Aligning Content With User Intent is Essential in 2020

The days of keyword-stuffing content are over.

Aligning your content with searcher intent is the most critical component of a winning content strategy.

This seems like a no-brainer, but it’s alarming how many Small and Midsized Businesses (SMBs) think uploading content of any kind and stuffing it with competitive keywords gives them extra points in ranking. While that used to be the case, Google’s crawlers have become much better at aligning specific content to user intent. Uploading weak content stuffed with keywords will only hurt your chances of ranking well.

Understanding How People Search is Important

Google can easily tell the difference between someone asking “how to make Bundt cakes” and simply “Bundt cakes”. The former will result in recipes, and the latter, local bakeries selling Bundt cakes. This means you’ll have to understand what your customers are searching, and how best to fill that need based on your company’s goals.

The good thing is, if you’re an expert in your industry, providing legitimate answers to potential user queries is easy enough. The bad thing is, you have to seriously consider investing in a winning content strategy. It’s never been more important to have well written, relevant content that not only offers critical insight to users but also aligns with searcher intent.

The Importance of Analytics

In order to understand user intent, it’s important to have in-depth analytics on any content you publish. By monitoring how users engage with your content, you’ll gain critical insight into what potential customers are searching for. Things like time-on-page, and hot-maps that track on-page engagement can give you a world of useful data for how to continue tweaking your content for more specific search queries.

Understanding the End Goal

Lastly, it’s important to remember that content marketing strategies aren’t for direct conversion, but for building brand awareness and establishing yourself as an expert in the eyes of customers and Google’s crawlers. The goal is to position yourself as one of the most knowledgeable in your field, as this not only boosts trust with potential buyers (which does lead to direct conversion), but also helps Google know that your content is valuable — a critical aspect of ranking well in 2020.