I ran across this question today — “Is market research important to SEO strategy?”
I’m familiar with the idea of doing RESEARCH – keyword research, industry research, and even customer research- to come up with SEO insights. But I didn’t understand the role of market research within SEO strategy.
As it turns out a series of Focus.com experts had this one covered. Here are some of their responses:
Stan Sweeney: Qualitative researchers gathers the emotional behavior of a brand. Qualitative is more leading than large research samples. But, it takes a brand pro to listen to emotional responses.
Larry MacDonald: Market research is critical in SEO. Given that Google wants to present the most appropriate site in response to a search query, how can you optimize a site if you don’t know what people value find useful? Once you have gathered primary research, you can make content changes to reflect the preferences you have discovered
Marce Colucci: Market research as it pertains to SEO, is the step you must take BEFORE you establish your website and start doing SEO. It will determine what services/products you offer and how you will promote those services/products to the market. SEO is a methodical way to get those products and services known by your target market.
LEARN ABOUT: Market research industry
Neil Patel: As the Google algorithm gets more and more advanced, search intent becomes more important. Search intent is what the user thinks when they type a given query into Google. Market research is very important here because it’s the best tool to get in the mind of your ideal customers and what they are thinking when looking for your product or service. When you know what motivates your customers, you can build around keywords and topics that align with that search intent.
Some general recommendations for using market research in your SEO strategy
Market research can be one of the most valuable tools for developing an SEO strategy, as it can provide insights into the needs and preferences of your target audience.
Here are some general recommendations you can take to use market research for your SEO strategy:
- Define your target audience: Identify who you are trying to reach with your website (buyer persona, target audience, etc).
- Analyze your competitors: Look at what keywords and phrases your competitors are ranking for, and try to identify any gaps in their content that you could fill with your own website.
- Monitor and adjust your strategy: Use analytics tools to track the performance of your website and see how your audience interacts with your content. Use this information to fine-tune your strategy and continually improve your SEO efforts.
- Ask for feedback: By regularly soliciting feedback from your visitors and customers, you can stay attuned to your target audience’s needs and adjust your SEO strategy as needed.
Any SEO experts out there? What role does market research play in putting together a killer SEO strategy?
