DVO has operated in and around the world of SEO for a number of years. It’s always been an important element of driving awareness and conversion and, as long as organic traffic via Google represents a large portion of site traffic, it probably always will be.
Bearing that in mind, I have read with interest the various blogs forecasting the death of SEO and how content marketing is the new black – sorry, new SEO. But brands with a strong focus on organic traffic have still been asking for the same old KPIs. I don’t think I need to spell these out. After all we create content and we promote it.
However, we have had a moment of epiphany from one of our clients when a staunchly SEO focused team sat down and told us they wanted to take the focus away from SEO metrics such as links developed – naturally, of course. Now the key concern was traffic. Hence the title of this post, Google doesn’t buy holidays. Because it doesn’t, people do.
You produce great content to help your search ranking and increase the amount of traffic you get from Google – great. But think about it, are these people really engaged? If you sell holidays and I type “I want a holiday to New York” in the search field, then I click on your link, am I engaged by you and your brand? I’d say no. If I was engaged I’d have typed in the name of your brand, or better still come directly to your site. And there’s the rub; traffic via Google represents intent, not engagement.
Google helps prospects find your brand, especially if you’ve positioned yourself as an expert, somebody the consumer can trust. But ultimately, when someone sees you as an expert would you expect them to find you through search? Perhaps in some cases. So, unless someone is looking to buy at that moment, what you’ve got is an opportunity. Make the searcher aware you can answer their questions, bring them to your site, engage them with your awesome content and then convert them into one of your deeper audience segments, such as a social follower, or better still get them on your email list.
In this content marketing-led world, place your emphasis on people and how you manage them through your audience funnel. Because Google doesn’t buy holidays, people do.
Give yourself a break. Talk to DVO on 020 3771 2461, email us at [email protected] or be modern and tweet us. We’re @DVOagency
