TL;DR & Summary

Audience first SEO is untapped strategy to drive qualified traffic from search engines. This strategy focuses on the needs & interests of your target audience, rather than just your product.

The whole content marketing strategy revolves around creating content that your audience cares about & not around topics directly related to your product/services.

The scope of content you create as part of this strategy is wide enough to cover every category your target audience is actively searching for through their working hours.

Imagine your audience are working professionals who want to grow on Linkedin & you’re the LinkedIn coach who help people grow on LinkedIn.

Rather than creating content only on LinkedIn, focus on creating content that caters every aspect of your target audience’s professional interest.

Someone who wants to grow on LinkedIn would be a software developer with expertise in Python. Instead of focusing just on how to grow on LinkedIn as a Python developer, you should focus on the their career on the whole.

Address topics like ‘best YouTube channels for python developers’ or ‘best people to follow as python developers’. Make the content for them & subtly promote your products/services in CTAs & sidebar.

Here are 3 simple steps to get started with audience first SEO:

1. Identify buyer persona
2. Use audience intelligence to optimize your content
3. Focus on right KPIs (& improve your audience)

What is Audience first SEO?

The problem with traditional approach is that the whole focus is laid a lot on ‘keywords’ and not the audience who search for those keywords.

Audience first SEO focuses on behavioural insights of the audience who search for the keywords you want to target.

Insights are hidden in plain sight, it’s easy to get blindsided by focusing too much on keywords and not on the insights that are laid behind those keywords.

Audience-first SEO is an approach to search engine optimization that prioritizes the needs, preferences, and interests of the target audience over purely technical SEO factors.

This strategy aims to create and optimize content that genuinely appeals to users while still adhering to SEO best practices. By focusing on the audience’s needs, businesses can improve user engagement, increase conversion rates, and build lasting relationships with their customers.

Related: How search engines work? Ultimate guide to learn how to tame search engines

The primary difference between traditional SEO and audience-first SEO lies in the emphasis on user experience and content relevance.

While traditional SEO focuses on optimizing content based on search engine algorithms and ranking factors, audience-first SEO goes a step further by ensuring that content provides real value to users and addresses their specific needs.

Examples of audience-first SEO practices:

#1 Understanding your target audience: Research and analyze your target audience’s demographics, psychographics, behaviours, and habits. Identify their needs, pain points, interests, and preferences. This helps you create content that resonates with your audience and provides valuable information.

Example: If your target audience are young professionals interested in personal finance then these are the types of details you should gather about your audience.

• Demographics: Aged 25-35, college-educated, urban dwellers, single or newly married
• Psychographics: Driven, ambitious, focused on financial independence, interested in investment and saving strategies
• Behaviours and habits: Regularly read personal finance blogs, use budgeting apps, engage in online finance communities
• Needs and pain points: Managing student loan debt, saving for a house, investing in the stock market, planning for retirement
• Interests and preferences: Budgeting hacks, tax-saving tips, side hustles, investment opportunities

By understanding the needs, pain points, and interests of young professionals interested in personal finance, you can create content that resonates with them and provides valuable information.

#2 Developing audience personas: Create detailed profiles that represent different segments of your target audience. These personas help guide your content creation process by providing a clearer understanding of who your content should cater to and what topics will be most relevant to them.

Persona 1: Busy Dog Owner

• Age: 30-45
• Occupation: Full-time professional
• Family: Married with children
• Pain points: Balancing work and pet care, finding reliable pet care services, keeping their dog entertained
• Content preferences: Time-saving pet care tips, reviews of dog walking services, DIY dog toy ideas

Persona 2: First-time Car Owner

• Age: 22-35 Occupation: College student or young professional
• Family: Single or living with roommates
• Pain points: Inexperience with car maintenance, understanding car features, limited budget for vehicle expenses
• Content preferences: Basic car maintenance guides, decoding car features, affordable automotive care products

By developing audience personas, you can create content that caters specifically to the needs and preferences of different segments within your target audience.

#3 Focusing on user intent: When conducting keyword research, consider the user intent behind each keyword. This helps ensure that your content addresses the specific needs or questions users have when searching for those terms.

Example: If your target audience are new parents, an audience-first SEO approach would involve creating content that addresses their common concerns, such as “how to soothe a crying baby” or “best baby sleep techniques.” These topics are not only relevant to new parents but also demonstrate an understanding of their needs and challenges.

#4 Prioritizing content quality and relevance: Create content that is not only optimized for search engines but also genuinely valuable and engaging to users. This includes using storytelling techniques, addressing pain points, and offering actionable insights or solutions.

