights is a challenge for any SEO.
There are 2 tools (both less than $50/month) that help me gain customer insights through Google Search Console data that I’m using in my own work on a daily basis.
SEOtesting.com is a tool that allows you to segment data from within Google Search Console. Say, for example, you wanted to isolate all your blog articles, product pages or collection pages, the Content Grouping section of SEOtesting allows you to look at that data specifically to understand trends on search queries, impressions, click thru rates and average positions.
SEOtesting has quickly become a vital tool in my own SEO work.
One of the biggest struggles I see in SEO is the ability to extract actionable insights from Google Search Console data.
SEOtesting allows you to quickly decipher the mountain of data available to you in Google Search Console with a range of ready made reports. As the name suggests, you can also track the success of any page (or collection of pages) optimisations you make at the click of a button. Data is there for you from the get-go. I can't recommend SEOtesting enough. Click the link below and discover the full list of benefits SEOtesting provides you.
For your work with customer insights, SEOtesting also provides a ‘Top Query Per Page’ report which shows you the top query, in terms of clicks, for each and every page within your store. This is telling you exactly what your customers are searching for to land on a specific page. So, with this insight you can then view you drill down further into each of your best performing pages and see a mapping of how each keyword is performing based on optimisation methods such as inclusion of terms within the meta title and description and header tags within the content itself. Knowing the current volume of clicks and impressions (as well as CTR and average position) helps you prioritise your work focusing the page content on the the search intent of your ideal customers…
The 2nd tool I use to then take advantage of the insights discovered in SEOtesting is LowFruits.io. Using LowFruits I can discover quick-win keyword opportunities that don’t show in the ‘top volume’ reports of the main SEO tools. This is about extracting insights on the long-tail (where most of your best search queries reside). You’ll find out where low domain authority websites or those SEO-ed review platforms that provide little in terms of customer experience, are holding top spot. Your job is to knock them off their perch.
LowFruits provides you with a filtering system that allows you to discover weak spots (low competition) based on topics and search intent (are they in research, discovery or buying mode?). That way you can review your content to see which articles you can optimise for or new opportunities to create content that can help you quickly rank for the longer-tail terms that matter to you… the low hanging fruit.
LowFruits is the tool I use to help discover quick SEO wins for my ecommerce clients. With a search query in mind, LowFruits will present me with a group of search queries where there low-hanging fruits (hence the name) based on queries where low domain authority or weak sites that you can quickly overtake reside. This isn't about obvious, but competitive terms with high search volume, rather terms where you can win and win quickly.
How SEO Can Enhance Customer Insights
In addition to providing valuable data on your customers’ behaviour and preferences, SEO can also help you enhance your customer insights in a number of other ways.
For example, by using SEO techniques such as keyword research and on-page optimization, you can create content that is more relevant and useful to your customers. This can help you establish yourself as an authority in your industry and build trust with your customers.
SEO can also help you improve your website’s user experience, which can lead to higher engagement and conversion rates. By optimizing your site’s navigation, layout, and content, you can create a more seamless and enjoyable experience for your customers.
Overall, SEO is a powerful tool for gaining customer insights and improving your online presence. By using SEO techniques to optimize your website and content, you can attract more traffic, gain valuable data on your customers’ behaviour and preferences, and improve your overall customer experience.
Leveraging Customer Insights for SEO Strategy
As a marketer, you understand that SEO is critical for your business’s online success. But how can you ensure that your SEO strategy is effective? One way is to leverage customer insights.
Keyword Research Based on Customer Insights
Keyword research is the foundation of any SEO strategy. By understanding the language your customers use when searching for products or services, you can create content that resonates with them.
To conduct keyword research based on customer insights, start by analysing your website’s search data. Look for the keywords that are driving the most traffic to your site. Then, use social listening tools to understand the language and topics your customers are using on social media.
By combining these insights, you can identify the keywords that are most relevant to your audience and create content that meets their needs.
Content Creation Using Customer Insights
Once you have identified the keywords that are most relevant to your audience, it’s time to create content that meets their needs.
