by Jon Wuebben

We all know that not everyone who jumps on the web is going to buy the very first time. They usually are doing one of four things:

• Gathering information
• Trying to learn about the product/service
• Shopping
• Buying

For each point in the buying cycle, they have a likelihood of using a unique type of keyword phrase. For example… if we were talking about buying a car, a keyword phrase they may use in the education step would be “2007 Best Cars.” At the shopping stage, they may use “car dealerships in Atlanta.” At the buying stage, they may use still another unique keyword phrase, like “Toyota Camry in Atlanta” or go back to the dealership’s site and buy a car right off their website. Be aware of the customer buying process when you optimize your site’s copywriting.

Role-based keyword searching behavior is another interesting SEO dynamic. Basically, it breaks down to this: who is searching – the president of the company, the market research guy or the sales person? For example, what do they use as their keyword phrase and why? You need to align your keyword phrases with the type of people who are seeking you out – if possible.

Some websites even categorize their product pages by customer role; it just depends on your specific customer set. This concept is worthy of mentioning because it may be a great opportunity for you to write more targeted and specific pages tailored directly for a particular type of customer set.

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