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How to research audience search behavior
These are simple steps to analyze our audience’s search behavior. We are creating an audience journey map to uncover how your audience decides to solve their problems.
The end output is an audience journey map, that will guide on-page content, keyword targeting or even PR and SEO funnels.
ICP’s values: Ideal customer problem profile
Below are the steps for identifying your ICP, developing a problem profile and mapping the audience’s journey to find a solution.
Define your ideal customers: Consult with sales or interview your top clients. Ask questions like, “Who are our most profitable and easiest-to-retain clients?”
Develop a problem profile: Map out the primary problems your ICP faces, the opportunities these problems present and the specific tasks they need to accomplish. Break down each problem into its core elements and related challenges.
Map the customer journey: Outline the customer journey by listing key problems, opportunities and jobs to be done at each stage.
Build a keyword list: Based on the identified problems, opportunities and questions, create a keyword list that captures your ICP’s search behavior around these issues.
A key part of this step is creating a problem map, a simple tool that organizes the target problem along with its related problems and underlying elements. This map helps clarify the scope and context of the primary issue.
Take the problems and map them to the audience’s journey stages.
Let’s go through a basic example with eBikes.
Each journey map is created based on a few key aspects of the ideal customer profile.
Archetype: Americans in cities that want to reduce their carbon footprint.
Problem: Buy an eBike to reduce your carbon footprint.
Situation: Commuting or running errands in a congested city and creating pollution.
Audience journey map elements and answers:
Awareness
Problem: Save the environment with eBike.
Opportunity: Reduce gas with eBike.
Questions: How much gas can I save?
Discovery
Problem: A lot of eBikes, limited budget.
Opportunity: Cheap eBike.
Questions: Which eBike is the longest range for the cost?
Decision
Problem: Limited storage in the apartment.
Opportunity: Folding eBike.
Questions: How easy is it to fold?
See how “eBike” changes meaning when it’s considered a problem and not a product.
Create an audience journey map at this stage to have a framework to uncover questions across the decision-making journey.
With some problems mapped to a journey, then find an audience interested in solving them.
Audience search behavior: Find patterns
Use Google Trends to analyze audience behaviors and uncover patterns in their responses to various triggers, such as articles, social posts or consistent messaging over time.
These insights reveal how audiences engage with content related to their problems and objectives.
Types of analysis:
Brand search patterns: Compare competitor’s brand name search.
Executive search patterns: Search for executive names or info.
Problem search: How do they search for elements of the problem?
Category search: Trends in search interest for the product/service type.
Questions: What questions do people have? (e.g., searches for “what is X.”)
Steps to identify audience search behavior patterns:
Conduct keyword searches: Identify key terms related to your brand and the specific problems your audience is trying to solve.
Spot patterns: Use Google Trends to track audience trends over time. Look for specific dates or periods when interest spikes.
List key questions: Compile questions that arise from your analysis of media and social conversations.
In the eBike example, I used Google Trends and Glimpse (Chrome plugin to add in more data points) to analyze:
The company “Lectric eBike.”
General U.S. interest in “eBike.”
Specific eBike feature “folding eBike.”
The trends show that the industry and Lectric’s brand are growing together, so we should analyze this audience’s search behavior to see why interest is growing for both topics.
You can add this to the audience journey map elements. This is just a starter template.
Awareness
Problem: Save the environment with eBike.
Opportunity: Reduce gas with eBike.
Questions: How much gas can I save?
Trends: Growing interest in “ebike” and “folding ebike.”
Discovery
Problem: A lot of eBike, limited budget.
Opportunity: Cheap eBike.
Questions: Which eBike has the longest range for the cost?
Trends: Growing interest in “best eBike.”
Decision
Problem: Limited storage in an apartment.
Opportunity: Folding eBike.
Questions: How easy is it to fold?
Trends: Brand search for Lectric eBike is growing YoY.
With trends identified, the final step is to identify what is driving the conversations.
Tip: In many cases, search trends with very small audiences don’t show up on Google Trends. You can sometimes find micro-trends in Google Search Console, analyze competitor keywords or analyze publisher rankings.
Search triggers: What drives behavior
Identify triggers by analyzing trending topics and the messaging around them, along with the platforms (social media, press, blogs, podcasts) and influencers or experts who amplify these messages.
