How to Create and Implement User-Centric SEO with Searcher Personas

In the early days of SEO, keywords were everything. SEO experts used to ask webmasters to stuff keywords into their articles. That strategy used to work too.

But Google made significant changes to its ranking algorithm in the last few years. SEO strategies that used to work until a few years ago no longer produce the same results. Worse still, many of them have started producing exactly opposite results.

Algorithmic updates aren’t the only problem webmasters face these days. Google has made all organic searches secure so the keyword data is not readily available. And with the launch of Hummingbird, Google has become much better at understanding conversational search queries. Keyword search volume data too is hard to find now.

The message Google wants to send out is clear: move away from keywords and focus your attention on the user for whom you are creating content and products.

What does this user-centric approach mean for SEO? And how are webmasters supposed to put this concept into practice?

If you run an online business, it is easy to get distracted by the SERPs and ignore the real reason you are building your products or services: the customer. It is the customer who searches for your products and hence they should be the foundation of your online and offline marketing efforts including your SEO strategy.

Developing a user-centric SEO strategy is relatively easy. You just need to develop searcher personas. What are searcher personas? Understanding the needs of each and every customer is not possible. Instead, SEOs must work with the objective of grouping together target customers who have the same needs. You can call each group a persona.

To create a persona, you will need to use information gathered from user polls, market search, keyword search volumes etc. 

Know Your Target Customer

The first thing you need to do is to identify your target audience. Ask yourself who your target customer is. Are you trying to attract people belonging to a particular age group? Any business owner should be able to answer that question.

Once you have identified your target group, the next step is to understand their problems. What are they searching for? Determine the search queries that they use to find your business. You can use these queries as your keywords/ key phrases.

You may focus on any one type of persona. This approach works best when you operate in a small niche. Or you can target 3-5 personas. If you create multiple personas, find a title for each one of them. Now try to find out as much as possible about these personas. You can use your own knowledge and assumptions.   You can also use information gathered from your keyword research. Finding the right data is probably the toughest part, but it is very important.

By creating a searcher persona, marketers can accurately define their target customer. It helps them understand how customers are searching for their products/services. And this knowledge will help them improve their rate of conversion.

Keyword research is still important, but now SEOs have to focus on searcher personas as well. Once you have built the personas, you need to develop and execute the marketing strategies that deal with their unique needs. Remember that these personas are the real people you are trying to market your products to.