Many businesses don't realize they are making SEO mistakes that could kill their sales. They are mainly focusing on the business brand (generic SEO). Their focus is to make their brand rank higher in search results.
However, with this method, you will lose a lot of sales, especially in the long run. SEO drives traffic and possible leads to your site. The purpose of leads is to convert them to be your customers.
Now you might be thinking, "How do I sell if I do not focus on my brand?" I am not saying it is wrong to focus on your business brand.
What I'm saying is, to avoid making some common SEO mistakes, we need to know when to use generic SEO and when to use specific SEO. Let's look at examples of when to use each type of SEO and what you can do to improve your sales.
When to Use Generic SEO
Generic SEO is the way to go when the brand is still new on the market. The reason is customers will search for your brand using a search engine because they are not aware of your products yet.
When to Use Specific SEO
However, when your business starts to mature and have increased sales, your market expands. Customers are aware of your products. That's when it is time to use specific SEO.
To explain this comparison a bit more, let’s take a look at how Huawei’s customers perform a search during and before the launch of their new smartphone (P30).
Customer Search Behavior - During the P30 Launch
On 26 March 2019, in Paris, Huawei’s P30 was launched. From April 2019 to June 2019, customers were using the keywords below for searches:
“huawei 30 pro” (increase from 0 to 7.5%) - before April it was 0%.
“huawei p30” (increase from 0 to 3.0%) - before April it was 0%.
“p30 pro” (increase from 0 to 1.8%) - before April it was 0%.
If Huawei still used the generic SEO “huawei”, they would have lost up to 12.3% of organic traffic. This means the generic SEO loses a whopping 12.3% of potential sales. So businesses could be making SEO mistakes when they don't change their use of SEO prior to a product launch.
Customer Search Behavior - Before the P30 Launch
Let’s look more closely at what keywords customers used before the new P30 smartphone launch (the period from April 2018 - March 2019):
“huawei” - 31.4% (April 2019 to June 2019 was 32.6%)
“huawei p20 pro” - 6.1%
“huawei matebook x pro” - 4.3%
As you can see, customers are also searching for specific keywords before the launch (“huawei p20 pro” and “huawei matebook x pro”).
However, the important part is the generic SEO “huawei" only increased by 1.2% when we compare it before and after the P30 launch.
What this search behavior tells us is customers are using lesser and lesser generic SEO when your business starts to mature.
Avoiding SEO Mistakes with Proven Results
Now you have enough background to avoid making some common SEO mistakes. You might be asking, "How do I truly know when to use generic SEO or specific SEO to attract leads to my website?"
The answer to use an SEO analyzer. Before you start to write copy, will run the analyzer for your brand. As a result, you can get into your customers' head to see how they are using the search engine to look for information.
I've used an SEO analyzer for Copywriters.com. I can conclude that readers seem to be interested in looking for information about copywriting for Instagram and Facebook and also copywriting niches. When writing copy, I would use this information when I choose SEO, or keywords.
Choosing the SEO for Your Situation
Now you know how to select keywords to attract leads to your site. The comparison of the Huawei phone showed you how to avoid SEO mistakes by choosing the right kind of SEO to use. The next step is to use these keywords to promote yourself better on a search engine. This is done in two ways.
Option 1: Small to Medium-Sized Companies
If you do not see your company name appearing in keywords, create more content based on the keywords listed related to your company. Include your company name and products or services. For example, for smartphones, keywords include Huawei and P30.
As a result, when users search popular keywords, your article will rank higher in the search results and you will generate more traffic to your articles.
This method is more suitable for small to medium-sized companies. They want their brand to appear higher in rankings when readers are searching for general products or services they are interested in.
Option 2: Large-Sized Companies
If you see your company name in the list of keywords, be sure to create more content targeted to your products or services which is listed in the keywords. This way you will be able to deliver more value to your customers who are aware of your products or services.
In a matter of time, your content will be able to convert leads to sales. For example, for Huawei, keywords include more P30 articles.
This option of providing more specific keywords suits large-sized companies. Their brand is already well-known. But they want to provide more content to the specific product or services that readers are interested in.
Summary
Avoiding SEO mistakes can improve your sales. Whether you choose generic or specific SEO depends on the size of your business, how well known you are, and what you're promoting in your copy. You stand to lose a lot of sales if you don't focus on the keywords that customers are using.
By implementing the proper SEO strategies, your articles will be identified as “Best Sellers” to search engines. If you're looking for an expert to craft copy with either generic or specific keywords, our SEO experts can help.
Chow Chin Wah
Chow Chin Wah is a copywriter in copywriters.com. He only writes for what he believes in. Because the purpose of his writing is to make the world a better place. He strives every day to provide value to society. Chow has an IT background as a Network Engineer and has an interest in computers from an early age.
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