How an SEO Content Strategist Can Help You Better Understand Your Audience
Marketing dollars are precious. Business owners come to me regularly wondering how to optimize their budgets and get more investment returns. They want to know which channels are most profitable, where they should dedicate most of their funds, or why their campaigns aren’t performing as hoped.
Here’s the truth: It’s less about specific marketing channels or platforms, and more about having a crystal clear understanding of who your target audience is. (I’m talking beyond just demographics.)
You have to know the people you’re marketing to as well as you know the ins and outs of your business. Their interests. Their motivations. Their behaviors. All of it.
Because the better you know your audience, the easier it is to tailor your marketing strategies and messages to resonate with them—making all of your efforts more profitable.
“But how do we find that information?”
You could send questionnaires to your existing customers or ask focus groups to provide feedback, but these methods are time-consuming and require a lot of coordination. Plus, you’re probably already sitting on a treasure trove of customer data. You just need to dig into your audience’s search patterns.
Yes, you can use SEO to understand your audience, and you’ll be amazed at how much it reveals! It’s one of my favorite aspects of my job as an SEO content strategist. Clients are often shocked by how much they’d assumed about potential customers that wasn’t necessarily accurate, or how much data exists that they simply weren’t aware of.
Today I’ll be explaining exactly how I use target audience search behaviors to sharpen marketing strategies and fully leverage ROI. Let’s get started.
How Content Strategists Use SEO to Understand Your Audience
1. THEY Identify Topics of Interest
One of the reasons search trend data is so valuable for businesses is how it reveals topics an audience cares about that the business may not have otherwise been aware of.
Here’s an example:
I was working with a naturopathic doctor who expressed that a specific service accounted for the majority of their revenue. They assumed this was the service people searched for most—but that wasn’t the case.
After conducting an SEO analysis, I discovered the majority of that revenue was coming from existing long-term clients. But Google search users (who weren’t already clients) were showing a greater interest in another service.
We decided to publish more blog content related to that topic and revamped the service page itself. Four months later the bookings for the other service had sharply increased and the client was busier than ever!
2. THEY Explore Opportunities for Audience Expansion
Another major advantage of strategic SEO is the ability to monitor market trends and shifts more accurately. It’s a practice that tends to reveal other potential audiences for your products or services.
Let’s say you sell a software program that makes it easier to track your baby's feeding schedule and you’ve hyper-focused on marketing to new parents. An SEO analysis might reveal that pet owners are also interested in a convenient solution that allows them to track their animal’s eating habits. It could be an incredible opportunity to expand your business and drive revenue growth.
The One2Target tool from SEMRush is a powerful resource for this. I use it to identify the audiences with the most potential upside for my client’s businesses. It’s amazing what a little digging can uncover!
3. THey Examine Customer Pain Points
Do you know the exact circumstances that compel your target audience to act? Do you know what they’re thinking at that moment? Can you answer with absolute certainty?
As an Edmonton SEO content strategist, I work with business owners to find real, tangible data for these questions. I gather information about their user search behaviors, particularly at the beginning stage of the buying process (or at the top of the sales funnel).
By analyzing the organic performance of a website, I can start putting the puzzle pieces together of why people are coming to that site and what they’re experiencing at that particular point in time.
For example:
If I conduct an SEO analysis for a boutique clothing line and find the top-performing key phrases include terms like “on sale”, “cheap”, or “affordable”, the audience is likely more concerned about price than other aspects like fit, quality, or sustainability. This reveals user search intent to be finding affordable items, so I’d craft their content to align with what potential customers are looking for.
4. They Spot Industry Content Gaps
This is easily one of the most valuable audience insights from SEO. By analyzing your competitor’s website(s), you can pinpoint what they’re doing well, what they aren’t doing well, and SEO tactics that will yield quick gains for your business.
I like to perform a keyword gap analysis for my clients, revealing keywords competitors are ranking well for that the client isn’t. They’re some of the best content opportunities for any business!
Afterward, my job is to produce more unique, high-quality content with these keywords to increase the client’s authority and visibility—eventually positioning them above (or, at the very least, more closely to) their main competitors.
5. They Clarify User Experience Preferences
It’s not uncommon for businesses to make assumptions about what their audience wants in a user experience based on internal perspectives or industry trends, rather than direct evidence—but this typically leads to problems down the line when complaints start to roll in.
SEO analysis eliminates the guesswork in this area. Through keyword research, site traffic analysis, and user engagement metrics, businesses can gain valuable insights into what their audience is actually searching for, how they interact with content, and which elements resonate most.
For example:
I like to examine the performance of different types of content (videos, articles, infographics) for my clients. I can use the success of various content formats to guide future content creation and align it more closely with UX preferences.
Let’s Use SEO to Define Your
Target Audience
It’s not enough to hope your content is resonating with the right people. You need well-defined buyer personas based on real, verifiable data if you want to scale your business.
If you’re ready to partner with an expert who understands how to use SEO insights to amplify your marketing success, I’d love to connect. By understanding what your customers are looking for, we’ll create strategies that strengthen your online presence and drive significant growth.
Let’s explore your options for shining brighter than ever!