In this week's episode of "Local Search Tuesdays," I talk about the concept of "shopping by symptom" and why it’s important for your SEO strategy. People often search based on the problems they’re experiencing—like "how to fix a cracked tooth" instead of just looking for a dentist. If your website content speaks directly to these symptom-based searches, you have a better chance of showing up in search results and attracting the right customers. Tune in to learn how to adjust your SEO to take advantage of this approach!
Video Transcript
Welcome back to another episode of Local Search Tuesdays. This week, I’m sharing a simple tip to help you reframe how you think about your website content.
One of the biggest mistakes that business owners and many marketers make is that they don’t realize that they’re wearing blinders. Business owners know everything about their business - front to back, top to bottom. They forget what it’s like to try to find answers on a website if you know absolutely nothing about the product or service you’re looking for.
Optimizing your site won’t matter if you’re optimizing for the wrong terms. One of the most popular videos of this series was the one I published almost four years ago that talks about avoiding jargon when optimizing your site. If you haven’t seen it, head to bit.ly/seo-avoid-jargon to check it out.
But honestly, that video doesn’t really fully explain the idea. I only talk about optimizing for the way that customers search, and how using jargon that you understand, but customers don’t, won’t help your marketing efforts.
Avoiding jargon is only part of the solution. The problem isn’t really that you’re optimizing for the wrong terms - the problem is that you don’t understand how your customers are searching for you.
Remember that in every single situation, customers have a problem and they’re looking for a solution. If your products or services are the solution to the potential customer’s problem and you appear to be a reputable business, customers will buy from you.
But those business owner blinders are keeping you focused on the wrong concepts. Let me use a healthcare example to show you what I mean. Doctors are usually pretty awful at optimizing for how patients will search. If you’re a plastic surgeon, you know exactly what a blepharoplasty is, and that’s the term you optimize for on your site.
The problem is that nobody knows what a blepharoplasty is. I’m honestly not even sure I’m saying it correctly. The patients you’re trying to show up for will instead look for “eyelid lift” or “eyelid surgery”. But those are still extreme bottom-of-funnel terms. Patients will start searching for that solution without knowing that it’s the end point. They’ll ask questions about symptoms that they’re experiencing, and after some research, they’ll realize that an eyelid lift is likely what they need.
As a business owner or marketer, you have to understand that your customers will start their buying journey by “shopping by symptom”. You need to add content to your site that speaks to the symptoms of the problems your customers are researching, not just the solution that you’re selling. The sooner you can get eyeballs on your website and impress potential customers, the more likely it is that those potential customers will end up converting and buying.
Take a look at your site. Think beyond the tip about avoiding jargon and look at the customer questions you’re answering - or not answering. Add content to target potential customers who aren’t sure what they need and help guide them down the path to purchase.
Your content will be a much better match for the intent of those early searches. You’ll show up much better in search results and you’ll convert more customers.
That’s all the time we have left for this week’s episode, so you know what that means. Put your hand on the screen right here:
We totally just high-fived ‘cause you learned something awesome. Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you again next week for another episode of Local Search Tuesdays.
