I know what you’re thinking:
“Oh, another article claiming to unlock the secret to SEO and profits. Haven’t I heard this story before?”
But this time, I’m not talking about anyone’s secret recipe.
Instead, it’s about giving you a fresh perspective on running an SEO campaign with real, measurable metrics and a clearer picture of how it will benefit your customers in their buying journey. Essentially, it’s designed to help you attract more buyers.
The aim of this article is to provide you with a clear roadmap for SEO implementation, ensuring it’s on track and making a positive impact on your business, whether you’re working with your own SEO team or a marketing agency.
At the recent Road to SEOCon seminar by ToffeeDev, Eli Schwartz introduced the concept of Product-Led SEO. Simply put, this means making your product the focus of your SEO strategy to ensure your website gets noticed by search engine users.
This way, your company can have a clear understanding of the strategy and how to keep it on track.
Sounds great? Let’s dive in!
What is Product-Led SEO?
Product-Led SEO doesn’t start with keyword research. Instead, it begins with the product you’re selling.
The core idea of this approach is that SEO should support the customer’s buying journey, helping them move to the next stage. Of course, this assumes that your product already has a good market fit.
We’re essentially creating a strategy that provides content to support this goal. Technical aspects like having a clean site structure and following search engine guidelines will naturally follow.
Blue ocean vs. red ocean: Product-Led SEO focuses on your real customers
Eli describes this as the ‘blue ocean’ approach. Here, you find numerous opportunities without any competitors targeting the same prospects. This is because you’re focusing on people who are already interested in your product.
On the other hand, the common SEO approach—focusing on keyword research to target high-volume keywords—resembles a red ocean. There are many competitors already vying for the same prospects, and it’s unclear what’s left for you.
Moreover, by involving the product team, you can incorporate insights about potential demand into your SEO strategy.
The ‘red ocean’ strategy, which focuses on trends and keyword volume, relies on data from the past 12 months provided by popular SEO tools.
Product-Led SEO not only supports your customer’s buying journey but also helps create future demand for your product.
That seems cool, can you give an example?
Right, let’s look at a telehealth company example from Eli’s book Product-Led SEO.
Imagine you’re the CMO or Head of Product for a new telehealth company. The demand for online medical services is booming. Besides word-of-mouth, your company is spending a lot on paid marketing to get new customers.
But word-of-mouth isn’t sustainable, and paid marketing gets expensive. You need a better way to attract users without breaking the bank.
Enter SEO. You notice SEO is bringing in users with minimal cost.
You reach out to your SEO team or an agency. They suggest an SEO audit, competitive research, and a content plan. But these proposals might not lead to real growth. The audit shows your website needs work, and competitors are ahead. The content plan requires lots of professionally vetted content, which is pricey and not guaranteed to work.
Instead, you try Product-Led SEO. This means making your product the star of your SEO efforts.
The goal is to attract users who become paying customers, not just to drive traffic. You need to understand what your users want and build a product that meets those needs.
For example, you find out many telehealth users seek consultations for skin rashes due to cost concerns and embarrassment. By creating content addressing these issues and providing reassurance, you attract users who might never have considered telehealth.
This approach supports your customers’ buying journey and creates future demand for your product. You build a library of conditions, offer genuine help, and subtly guide users toward telehealth consultations.
Outside of the book, here’s what we underline from the case study about how this can benefit business owners to track progress. For example, monitor metrics that align with each stage of the buyer’s journey.
If you create content targeting users seeking reassurance for skin conditions, track engagement rates, conversion rates, and the number of telehealth appointments booked through that content. This way, you can see how effectively your SEO strategy is guiding users through the buying journey and contributing to your business’s revenue.
By focusing on user needs and integrating them into your product and SEO strategy, you create sustainable growth that stands out in a competitive market.
So, it’s time to rethink when someone pitches you to rank higher on search engines
Because that may work, but it doesn’t address how it will impact your business. Plus, there’s a lot to consider when hoping this strategy will give you ROI.
After reading this, we’re confident you’ll know what to do when someone pitches you on ranking higher for your competitor’s target keywords or boosting your Domain Authority.
While we need to follow search engine guidelines to get noticed, our main goal is to engage human buyers. So, let’s ensure everything is crafted by humans for humans, focusing on content that’s relevant to their needs.
That’s how you can ensure your SEO strategy truly contributes to your business’s revenue and, eventually, profit.
Thank you for reading this article. As a content marketing specialist, I’m delighted to share the insights I’ve gained throughout my career. Stay updated with the latest marketing trends by following this blog.