Example: A software development company targeting small businesses could create a blog post on “10 time-saving tools for small business owners.” This content addresses the specific needs of their target audience by providing relevant information and actionable recommendations.

#5 Ensuring a positive user experience: Optimize your website to provide a seamless user experience, focusing on elements such as mobile-friendliness, site speed, navigation, and readability.

Example: An e-commerce website targeting busy professionals could prioritize mobile-friendly design, quick loading times, and a streamlined checkout process to cater to their audience’s preferences and habits.

When you implement audience-first SEO strategy, you can improve your business’s search engine rankings while providing valuable content that resonates with their target audience. Audience-first SEO, ultimately leads to higher user engagement, increased brand loyalty, and higher conversion rates.

The problem with search engine first content

Google has documented amazing write up that show cases this strategy (though not in detail) but it’s a helpful read. Google walks through self assessing questions that will help you avoid creating search engine first content.

To expand you understand, here are some problems with search engines first content marketing strategy:

1. Misaligned content focus: Creating content primarily for search engines rather than your target audience may result in content that doesn’t address users’ needs, leading to low engagement and high bounce rates.
2. Keyword stuffing: Overusing keywords in an attempt to manipulate search rankings can lead to poor readability and a negative user experience. Search engines may also penalize your website for this practice.
3. Ignoring user intent: Focusing solely on search engines may cause you to overlook the context and intent behind users’ search queries, making your content less relevant and valuable to your audience.
4. Overemphasis on technical SEO: Prioritizing search engine optimization over content quality and user experience may lead to neglecting important aspects of content marketing, such as storytelling, design, and user engagement.
5. Lack of content diversity: A search engine-focused strategy may cause you to focus on high-volume keywords, limiting your content diversity and making it difficult to address the varied needs and preferences of your target audience.
6. Short-term gains at the expense of long-term success: A search engine-first approach may prioritize quick wins in search rankings over building a lasting relationship with your audience, which can negatively impact your brand reputation and authority in the long run.
7. Inflexibility to algorithm changes: Relying solely on search engine optimization tactics makes your content more susceptible to fluctuations in search engine algorithms. Regular algorithm updates may lead to sudden drops in rankings and traffic if your content is not valuable and relevant to users.
8. Overlooking voice search and conversational queries: A search engine-first strategy may not adequately address the growing trend of voice search and the use of conversational queries, which require a more natural, user-centric approach to content creation.
9. Ineffective link-building strategies: Focusing on search engines may lead you to pursue low-quality or spammy backlinks, which can negatively impact your website’s credibility and search rankings.
10. Lack of personalization: A search engine-first content marketing strategy may not take into account the personalized experiences that users increasingly expect from brands, making it difficult to establish genuine connections and foster loyalty among your audience.

The ultimate ‘Audience first SEO checklist’

In the ever-evolving world of search engine optimization, staying ahead of the curve requires more than just technical know-how.

With user experience and content relevance becoming increasingly important, adopting an audience-first SEO approach is essential for businesses looking to make a lasting impact.

This comprehensive Audience First SEO Checklist provides a clear roadmap for implementing this strategy, ensuring that you create and optimize content that genuinely resonates with your target audience.

By following this checklist, you’ll not only improve your search engine rankings but also foster higher user engagement, increased brand loyalty, and better conversion rates.

So, let’s dive in and discover the key steps for crafting an effective, audience-centric SEO strategy!

#1 Understand Your Audience

To effectively implement an audience-first SEO approach, it’s crucial to gain a deep understanding of your target audience. This involves several steps that help you create content tailored to their specific needs, interests, and preferences.

• Define target audience: Begin by identifying the group of people you want to reach with your content. This is the foundation upon which your audience-first SEO strategy will be built.
• Analyze demographics: Gather information about your target audience’s age, gender, location, education, occupation, and income. These demographic factors will help you understand the background and characteristics of your audience, guiding your content creation process.
• Investigate psychographics: Delve into the psychological aspects of your audience, such as their values, attitudes, motivations, and lifestyle choices. This information will enable you to better connect with your audience on an emotional level, making your content more engaging and persuasive.
• Examine behavior and habits: Study how your target audience behaves online, including their browsing habits, search patterns, and preferred content formats. This will help you determine the best way to present your content and make it easily accessible to your audience.
• Develop audience personas: Create detailed profiles representing different segments of your target audience. These personas should include demographic, psychographic, and behavioral information, as well as specific pain points and preferences. Using these personas, you can tailor your content to address the unique needs and interests of each segment.
• Identify audience needs and pain points: Research your audience’s common problems, concerns, and challenges. By addressing these pain points in your content, you can demonstrate your understanding of their needs and offer valuable solutions that they will appreciate.
• Determine audience interests and preferences: Discover the topics and content formats that resonate most with your target audience. This might include blog posts, videos, infographics, or podcasts.

