Last Updated on November 11, 2022 by Learn Digital Marketing
High competition can be countered only by carrying out a perfect SEO campaign. And for your campaign to be effective, you need to do extensive research on what your customers need and align it with your own campaign.
Importance of proper Market research
SEO is an Internet marketing strategy and refers to Search Engine Optimization. It refers to increasing the visibility of your products to your ultimate customers online.
Millions of prospective customers search for their requirements on the net. If you want your products to reach them, then you need to create optimized content that matches their keywords and be in the at least top 5 results on popular search engines such as Google!
This is why proper market research is of high importance…
- It helps you, as a Digital Manager, to understand the pulse of the market.
- It helps assess who your real customers are, their needs and requirements, and the keywords they employ to source their needs.
- Once you understand the requirements of your customers in the form of keywords then relevant content can be developed to reach these customers effectively.
Data scientists are responsible for market research for SEO Campaigns. The importance in the present day is highlighted by the fact that The Economics Times mentions the demand for these scientists as above 400% in 2018 when the supply was a mere 19%! So, choosing skilled data sources becomes that much more important.
The foundation for your SEO campaign
Keyword research and analysis play a major part in increasing web traffic for your products. It would cover the following important parameters
- The demand for your products in different geographic areas
- The keywords that are habitually used by customers for searching for your product.
- The number of monthly and annual searches made for the product online
- What particular online keywords have commercial intent?
- How often do people search for specific brands
- What keywords are your competitors using
- Which keywords are occasion-specific or season-specific
- The number of yearly and monthly searches made for a product in any location
Types of Market Research for SEO
There are two types regularly employed for Market Research for SEO Campaigns
- Primary research
The output for your Primary research is directly received from prospective customers; it reflects the latest trends in vogue.
It could be divided into
- Exploratory research, is achieved through exploring by asking open-ended questions in the form of interviews. This type of research helps you garner some general feelings about a particular product or service. Large amounts of information are generated through this form of research for further processing.
- Specific research refers to asking exact questions to unravel patterns that the explanatory research highlighted. It is a more expensive form of primary research.
Some methods adopted to conduct Primary Research are
- Interviews
Conducted through
- Telephonic interviews
- Face-to-face interviews
Both Telephonic interviews and Face to face interviews are good ways for Primary Research. Ask open-ended questions to get more information.
Sometimes you can ask direct questions for feedback about your products and what they are looking for in the product in the future. Make sure you provide some incentive to enlist honest opinions from your customers.
- Online surveys
This method effectively captures the views of both present and potential customers. If you have your own website, you can use Survey monkey or also try Google forms
- Focus groups
This method involves the gathering of prospective customers in one place and asking questions as regards their preferences, tastes, interests, etc. Using open-ended questions will enlist more information that you require for website optimization.
- Observations
Observing how consumers utilize or interact with a product
- Secondary Market research
Secondary Market Research refers to collecting data indirectly about your customers. Some of its features are
- The data obtained here is not current
- Data is collected by others like survey companies
- Some data is ready already and is being utilized by other communities
Ways to collect secondary data
Analyze Secondary research reports from the following based on the product you want to establish your SEO Campaign. You can tap the following sources for information
- Government Census
- Reports by research institutes such as Forrester Research, IHS Markit, Gartner
- Newspapers, journals, magazines
- Heat maps are another way to find out what areas your customers reach and download information.
- Analyze previous 6 months CRM data for details regarding clients who visit your site and buy or not purchase your products.
- Research social media and Email to get information for feedback on your products.
- Use SEO Competitor analysis. You will get answers to some questions like
- Who are your actual competitors SEO-wise and how you can counter them
- What are their keywords
- What are the basic areas that you should accentuate
- Where to discover web links for help
- Explore QA sites like Quora and other forums to understand the Pain points of the customer who use products similar to yours.
- Understand the culture and traditions of the place where you will be launching your SEO Campaign
- Utilize SEO Keyword generator websites to discover new keywords you may have missed out on in spite of extensive research.
Analysis of Data
After the research comes an analysis of Data. This is an important stage that has to be monitored with great dexterity.
Finding and utilizing perfect keywords in your content will automatically optimize SEO. Two important aspects to be kept in mind while including your keywords are the current market and future prospects
Define a buyer persona
Buyer Persona refers to the creation of semi-fictional customers built on the outputs that you receive in your primary and secondary research
It should be divided on the basis of an ideal customer’s age, purchase behavior, goals, and motivation
Use tools on the internet to find keywords to target the various buyer’s personas that you have established.
Site optimization
After collecting data through both types of Market Research and analyzing, you are ready for site optimization.
You can continue this way…
- Undertake a Keyword analysis. List the keywords you have researched and group them based on the intent under various heads
- InformationalKeywords– Some prospective customers have a problem/need and are searching for solutions. The keywords they use will give them general awareness of the options that are available to solve their problems.
example: SEO Services India
- Navigational Keywords– here the prospective customer already knows a general solution but he/she searches for specific products or services. Keywords such as Best Perfume for Men in India are called as long tail keywords.
example: Crossword stores or Kindle online
- Transactional Keywords– These keywords reflect the decision of the customer to purchase a particular product. But they are searching for where they can buy that particular product e-Book title: And You Thought… or The Da Vinci Code
- Commercial Keywords– The keyword emphasizes the intent of the customer to buy a particular product.
Other examples of long tail keywords:
lymphatic drainage supplements
benefits of berkey water filter
how to dissolve cysts in breast naturally
best female hormone balance supplements
how to reduce hot flashes naturally
example: Buy, discount, free shipping, etc
- Make it presentable using videos, giving information in an engaging manner.
- Use backlinks to ensure more hits
- Employ keywords that offset the paid keywords of your competitors.
- Address the customer’s prominent pain points by giving solutions on your website
- Keep your competitor’s presentation of hot-selling products in mind while creating competitive content on your own website
- Highlight your unique product features and value
The whole exercise of marketing online depends on your SEO campaign and which SEO marketing firm you hire. With extensive research and creating perfect content, you can be assured of converting your present and potential customers to lifetime loyalists for your product.
For Professional SEO Services
Perth digital edge offers the best Search Engine Optimisation services in Perth. They also offer free consulting and website audits for you.