We get lazy sometimes.
When trying to figure out what our readers are looking for, we fire up our favorite keyword research tool and look for phrases with strong demand and limited supply.
We figure that phrases with strong demand give us a reliable insight into what our prospects are trying to find, learn or do.
“Flights to Rome”. Excellent, that searcher wants to learn about flights to Rome.
For the most part, this process serves us well. We can build a website based on what people are actually searching for. And, of course, we’ll optimize our pages for each phrase in the hope of pleasing the Google gods.
But here is a shocker for you.
People don’t always know what they are looking for until they see it.
In other words, they arrive at your site thinking they are looking for one thing, then see a link, title or image and suddenly realise, “Hey, THAT’s what I’m really looking for.”
Let me give you an example.
I have a website about coffee, called CoffeeDetective.com.
It is an information site designed to generate revenues through contextual ads and affiliate links. It does quite well.
As I described above, the process I employ most of the time is to use a keyword research tool to identify the phrases coffee lovers use when looking for information online. I then create and optimize the pages accordingly.
But a while back I had an idea for a new page, and my keyword research gave me no indication that people were interested in this topic.
But I created it anyway. And I added a link to the page within the main column of the home page.
Almost instantly, it became one of the most popular pages on the site. (Particularly during November and December, when there is a huge spike in the buying of coffee makers.)
What is the text of the link? “Best coffee makers under $100”.
The phrase sucks when it comes to keyword research. But rocks when visitors actually see it.
Here are the takeaways for you.
- * Sometimes people don’t know exactly what they are looking for. They type a phrase into a search box in the hope of finding inspiration from the websites they visit.
- * People don’t always search for the exact thing they are looking for. They sometimes type in a more general phrase, just to get them to the right website. They then complete their search on the site.
How do you find these phrases?
What I did is start with one of my top phrases for the site, “best coffee makers”.
Then I stepped away from the computer and all the tools I use. And I just thought about it.
More specifically, I asked myself:
“When someone types in the phrase ”best coffee makers”, is that really what they are looking for? Do they really want to know about the best among every type of coffee maker, at any price? Or are they using the phrase as a kind of shorthand, just to get started? Do they plan to complete their search not at Google, but on my website?”
You can do the same.
Just step away from the research tools.
Look at your top ten pages and their accompanying keywords or phrases.
Then ask yourself the same questions I did. Think about what your visitors might really be searching for.
Then create some new pages based on your best guesses, make the links to those pages prominent, and see what happens.
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