5 Ways to Build a Search Persona

: 12 September 2011; Written by Super User

Building a search persona can help you determine and target potential customers online. Looking at how your target market uses search engines & websites to find information allows you to tailor your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy in way that reflects what your client is looking for, how they’re trying to find it and why.

5 Ways to Build a Search Persona

Know your target audience to help you with keyword & content selection. Knowing the characteristics of your target audience can help you to develop more effective SEO, as it allows you to predict search word patterns, consumer interests for content and other aspects of SEO such as file sharing and regular blogging.
Predict or identify the queries that your target audience might have. Search engines search for sites with significant amounts of data within them which relate to the search terms. Predict queries that your target audience may have and design content in your site which reflects and answers those queries. Sites with lots of regularly updated content relating to specific search terms rank higher than those with outdated, minimal content. By pinpointing potential queries your customers may have, you can tailor your site to provide answers to those queries, thereby increasing your site’s ranking in search.
Provide solutions. Include content in your site that is optimized for the search engines, while also addressing the needs and potential issues of your consumer. Calls-to-action, reviews, images and descriptions all assist in providing solutions for your customer, while also improving your SEO ranking.
Include compelling calls to action. Think about what you want your visitors to do when they reach your website, and then ask them to do it! Whether it be subscribe to a newsletter, fill out a form, call to make a booking or make a booking online, make it easy for visitors to complete the task.
Know your data. Take a look at statistics to see what works and what doesn’t. Keep track of traffic, popular key words, ranking etc to keep on top of your SEO and work your way up the rankings.

Once you build your search persona, you can tailor your search engine optimization strategy accordingly. This approach increases the chances that the traffic that ends up on your website will find your information, products & services useful.

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Source: Search Engine Watch