Start by creating a content calendar that aligns with your customers’ interests and pain points. Use customer insights to guide the topics you cover and the language you use.
In addition, make sure your content is easy to read and understand. Use bullet points, tables, and bold text to break up long paragraphs and convey information more effectively.
3 Other Tools for Gathering Customer Insights
When it comes to gathering customer insights, there are a variety of tools available to you. Here are a few options to consider:
1. Surveys
Surveys are a great way to gather information from your customers. You can use them to ask specific questions about your products or services, or to get a general sense of how your customers feel about your brand. There are a variety of online survey tools available, such as SurveyMonkey and Google Forms, that make it easy to create and distribute surveys.
2. Social Media Monitoring
Social media can provide valuable insights into what your customers are saying about your brand. By monitoring social media channels, you can see what people are saying about your products or services, and use that information to make improvements. There are a variety of social media monitoring tools available, such as Hootsuite and Sprout Social, that can help you keep track of mentions and conversations about your brand.
3. Customer Feedback Forms
Customer feedback forms can be a useful tool for gathering insights from your customers. You can use them to ask for feedback on specific aspects of your business, such as customer service or product quality. There are a variety of online forms tools available, such as Typeform and Wufoo, that make it easy to create and distribute customer feedback forms.
Challenges and Solutions in Implementing Customer Insights SEO
Implementing customer insights SEO can be challenging, but with the right solutions, you can overcome these challenges and achieve success. Here are some of the most common challenges and solutions:
Challenge 1: Gathering Accurate Customer Insights
One of the biggest challenges in implementing customer insights SEO is gathering accurate customer insights. It can be difficult to know what your customers are looking for and what keywords they are using to search for your products or services.
Solution: Use a combination of tools such as Google Analytics, social media listening tools, and customer surveys to gather accurate customer insights. Analyze the data to understand your customers’ behaviour, preferences, and needs.
Challenge 2: Identifying Relevant Keywords
Once you have gathered customer insights, the next challenge is identifying relevant keywords that will drive traffic to your website. This can be a time-consuming process, and it’s important to choose the right keywords to avoid wasting resources.
Solution: Use keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs to identify relevant keywords. Use long-tail keywords that are specific to your products or services to attract the right audience.
Challenge 3: Creating High-Quality Content
Creating high-quality content that incorporates customer insights and relevant keywords can be challenging. It’s important to create content that is informative, engaging, and useful to your target audience.
Solution: Use a content calendar and plan your content in advance. Use customer insights to create content that addresses their needs and interests. Use formatting such as headings, bullet points, and bold text to make your content easy to read and understand.
Challenge 4: Measuring ROI
Measuring the ROI of your customer insights SEO strategy can be challenging. It’s important to track your progress and determine whether your efforts are paying off.
Solution: Use tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track your website traffic and search rankings. Use conversion tracking to measure the impact of your SEO efforts on sales and revenue.
By overcoming these challenges, you can implement a successful customer insights SEO strategy that drives traffic, engages your audience, and increases sales.
Future Trends in Customer Insights SEO For Ecommerce Brands
As customer insights continue to play a crucial role in Ecommerce SEO, it’s important to stay up-to-date with the latest trends in this field. Here are some future trends to keep an eye on:
1. Voice Search Optimisation
With the rise of voice assistants like Alexa and Google Home, voice search is becoming increasingly popular. As a result, optimizing for voice search is becoming more important. This means that businesses will need to focus on long-tail keywords and natural language phrases to ensure their content is voice search-friendly.
2. Personalisation
Personalisation has been a trend for a while now, but it’s only going to become more important in the future. Customers expect a personalised experience, and businesses that can deliver it will have an edge over their competitors. This means using customer data to tailor content and offers to individual customers… answering the questions that they’re searching with!
3. Good ‘old’ Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is in heavy use in SEO, but it’s only going to become more prevalent in the future. AI can help ecommerce stores to analyse data more effectively and make more accurate predictions about customer behavior. This can help stores to optimise their SEO strategies and deliver a better customer experience.
As these trends continue to evolve, ecommerce brands that can adapt and stay ahead of the curve will be the ones that succeed in the world of customer insight led SEO.
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