At one point in time, people used to depend on their close family and friends for advice. Not anymore. Apparently, search is the new member in the gang, people turn for advice.
Most consumers believe that they can find their answers to the most specific questions with a simple search. They trust the search engines to give the most accurate results within seconds and help them make crucial decisions.
Rise of personal searches
An important point to note here is that there has been a significant rise in the number of personal searches in the past few years. According to Google’s recent data release, the searches include highly personal and conversational language like the usage of words ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘mine’ and so on. There has been a massive 60% growth in mobile searches for “__ for me” in the past two years while an 80% growth in mobile searches for “__ should I __” in the past two years.
So, essentially what used to be ‘how to cook dinner’ is now changing to ‘how to cook my dinner’. A minute change like that has made a huge difference in the way the search trends have developed over the past couple of years.
How to use these personal searches to optimize your website content?
Include case studies and testimonials
It is important to note that when a person is asking a personal question, they are expecting a personalized answer too. A generalized answer will make no impact. Creating personalized content each time is not easy but providing them with an incentive to stay longer on your page can be done by creating case studies and testimonials. For example, you can’t possibly find a personalized answer to a search phrase like ‘How much money do I need to get married?’. But you can provide a testimonial or a case study that provides detailed information about the topic and has been created after an extensive research, using a person or a situation the reader can connect with. This will keep them engaged.
Thought leadership content
Apart from everything else, you have to ensure that you provide your client with reliable content because they are turning to the search results for convincing answers. That’s why it is important for you to establish yourself as an expert in the field or a ‘thought leader’. Expert content helps you form the crucial consumer-brand relationship. It will also help you perform better in the search results.
Add tools to your website
By creating calculators and tools, you can easily target the personal search terms and provide your users with the personalized response they are looking for. For example, if a search term asks, ‘How many cigarettes should I smoke in a day?’ or ‘How many miles should I run every day?’, you can’t provide a generalized answer in a blog and get away with it. What your reader is expecting here is a personalized answer for his/her body. Having a diet or smoking calculator will provide this answer. The user will fill the necessary details and retrieve a personalized response. In the process, the user will stay on your website for a longer time.
These are only a few stepping stones towards ensuring that you utilize the personal searches to bring more traffic to your website. The main idea is to provide structured answers so that your clients stay glued to your website. To sum it up, marketers now need to watch for the search trends carefully and find out what their consumers are really looking for. It is the only way to stay on top of the search results and ensure that their website remains on top.
Stay tuned to this space for more updates.
