How to Find Your Target Audience for SEO

UK business statistics show that nearly a third of small businesses (27%) found growth in 2022. What if you could increase those odds by targeting the audience likely to benefit from your products or services? That's the power of understanding your perfect audience.

Many small businesses struggle to be seen online, especially with limited resources. Thus, a need for SEO or Search Engine Optimisation. But it can feel overwhelming if you don't know who you're trying to reach.

The perfect audience is your ideal customer. It comprises people who would benefit most from your products or services. Here are insightful tips to help you find that audience:

Understand Your Target Audience

Picture this: you're at a crowded market. You want to sell a fantastic new product, but yelling it out to everyone might not be the best strategy.  Instead, you should approach the people most interested in your offering.

This brings us to the target audience vs target market debate. Your target market refers to the precise group of people you want to attract to your business, while your target audience is narrower. Your target audience is those likely to be interested in your products or services.

As such, they're the ones who will visit your site and become paying customers or loyal fans. Focusing on a target audience helps you tailor your efforts. If you're in the food business, target audience examples include vegans, busy people, athletes, or students.

Uncover Your Audience's Needs and Wants (What Makes Them Tick?)

Now that you know your target audience isn't "everyone," understand what makes them tick. Find out what their problems, desires, and aspirations are. Also, learn why they want the products or services you offer in the following ways:

• Brainstorm: Find out their challenges and what they hope to achieve
• Customer reviews and feedback: If you have existing customers, look at reviews, testimonials, or past communication to understand their motivations and pain points
• Social listening: Pay attention to online conversations related to your industry.
• Surveys and polls: Create a short survey or poll to gather direct feedback from your target audience.

With this information, create content that directly addresses your audience. The content could be informative blog posts that answer their questions. It could also be helpful guides that solve their problems or compelling product descriptions highlighting the relevant benefits.

Understand the Language of Your Ideal Customer: Keywords!

Keywords are the words and phrases people use in search engines to find information. It would help to understand the keywords your ideal customer is searching for. Do this to optimise your website and content to rank higher in search results for particular terms.

Several free and paid tools can help you identify relevant keywords with high search volume. Use them to see what keywords your competitors are ranking for. You should also target similar terms or find niche opportunities.

Once you have a list of relevant keywords, you can strategically incorporate them into your web content, page titles, and meta descriptions. This way, when your ideal customer searches for those keywords (or phrases), your website is more likely to appear in the search results. You increase your chances of connecting with them online and attracting them to your website.

Learn from Your Existing Audience (Website Analytics)

Your website is a treasure trove of information about the people already interested in your business. So, dive into your website analytics to identify website visitors (your existing audience). Use that knowledge to refine your target audience.

Most website analytics platforms like Google Analytics will tell you demographics like age, location, and gender of your visitors. These demographics paint a basic picture of who's currently finding your site. You can also see which pages are most popular and how visitors navigate your site.

Look at the keywords people used to find your website. These are the terms they typed into search engines to land on your pages. The keywords tell you what they're looking for and what language they use.

Analyse which keywords bring in the most qualified leads or result in the most conversions. By conversions, we mean sales, signups, etc. These keywords can be a great starting point for your strategy.

A target audience analysis can also show how long visitors stay on your site. They reveal which pages visitors bounce off from quickly and where they click through to. The data helps you understand what content engages your audience and what might be confusing or irrelevant.

Take Advantage of Competitor Audience Intel: See Who They're Targeting

You don't want to copy your competitors. But you should understand who they're targeting. It's a valuable tactic when defining your audience.

Look at your competitor's websites and social media presence. Focus on the kind of content they create, topics they focus on and keywords that seem prominent. These details can give clues about the audience they're trying to attract.

Your competitor's social media followers and who they interact with online can help. They can reveal their target audience's demographics and interests. See the keywords your competitors rank for to gain insight into their audience.

Once you understand who your competitors are targeting, you can see if there are any gaps in the market. Perhaps a specific need of your ideal customer isn't being addressed. Focus on this gap to attract a similar target audience and offer something unique and valuable.

Craft Buyer Personas to Visualise Your Audience

Think of buyer personas as fictional characters that represent your ideal customers. Craft one based on your website analytics, competitor customer research, and any existing customer data you have. Then, you can visualise your target audience in a more personal way.

Buyer personas help you define the specific needs, wants, and challenges your ideal customer faces. Understanding their pain points helps you tailor your content and strategy to address those concerns directly. It also allows you to create content that resonates with them.

You can choose keywords and topics relevant to their needs and craft content that speaks directly to their challenges and aspirations. Buyer personas can also help you find where your ideal customer spends time online. This way, you can focus on reaching them in the channels they frequent.

Tailor Content to Resonate With Your Perfect Audience

Once you identify your ideal customer, create content that resonates with them. Research industry terms, common questions they might have, and the tone they prefer (informative, casual, humorous, etc.). You should also use the right language to build trust and make your content relevant to their needs.

Craft content that solves your customers' problems or offers valuable insights. Offer helpful comparisons or reviews. By addressing their pain points directly, you position yourself as a trusted resource and increase the chances they'll remember and return to your site.

People learn and consume information in different ways. So, offer different content formats to cater to different preferences. These formats could include blog posts, articles, infographics, videos, or podcasts.

Track Your Results and Refine Your Strategy

SEO is an ongoing process. Once you publish your content, track the results to see what's working and what's not. Analytics tools (Google Analytics being a perfect example) track website traffic to help you see how many people find your content.

These tools let you know whether you are attracting more visitors from your target audience. They also shed light on the keywords that drive more traffic than others. With this data, you'll understand what's resonating with your audience and where adjustments might be needed.

See how your website ranks for the keywords you're targeting. Are you soaring higher on the search engine results pages (SERPs)? If not, it might be time to refine your keyword strategy or optimise your content further.

Lastly, look beyond just website traffic. See how long people are staying on your site, which pages they're visiting, and whether they're taking desired actions like subscribing to your email newsletter or making a purchase. This will help you understand how engaged your audience is with your content.

Don't Go It Alone! Get Help for Your Goals

SEO is a complex and ever-changing landscape. Mastering it takes time and effort. Hiring a professional or agency allows you to run your business while they handle the technical aspects of SEO.

Even more, search engine algorithms are constantly evolving. SEO professionals have the relevant knowledge and expertise to stay up-to-date on the latest trends. This way, they ensure your website remains optimised for search.

SEO professionals often have access to specialised tools and resources. These resources can provide deeper insights and data analysis. They're especially important for a new business looking to maintain an online presence.

Uncover Your Perfect Audience Today and Watch Your Strategy Soar

By taking time to understand your perfect audience, you can create an SEO strategy that speaks to their needs and interests. You can attract more qualified leads. Ultimately, you'll boost your website traffic and grow your business.

SEO doesn't have to be a mystery. At BrisTechTonic, we help small businesses like yours achieve their goals with custom plans designed to fit your website, business, and budget. Check out our monthly SEO packages today and see how we can help you reach your perfect audience.