Creating a Buyer Persona For Keyword Research

Understanding the essence of 'buyer persona for keyword research' is pivotal in honing SEO strategies. This alignment is crucial because it ensures that the keywords selected resonate effectively with what the audience is actively searching for on search engines. With that, SEO and content teams can tailor their content, messaging, and SEO efforts to match the queries that potential customers use when seeking information or solutions related to a particular product or service.

Keyword research is critical to the success of an SEO strategy. But high search volume keywords do not work when you do not know who your target audience is. 

Tailoring your marketing communication to your customer base goes beyond guesswork. Your potential buyer should have definitive characteristics to leverage. To improve on your keyword research that nails your SEO efforts, you would have to create a buyer persona. 

Topics you will explore today:

• What is a buyer persona?
• Why is it important?
• How to create a buyer persona for keyword research?
• Example of creating a buyer persona for keyword research

What is a Buyer Persona?

A buyer persona represents the profile of a customer who buys your product or service. Marketers leverage multiple types of profiles for different purposes and stages to meet customer touchpoints. 

Although fictional, they are the ideal version of the target audience. They represent an existing or potential customer base. 

Buyer personas are also unique to each business. That is, they may share similar characteristics within an industry. But they will have differentiating characteristics varying from company to company. 

They are a result of an exhaustive market research process. A complete buyer persona contains the following parameters. 

1. Age
2. Location
3. Job and industry
4. Spending behaviour
5. Pain points
6. Interests

Buyer personas are common to marketing campaigns and product development. Similarly, they are also essential for an effective SEO strategy.  

Why is it important?

Developing a buyer persona helps in targeting the right keywords. You are better able to use words and phrases that are close to what the potential buyer types on search engines. 

Naturally, this research process yields more qualified conversions and a high ranking on search engines.  

Without knowing your buyer’s choices, you end up spending more money and time on your marketing efforts. Irrelevant keywords will slow down your conversions. 

Creating a buyer persona also helps in narrowing down the types of content. Mostly because not everyone is going to buy the product. In a way, the process helps in customer segmentation. 

Audience personas are also not static. If your blog posts for a specific audience are not working, you can always go back. Then you can tweak the fictional profile and improve your keyword strategy. 

How to Create a Buyer Persona For Keyword Research?

Let’s see how you can create a buyer persona. 

Research Your Audience 

There are two ways to go about it. 

Situation 1 – When you have an existing customer base

• Analyse the customer behaviour on your website. You can pull out data using Google Analytics to find out the age, gender, geography, etc. 
• Find out which keywords your pages are ranking for. You can use Google Analytics or Google Search Console to do that. 
• Then you can take interviews of your existing customers. Or even send out survey forms to them to know what they are commonly looking for. 

Situation 2 – When you are looking for new customers

• Use keyword research tools like Ubersuggest or others and type in phrases popular to your niche.
• Find the most relevant search terms that your audience types. 
• Filter out keywords based on search volume available on the keyword tools. 

Know Your Audience’s Likes and Dislikes

This step is vital for creating a believable buyer persona. To do that, social listening is key. Your competitors will have social media handles. Check out how their followers react to the posts. 

Another great source to know about customers is a forum. You can easily figure out what an audience is looking for there. Reddit and Quora are some places to start with. 

How You Can Help Your Audience

Understanding your ideal customer helps craft your communication better. 

Look at it this way. 

You want to rank for your keyword on the Google search engine. And, the customer wants to find a solution to a problem. 

So to come up with a buyer persona that types the relevant keywords, you have to align both of these concerns. 

Create the Buyer Persona

Now that you have collected all the information, group the common qualities. You would want the audience persona to be realistic. 

As a common template, you can start with the name, age, and other characteristics that make you take an action as a marketer. 

Example of Creating a Buyer Persona for Keyword Research

Here's an example scenario that aligns with creating a buyer persona for keyword research:

Scenario:

"MarketPro Consultancy," a leading digital marketing agency, is dedicated to refining its buyer persona for targeted keyword research to enhance its SEO strategies.

Situation 1: Analysing Existing Customer Base

MarketPro delves into Google Analytics to scrutinise its website traffic. The analysis reveals a predominant audience aged between 25 to 35, working in various industries like tech, e-commerce, and digital services. Geographic data highlights concentrations in major urban areas across the UK. Keyword insights from Google Search Console highlight terms such as "SEO tools," "social media analytics," and "content marketing strategies."

To gain deeper insights, MarketPro initiates interviews and survey forms targeting its existing clientele. These interactions uncover common queries around advanced SEO techniques, social media engagement tactics, and effective content distribution strategies.

Situation 2: Attracting New Customers

Using keyword research tools like Ubersuggest, MarketPro explores phrases relevant to their niche, such as "digital marketing trends" and "SEO best practices." They identify emerging keywords like "voice search optimisation" and "influencer marketing strategies" with substantial search volumes, aligning with their target audience's interests.

Understanding Audience Preferences through Social Listening

MarketPro employs social listening on platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Quora. They notice active engagements with topics related to AI-driven marketing tools, challenges in influencer collaborations, and discussions on the impact of video content in modern advertising.

Creating the Buyer Persona for Keyword Research

Combining the gathered data, MarketPro creates a buyer persona dubbed "Digital Marketing Innovator - Alex":

Name: Alex Mitchell
Age: 30
Characteristics: Tech-savvy urban professional, seeks advanced digital marketing strategies, intrigued by AI-powered tools
Pain Points: Craves insights into influencer marketing challenges, desires expertise in voice search optimisation techniques
Interests: Actively engages with content on AI-driven marketing, explores video-centric advertising trends
Aligning their keyword strategies with Alex's preferences, MarketPro refines its content and services to cater precisely to their target audience's needs, aiming for better SEO performance and increased organic visibility.

Parting Thoughts 

There you go. This is all you need to know about a buyer persona so that you can do effective keyword research and create a winning SEO strategy.