The SEO fundamental EVERYONE gets wrong
So listen. There's an SEO fundamental that's probably
the most important thing, yet 99% of SEOs get it wrong – and some even ignore it. I'm talking about search intent. So it's like this: we have a plant
that's rooted in fertile soil. Let's call this your content – it's foundational. And then we have sunlight. It provides energy for the plant's health, just
like backlinks do for your site's organic rankings. Now, despite having fertile soil and an abundance
of sunlight, something crucial is missing. Water… Without it, our plant wilts –
its leaves lose their luster. And growth… not happening! Water is like search intent in the world of SEO. When your content doesn't align with the searcher's
intent, your SEO efforts, much like our plant, aren't going to make it.
And that's because Google's job is to give
the best results for any given query. Now, I'm going to show you how to use
intent to improve your content and boost your Google rankings. But first, we need to unpack the core problem
here: why aren't SEOs getting intent right? And the answers I have might surprise
you because our inability to "get it right" isn't always our fault. But first, let’s tackle an issue that
is fully in our control – laziness. Even though we know search intent is important,
we often race past this step and choose one of two lazy routes. Lazy route 1. We search for our target keyword. Look at the titles and think… easy. Create a blog post recommending a list of these products. Tons of experience here. Or we go down lazy route two: [Hmmm… Is it informational or commercial?] [Really? I think it's transactional.] [Mmmm… Let's just write down all 3.] So why is it that when we're doing SEO, we look
at intent for seconds or max… a few minutes? Understanding search intent
is doing due diligence.
And if you're passing this step off as a secondary
priority, no wonder we miss the mark. And while laziness can be fixed by being
proactive and using the tips I'll share in a bit, the same can't be said for reason two
which is that search intent changes. Take the keyword "how to sanitize" as an example. In March 2019, the search results were mostly
about cleaning and sanitizing your kitchen because of things like raw meat. But today, intent has more to do with disinfecting
your home and your phone because of COVID. Now, people's interests change; world events
happen; and therefore, Google adapts and changes the search results to give the
searcher what they want then and there. And while we can simply update our pages
to better match intent when this happens, there's a bigger reason we can't get intent
right… and it's kind of out of our control.
And that's the fact that searcher
intent is extremely nuanced. Take the query, "landscaping ideas" as an example. If we go with lazy route one, we'll look at the titles
of the top results, and immediately assume… yes! We need to create a roundup post with a billion
ideas that'll end up being 40,000 words that no one wants to read. Or if we go with lazy route 2, we'll look at
the SERP and determine that this query is purely informational because
people are just looking for ideas. But I don't think that's the case. Look at the top of the SERP. There's a huge image pack, suggesting that
most people don't care what you have to say. They want to see ideas for inspiration. And when you click on the top ranking page
called "75 landscaping ideas you'll love", it's not a roundup post – it's like
a Pinterest board filled with images.
And if we go back to the SERP and scroll
down a bit, you'll see these product results, suggesting that there is some kind
of commercial intent to this topic. And this is just my 30-second interpretation which
I'm sure some others might disagree with. Now, even though "intent" can't be classified
into a one-size-fits-all bucket, it doesn't mean we should just give up or settle
for the bare minimum. Because here's the deal: Intent should be what
guides the things you'll include in your content. Not only will this help you rank higher in
search engines, but you'll be in a better position to convert visitors into customers
because you're giving them what they want. And because you're satisfying intent, trust is
built, and you have an opportunity to direct them to whatever you think they'd want or need next. And while some of you may continue to pass
off search intent as a secondary priority, those that spend a disproportionate amount of time
to deeply understand who your audience is and who is actually visiting your pages will
get a sneaky edge over the competition.
So, here's how you can do that. First, pay attention to everything you
see in the Google search results pages. So let's look at the SERP again for "landscaping ideas". And I want you to look at two things on this page. #1 are the top results. These are examples of what Google believes
to be the best match for the query. And I'll expand on this a bit later because
the place you should start is on thing #2 which are SERP features.
SERP features often get ignored, but they can
actually tell us a lot about micro nuances to intent. For example, at the top, we have this massive
image pack, which again, hints that searchers want visual content. So make your page very visually appealing. Now, this box right here called People
also ask can be very insightful too. Because when you look for "themes" and pair
it with some common sense, you can begin to understand the searcher's desires of
where they are in their informational or buying journeys or where they might want to go.
So, in this case, we have two that are about
cheap ways to do landscaping – meaning, people are ready to spend money. Then there's this one about principles,
which suggests that we may have DIYers who are beginners to landscaping
– hoping to learn best practices. And then this one on "low maintenance" ideas suggests
that people want easy "set it and forget it" ideas. These all sound like perfectly reasonable things
to keep in mind when creating our post. Now, scrolling down, we see these product
recommendations which suggests that there is commercial intent to buy things like books
and done for you options like raised garden beds or landscape designs. And when we hit the bottom of the search
results, you'll see that pretty much all of the guesses we've made are further
validated in the related searches box. "Cheap," "low maintenance," "pictures," "simple," and
this new one catches my eye too: "for small spaces." We've basically just brainstormed what we need to
include in our post, how it should be presented, and who we're going to be writing for.
And the SERP was basically our guide
to getting a high-level overview of this. Now, if you think that we've uncovered some
interesting things here, you'll be amazed at what you can find when analyzing
the top-ranking pages. Again, the top 3 pages are Google's picks
for what they believe to be the best match for a given query. And so you should be studying
what these pages are doing. What are they talking about? Are there common themes? Who are they speaking to? And do any of these things support
what we learned from SERP features? Now, doing this manually isn't very fun at all.
So you can actually use ChatGPT to do it
faster and perhaps even more accurately than we can. Just use this prompt: "Can you visit these pages
and tell me commonalities between them?" – and then I'll list the top 3 URLs. And the response here is super-interesting. It says that the top-ranking page emphasizes
the importance of low maintenance options like succulents, bushes or hedges. It also says to consider climate, budget, and
available space – so basically more support of the things we learned from the SERP. Now, because ChatGPT wasn't able to access
the other pages, we can either manually try and decipher the nuances of the other pages or
use Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer in conjunction with ChatGPT. So I'll start by searching for "landscaping ideas",
go to the Related terms report and then hit the "Also talk about" tab, which shows us popular
queries that the top-ranking pages are talking about. I'll export the list, go back to ChatGPT and say:
"Using this list of keywords, what are some important landscaping ideas I can include in my
blog post for an audience that's budget-conscious, wants low-maintenance options,
and is more likely beginners?" Paste in the list, hit Return, and now I've
got some great ideas that I think will be useful to searchers.
And ChatGPT can even give you
an idea of what this will look like. Nice! Now, simply knowing what searchers
want won’t be enough. You have to actually structure, write, and design your
piece to create a great user experience for your visitors. If you want to see what this intent-first approach looks
like in action and how it can boost your organic rankings, then watch my video on how I tried to
rank a blog post #1 in under 24 hours..
