Google Searches May Not Be As Specific As You Assume
Google searches in 2021 are often framed around questions, phrases and other uses of “natural language” to get a result. In other words, users aren’t typing in keyword strings. They’re quickly writing out phrases or asking complete sentences as they search for an answer. This has become more common with the rise of voice searches, such as those performed on smartphones or on Alexa-enabled devices. It is far faster for most people to hold down one button on the side of the phone and then simply state their question out loud, which almost always leads to a more natural style of phrasing than typing in a string of keywords.
It’s important to keep this in mind when considering your keyword usage and your SEO strategy. Keywords are still the main focal point of these areas, as they should be, but it’s wise to evolve with your audience. If they begin using different phrases and expecting different results, you want to meet them where they are and give them the results they’re seeking. They often have little time to sort through things and consider their options, so anything that doesn’t look like a perfect match gets ignored. You need your site to be that perfect match.
Users Still Miss Important Qualifiers
All that said, some experts note that one of the most common mistakes people make when running a Google search is to leave out qualifiers that would get them more precise results. The example they used was someone searching for a way to get wine out of a carpet. Asking the phone, “How can I get wine out of my carpet?” is a great place to start, but there are more questions. Is it a recent spill? Is it an old wine stain? What type of wine is it? For that matter, what type of carpet is it?
When crafting your content, it’s important to consider both the general way that someone will search for this and the specifics they may really have in mind — even if those specifics don’t make it into the search itself. This way, you can arrange the information to draw their attention and answer their questions. This demonstrates to Google that it is valuable information, and the click-through rate will reflect it. Both things can help to increase your search ranking position.
Is Your Content Working?
Even with such a simple example, you can see how important it is to get into the mind of your audience when creating content. To learn more about how we do this and how we can help you, do not hesitate to get in touch with Content Customs today.