By catering to their interests and preferences, you’ll create content that is both engaging and relevant, leading to improved user satisfaction and higher search engine rankings.

#2 Keyword Research and Audience Intelligence

Effective keyword research and targeting are critical components of an audience-first SEO strategy. By identifying and optimizing for the right keywords, you can ensure that your content ranks well in search engine results and reaches your target audience.

Here’s how to conduct comprehensive keyword research and targeting:

• Use keyword research tools: Utilize a variety of keyword research tools to generate a list of potential keywords related to your target audience’s needs and interests. These tools help you discover keywords that your audience is likely to use when searching for information.
• Google Keyword Planner: This free tool from Google Ads helps you find keywords relevant to your business or industry, along with their average monthly search volume and competition level. It’s a great starting point for identifying potential keywords to target.
• Use Ahrefs: Ahrefs offers a robust keyword research feature that provides valuable insights, including keyword difficulty, search volume, and relevant keyword ideas. It also allows you to analyze your competitors’ keyword strategies, helping you identify untapped opportunities.
• Use SEMrush: Another popular SEO tool, SEMrush offers comprehensive keyword research capabilities, including search volume data, keyword difficulty scores, and related keyword suggestions. It also provides valuable information on your competitors’ organic and paid search strategies.
• Use Audiense: Audiense is audience intelligence tool that helps you analyze your audience based on their social media engagement.
• Identify long-tail keywords: Focus on long-tail keywords – longer, more specific phrases with lower search volume but less competition. These keywords often have higher conversion rates as they target users with a more specific intent.
• Consider search intent: Analyze the intent behind each keyword, such as informational, transactional, or navigational. By understanding user intent, you can create content that directly addresses the needs or questions users have when searching for those terms, resulting in higher user satisfaction and better SEO performance.
• Prioritize keywords based on relevance and competition: After compiling your list of potential keywords, prioritize them based on their relevance to your target audience and the level of competition. Targeting highly relevant keywords with lower competition increases your chances of ranking higher in search engine results and reaching your desired audience.

Conducting thorough keyword research and targeting can help you optimize your content to better serve your target audience and improve your search engine rankings. This, in turn, will help drive more organic traffic to your website and enhance the overall effectiveness of your audience-first SEO strategy.

#3 Create audience-driven content

To implement an audience-first SEO strategy effectively, it’s essential to create content that genuinely appeals to your target audience.

This involves crafting content that addresses their needs and pain points, offers valuable insights and solutions, and engages them through storytelling and proper formatting.

Here’s how to create audience-driven content:

• Address audience needs and pain points: Ensure your content directly addresses the needs, concerns, and challenges faced by your target audience. By doing so, you demonstrate an understanding of their struggles and position yourself as a valuable resource that can help them overcome these issues.
• Offer valuable insights and solutions: Provide your audience with actionable insights, tips, and solutions that they can apply to their lives or businesses. This not only establishes your expertise but also gives your audience a reason to return to your website for more information and resources.
• Use storytelling techniques for engagement: Incorporate storytelling techniques into your content to make it more engaging and relatable. By sharing stories, case studies, or anecdotes, you can create an emotional connection with your audience, making your content more memorable and persuasive.
• Prioritize readability and formatting: Ensure that your content is easy to read and visually appealing by using clear headings, subheadings, short paragraphs, bullet points, and images. Proper formatting not only improves user experience but also helps search engines better understand and rank your content.
• Consider content variety and format: Cater to your audience’s diverse preferences by creating different types of content, such as blog posts, videos, podcasts, and infographics. Offering a variety of content formats helps you reach a wider audience and increases the chances of your content being shared and consumed.
• Incorporate SEO best practices: While focusing on your audience’s needs and preferences, don’t forget to incorporate SEO best practices, such as using targeted keywords naturally within the content, optimizing title tags and meta descriptions, and including internal and external links.

By creating audience-driven content that addresses the needs, preferences, and interests of your target audience, you will improve user engagement, increase brand loyalty, and enhance the overall effectiveness of your audience-first SEO strategy.

#4 On-page SEO

On-page SEO is a crucial aspect of an audience-first strategy, as it ensures your content is easily discoverable by search engines and provides a seamless user experience for your audience.