Examine conversations across these channels to understand what drives search behavior. Look for popular stories, influential discussions or brands with high mention volumes and any emotionally charged topics that might provoke strong audience reactions.
Make sure to analyze both:
Internal triggers: Use a PEST (political, economic, social, technology) analysis as a proxy for internal triggers.
External triggers:
Messaging: What is being said about the topic?
Platform: What sites, publishers or social networks mention the topic?
Experts: What trusted experts are discussing the topic?
Steps for analyzing audience triggers
Conduct a PEST scan: Review Google News, industry publications and key influencers from the past year to identify political, economic, social and technological factors impacting your audience.
Find trends and posts: Use tools like Brandwatch or Buzzsumo to compile articles and social posts discussing relevant topics.
Analyze messaging: Examine the perspectives and messaging from media sources, influencers and experts to understand common themes and viewpoints.
Look at social platforms where users discuss personal experiences related to your brand or topic (e.g., “I have a small apartment and use a folding eBike”).
Grok recently gained access to the X feeds directly, so you can now analyze X’s posts in real time.
With the “eBike” search, I asked Grok to analyze trends in X posts to see what conversations are driving search growth for “eBike.”
This simple question provided insights on optimizing the user experience for SEO.
Two major barriers to adoption are high costs and limited storage. The popularity of the “folding eBike” trend aligns well with storage concerns.
If your product includes a folding eBike, consider highlighting this feature prominently on the landing page or in the site navigation.
For non-folding models, emphasize storage solutions or quick-release wheels for easy removal and compact storage.
Tailoring content in this way addresses key audience needs, making the page more relevant and engaging.
Here’s a sample audience journey map for “eBike.”
Awareness
Problem: Save the environment with eBike.
Opportunity: Reduce gas with eBike.
Questions: How much gas can I save?
Trends: Growing interest in “eBike.”
Drivers:
Messaging: Pandemic, lower carbon footprint.
Platform: Green and national press about eBikes.
Experts: Electric Bike Report.
Timing: Consistent messaging about eBikes over time after the pandemic.
Discovery
Problem: A lot of eBikes, limited budget.
Opportunity: Cheap eBike.
Questions: Which eBike has the longest cost range?
Trends: Brand search for Lectric eBike is growing.
Drivers:
Messaging: eBikes have high costs and storage is an issue.
Platforms: X, green publishers, eBike publishers.
Experts: Rob Rides EMTB.
Decision
Problem: Limited storage in an apartment.
Opportunity: Folding eBike.
Questions: How easy is it to fold?
Trends: Conversations around car emissions + eBike.
Drivers:
Messaging: Low-cost eBike with simple storage options.
Platforms: Search, YouTube, eBike publishers.
Experts: Rob Rides EMTB
Although my analysis was limited, I identified potential strategies related to the topics of “folding” and “costs.”
For an eBike landing page, I would address both cost and storage concerns by highlighting storage options or emphasizing the folding feature.
You could even consider ranking for keywords like “guide to folding eBikes” or present innovative storage solutions for non-folding models to spark audience discussions.
This could also create demand for alternative storage solutions, particularly as interest in folding eBikes continues to grow.
However, a word of caution: Grok is still a new tool, so it’s uncertain whether it’s identifying true trends or just reflecting isolated conversations.
Top tips:
Look for action-oriented content that drives short-term actions when a person is trying to solve a problem (e.g., how-to, list of top things). These articles can drive search and short-term leads or sales since the audience wants to find a product or service.
Sometimes, a single podcast, news article or discussion among a small audience can drive search interest for a highly targeted and valuable audience, but it can be difficult to find. Podcasts are great places to drive search. For example, the screenshot below shows a spike in the search for “DNA printer,” which was driven by a discussion in episode 2076 of the Joe Rogan Experience. It shows there’s an interest in an under-discussed topic, at least.
Inform your SEO strategy with audience insights
This process reveals how audiences react to messaging and available solutions, uncovering their hidden intent through search behavior trends and triggers.
By leveraging these insights, you can boost brand search volume, establish yourself as an expert in trending topics or increase demand for specific keywords.
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