When people search on a search engine, what are they searching for? People search with a purpose. They have a question to be answered, information to research or something to buy.
What are people searching for? It is whatever is impacting their life at that moment. They could be searching for a plumber to replace the hot water heater, to look at the menu of a local restaurant or how to make their lawn greener.
In SEO, we look need to look at usage patterns of how people search for specific products or services. We use past searches to predict how people will search in the future.
Let’s look at how people may look for a plumber. We start by looking at all plumbing related searches.
- Fixtures: 54.3% of searches were for fixtures ( kitchen sinks, faucets, bathroom fixtures)
- Plumber: 19.1% of searches were for a plumber (plumber, plumbing contractor)
- Parts: 16.3% were for parts (plumbing supplies, plumbing parts)
- Problem: 10.3% of searches were for an urgent problem (broken pipe, toilet repair)
Phrases related to fixtures and parts would be more suited to a plumbing products store that sells to do-it-yourselfers. People most often search for a plumber using the word plumber (usually along with a city name). They also search frequently based on the nature of the problem.
This would mean a plumber’s website should not only be optimized for “plumber + city” but also for the types of problems he solves or installations he does.
SEO is closely linked to buyer psychology and conversion strategies. Search phrases give a view into what a searcher is thinking.
How do you select the best phrases for your website? You want to identify buyer keywords. These are phrases that show intent to take action. These are different than information seeking phrases.