Here are some key factors to consider when optimizing your on-page SEO:

• Optimize title tags and meta descriptions: Create compelling and “intent-rich” title tags and meta descriptions to improve click-through rates and help search engines understand the content of your pages. Keep titles under 60 characters and meta descriptions under 155 characters for optimal display in search engine results.
• Use header tags (H1, H2, H3) effectively: Organize your content using header tags to establish a clear hierarchy and make it easier for both users and search engines to navigate your pages. Ensure that each page has a unique H1 tag that reflects the main topic, and use H2 and H3 tags for subheadings and supporting points.
• Incorporate keywords naturally: Use your target keywords naturally throughout your content, including in headings, body text, image alt text, and URLs. Avoid keyword stuffing, as it can harm your SEO efforts and negatively impact user experience.
• Optimize images (file size, alt text, captions): Compress image files to reduce load times, improving user experience and page speed. Include descriptive alt text for each image, using target intent when appropriate, to help search engines understand the content and context of the images. Also, consider adding captions to provide additional information and enhance accessibility.
• Use internal and external links strategically: Incorporate internal links to relevant pages within your site, helping users explore more content and improving site structure for search engines. Include external links to authoritative sources to support your claims and boost credibility. Ensure that all links are relevant and add value to your content.
• Ensure mobile-friendliness: With the majority of users now accessing the internet via mobile devices, it’s essential to optimize your content for mobile viewing. Implement responsive design, use legible font sizes, and ensure that interactive elements are easily clickable on touchscreens.

By focusing on these on-page SEO factors, you can improve your content’s discoverability in search engine results and provide an exceptional user experience for your target audience. In turn, this will enhance the effectiveness of your audience-first SEO strategy and help drive more organic traffic to your website.

#5 Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO refers to actions taken outside of your website to improve its visibility, credibility, and search engine rankings.

By focusing on off-page SEO, you can build your brand’s reputation and authority in your niche, which is crucial for an audience-first strategy.

Here are some key off-page SEO tactics to consider:

• Build high-quality backlinks: Acquiring backlinks from reputable, authoritative websites signals to search engines that your content is valuable and trustworthy. Focus on earning high-quality backlinks, as they carry more weight and can significantly impact your search engine rankings.
• Guest posting: Contribute guest articles to well-respected blogs and websites in your industry. This not only helps you earn backlinks but also exposes your content to a wider audience and establishes you as an expert in your field.
• Resource link building: Create valuable, shareable resources, such as infographics, e-books, or case studies, and reach out to relevant websites that might be interested in linking to them. This can help you earn high-quality backlinks while also providing value to your target audience.
• Influencer collaborations: Partner with influencers in your niche to co-create content, host webinars, or engage in joint promotions. This can help you tap into their established audience, increase brand visibility, and build credibility.
• Engage in social media marketing: Share your content on social media platforms to increase its reach and visibility. Engage with your audience through comments, direct messages, and by participating in relevant groups or forums. This helps you build a community around your brand and drives more traffic to your website.
• Encourage user-generated content and reviews: Motivate your audience to create content related to your brand, such as testimonials, reviews, or social media posts. User-generated content can increase your brand’s credibility and help you build a loyal customer base.
• Monitor and manage online reputation: Regularly track your brand’s mentions and reviews across the web and on social media platforms. Address negative feedback promptly and professionally, and highlight positive reviews to showcase your brand’s commitment to customer satisfaction.

By incorporating these off-page SEO tactics into your audience-first SEO strategy, you can enhance your brand’s visibility, credibility, and authority in your niche.

This will not only improve your search engine rankings but also help you connect with your target audience on a deeper level, driving more organic traffic and conversions.

#6 Technical SEO

Technical SEO involves optimizing the backend aspects of your website to improve its overall performance, user experience, and search engine rankings. By focusing on technical SEO, you can ensure that your audience-first strategy is supported by a solid technical foundation.

