skip to content

← back to the plays

independence5 unconnected · 1 more author in those circles
applies to

b2b and consumer, no audience needed

confidence

high

evidence

10 claims · 10 articles · 4 receipts

window

2017-09-16 → 2024-07-01

5 builders who never spoke to each other

Chase the query a buyer types, not the biggest number

The high-volume keyword in your niche is usually the wrong target. Aim at the phrasing someone uses at the moment they snap and decide to fix the problem, including narrow identifiers like a single product or ticker even when that slice of traffic is small. Discard terms outside your subject however good the volume looks, and for an urgent problem expect the searcher to take the first workable option.

The method

  1. 01

    Chase the search terms of buyers who already want the thing, not the highest-volume keywords in your niche.

  2. 02

    Do not chase keywords just because they rank. Traffic that has no reason to buy anything from you is not worth the article.

  3. 03

    Aim your search keywords at the moment someone snaps and decides to fix the problem, because that is when they start looking - and they will click through several results before choosing.

  4. 04

    Publish content aimed at the search phrases buyers type while researching a category, because that research is a distinct step in the funnel well before purchase.

  5. 05

    Pick keywords with a keyword volume tool and prioritize the ones combining high volume with unambiguous intent.

What it returned

  • 4

    Justin noted the problem on his Trello board on July 1st, only began searching on July 10th at 4:31pm, and bought on his fifth click - the first four results lost him.

  • 2012

    While researching Kanban in April 2012, Justin searched for kanban project management software and landed on Joe Stump's blog post describing the digital Kanban board inside Sprint.ly; he bought two months later.

  • Content aimed at a big keyword like free podcast intro music underperformed a post about a niche feature that buyers searched for directly.

  • The founder spent hours on a post about social media statistics that brought in readers of no business value at all.

Sources

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.

More in seo

all seo plays

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

963 corroborated plays to draw from · 3 a week

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.