Using the Problems You Solve for SEO Strategy

It might not be obvious, but when it comes to SEO focusing on the problems you solve can be very beneficial. In fact it might be essential.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of focusing on what you do, and the specific products of solutions that you offer when it comes to the content that you decide to put on the website. So too many times, the efforts that are spent on search engine optimization are sole focused, or at least the majority of the focus, is on the language that the business uses in terms of their products and solutions or services.

The SEO Trap

In order to have a well-rounded and well thought out SEO strategy, it’s critical to have the customer in mind and to think about how they search for the types of products, services, or solutions that your business offers. Sure, they might search based on products and services that line up with the way a business might decide themselves in regard to the content that that business puts on the website – think roofing contractor or even better yet Mexican restaurant.

In the example of a roofing contractor, most people are probably going to use roofer, roofing, or roofing contractor when they search. It’s so common that people know how to talk about it and therefore use pretty straight forward search phrases that align well with content that is on the website.

In the case of the Mexican restaurant, it’s very well aligned in terms of the primary search phrase.

It’s easy for many businesses to fall into this SEO trap and only do the easy and obvious things, and stop there.

Focus On the Problems You Solve

What if your business does tuckpointing, or mudjacking, or you specialize in Roth IRAs?  Are your potential customers going to know and use those specific search words to find your business? Maybe. But may not. But if these are core differentiators for your business, and bring you your ideal clients will they find you with these phrases?

Let’s take the tuckpointing example. According to Wikipedia, “Tuckpointing is a way of using two contrasting colours of mortar in the mortar joints of brickwork, one color matching the bricks themselves, to give an artificial impression that very fine joints have been made”.

No doubt there are people who know what tuckpointing is and will using the word tuckpoint or tuckpointing in their searches phrase. But what about those homeowners or building owners or managers who don’t know what it is?  How will they search online? Chances are, they will search using phrases that describe the problems that they have – maybe something like brick and mortar repair, chimney repair, brick work, masonry.  Or maybe they might search for decorative brick more or decorative stone work.  Or they will just search for a bricklayer.

The point is that if you do tuckpointing and it is a specialization that brings you your ideal customers – those who might be willing to pay a premium for the services, you’ll need to zero in on those phrases that align with problem description related searches. It’s likely to yield lower search volumes but it is also likely to yield better potential leads.

In the case of mudjacking, is that a phrase that many property owners or managers are going to use? Or are they more likely to search for phrases that describe the problem, like “concrete crack repair”, “concrete leveling”, or even “how to raise concrete” or “how to fix concrete that is sinking”.  Mudjacking is a term that the business is going to know very well — the question is, will their potential customer?  If the website is only optimized for the service the business offers — in this case Mudjacking — they might miss a lot of potentially valuable searches (and potential customers) who don’t know what mudjacking is.

Let’s take the Roth IRA example next. Some people will know to search exactly for a phrase like Roth IRA expert St. Louis.  If you are a financial planner that helps clients set up Roth IRAs, you definitely need to think about optimizing for that search phrase.  But too many financial planners are going to stop short of this.  Sure, they might list Roth IRA as a product that they might work with, but listing that on a products page is not enough.

Having content on your website that also focuses on the problem that you solve, in this case setting up a retirement plan that provides tax free retirement income, might be needed to get the right type of client for your business.  It’s also probably much less competitive, and so it might be considerably easier to rank for the search phrase aligned with the client’s problem.

The Importance of Strategy

Let’s go back to the roofer example though, and think about it in terms of what problems they solve and how that might be beneficial for their SEO.

Maybe a facility manager is tasked with trying to find a roof that also helps with energy efficiency.  There are going to be a whole series of phrases that you might want your website to rank for if you are a roofer who offers energy efficient roofing solutions.  Think about how your potential clients might describe the products, services, or solutions that they might need.

So how do you do this? Well this is where strategy comes into play.  Developing a marketing strategy first, identifying who your ideal customers are, and creating a marketing message that underscores your core differentiation is key. Interviewing some of your best clients to see how they describe their experiences with your business is a great way to uncover problems that you solve.

Another way is to experiment, using Google AdWords.  Launch Google AdWords campaigns a pay attention to the actual search phrases that people are using to trigger your ads.  There are a lot of great keyword ideas that you can find by doing this.

Don’t forget to think about the customer journey either.  There are different problems that they might have along that journey.  You have to think about the problems you solve that can help them move through their journey to convert them from visitors to leads to customers.

And of course doing keyword research is key.  There are a lot of phrases that are less competitive that might align very well with the differentiators for your business.

Focus on the Problems Solved for Better SEO

SEO only works for many businesses when they focus on the things that make them stand apart from their competitors. Focusing on the problems you solve is a great way to guide the content that you create and optimize on your website to help you rank for the way your customers search. For most businesses, focusing on the problems your business solves for your customers sets you apart and improves your findability with the right customers.

 

About the Author

Ken Tucker is an SEO for Growth Certified Consultant, a Master Duct Tape Marketing Certified Consultant, and an Inbound Marketing Certified Consultant. He is the owner and founder of Changescape Web, a St Louis inbound marketing agency.