Here are some key areas in Technical SEO that you should address:

• Improve website loading speed: Optimize your website’s loading speed by compressing images, minifying CSS and JavaScript files, and leveraging browser caching. Fast-loading websites not only provide a better user experience but are also favored by search engines.
• Implement SSL encryption: Secure your website with SSL encryption to protect user data and build trust with your audience. Search engines prioritize secure websites in search rankings, making SSL implementation crucial for your SEO efforts.
• Use a responsive design: Implement a responsive design to ensure that your website adapts to different devices and screen sizes, providing a seamless browsing experience for all users. This is particularly important as search engines increasingly prioritize mobile-friendly websites in their rankings.
• Create an XML sitemap: Generate an XML sitemap to help search engines understand your website’s structure and crawl your pages more efficiently. Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to improve your site’s visibility in search results.
• Fix broken links and redirects: Regularly check for and fix broken links and improper redirects on your website. Broken links can harm your SEO efforts by negatively impacting user experience and making it difficult for search engines to crawl and index your pages.
• Optimize website structure and navigation: Ensure that your website has a clear and logical structure, with easy-to-use navigation menus and a well-organized hierarchy of pages. This improves user experience and helps search engines understand the relationships between your site’s pages.
• Optimize URLs and site architecture: Create clean, descriptive, and keyword-optimized URLs for your pages. Avoid using generic, non-descriptive URLs or overly complex URL structures. Properly structured URLs improve user experience and make it easier for search engines to understand your content.

Focus on these technical SEO aspects, & you can create a solid foundation for your audience-first strategy, ensuring that your website is easily accessible and navigable for both users and search engines.

This, in turn, will help you drive qualified organic traffic and achieve better search engine rankings.

#7 Monitor and analyze performance

To ensure the success of your audience-first SEO strategy, it’s important to regularly monitor and analyze your website’s performance.

Using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console, you can gather valuable insights into how your content is performing and identify areas for improvement.

Here’s how to monitor and analyze your website’s performance:

• Use Google Analytics and Google Search Console Set up Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track your website’s performance, gather valuable user data, and identify any technical issues that might be impacting your search engine rankings. These tools provide in-depth insights into user behavior, traffic sources, and site performance.
• Track keyword rankings and organic traffic: Monitor the rankings of your target keywords and the overall organic traffic to your website. This will help you gauge the effectiveness of your audience-first SEO strategy and identify which keywords and content pieces are driving the most traffic.
• Monitor user engagement metrics (bounce rate, time on site): Analyze user engagement metrics such as bounce rate, time on site, and pages per session to understand how your audience is interacting with your content. High bounce rates or low time on site may indicate that your content is not resonating with your audience, requiring further optimization.
• Identify areas for improvement and optimization: Regularly review your website’s performance data and user engagement metrics to identify areas where you can make improvements. This may include optimizing underperforming content, updating outdated information, or addressing technical issues that may be impacting your site’s performance.
• Conduct A/B testing: Test different elements of your website, such as headlines, calls-to-action, or page layouts, to determine which variations perform best with your target audience. A/B testing can help you optimize your site for better user engagement and conversion rates.
• Monitor competitors’ performance: Keep an eye on your competitors’ online presence, content strategies, and search engine rankings. This can provide valuable insights into what’s working for them and help you identify areas where your own strategy can be improved.

Consistently monitor and analyzing your website’s performance, to make informed decisions about how to optimize your audience-first SEO strategy. This will ultimately lead to better user engagement, increased organic traffic, and higher search engine rankings.

#8 Cautiously update & optimize

An effective audience-first SEO strategy requires ongoing maintenance and optimization to ensure your content remains relevant, engaging, and visible in search engine results. The search behaviours & interests keep changing.

By continuously updating and optimizing your content and SEO tactics, you can maintain and keep up with ever changing search behaviour of your audience.

Here are some key aspects that you should focus on while updating:

• Revise outdated content: Regularly review your content and update any outdated information, statistics, or references. This not only helps maintain your website’s credibility and authority but also signals to search engines that your content is fresh and up-to-date.
• Repurpose high-performing content: Identify your top-performing content and find ways to repurpose it for different formats or platforms. For example, you can transform a popular blog post into an infographic, video, or podcast episode. This allows you to reach new audiences and maximize the value of your existing content.
• Test different SEO strategies: Experiment with various SEO tactics, such as targeting new keywords, adjusting your content format, or updating your site structure. Regularly testing and refining your strategies will help you identify what works best for your audience and your website’s performance.
• Stay updated on SEO best practices and algorithm changes: Keep up-to-date with the latest SEO best practices, industry trends, and search engine algorithm updates. This will help you stay ahead of your competitors and ensure that your SEO strategy remains effective in the ever-changing digital landscape.
• Monitor content performance and make data-driven decisions: Continuously track the performance of your content and make data-driven decisions when updating and optimizing your SEO strategy. Use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to gather insights into user behavior, engagement metrics, and search engine rankings.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement: Encourage your team to regularly review and optimize your content, SEO tactics, and overall audience-first strategy. By fostering a culture of continuous improvement, you can ensure your website remains relevant, engaging, and visible in search results.

Frequently asked questions