It has been a long known concept in SEO that the closer you get a user to the long tail of a search query, the most likely they are going to convert. Of course, this is when there is a conversion point in sight. In other areas of long tail, its about getting the right user to the right content. And this is where intent proximity comes in.
Most of you must have heard about content clustering and building pillar content strategies to maximise content based relevancy and growing niche specific traffic volume.
In this post I will cover how combining Intent Proximity and Content Clustering when combined can be a powerful method of growing highly relevant, higher converting traffic. I will being with discussing Intent and then cover Clustering, and then demonstrate how I combine the two.
A Bit Of Background
Traditional keyword tools are simply data warehouses – what is the keyword, and what the search volume for that keyword is.
With the the growth of Google Suggest, FAQs, People Also Asked features, these tools went down the root of aggregating those queries without really considering the real logic behind them.
What many SEOs forget, is that it is USER INTENT that the search engines are trying to solve, not the USER QUERY.
Google Suggest Vs Also Asked
When it comes to singular queries, search engines and google in particular, try and guess what the user query is. If there are no previous searches to go by, Google suggest will offer a range of options:
As you can see in the image on the left, we get results for job opportunities, both national and local, local services, a movie option, and some deeper information on the job.
Were you to simply enter the singular query, the results are full of local and national services i.e different mechanic shops, but the People Also Ask section is about the Job, not the Service.
There is a third expanded Google Suggest that offers a larger range of options:
Practical Example: Intent Proximity
Mark Cook From Candour has an excellent example:
Take a search like “dog poisoned” – traditional keyword research tools like AnswerThePublic return terms from Google Suggest like to “dog poisoned at crufts” or “dog poisoned by neighbour – but this is not reflective of the average user’s intent!
AlsoAsked can use Google’s own data to show that the next nearest search is actually “how can you tell if a dog has been poisoned” and “how to treat a dog that has been poisoned?” These data reflects the actual intent – most people are searching because they believe their dog has been poisoned, so they want to find out how they can diagnose it and how to treat it!
A Little History: QDD
So why do search engines go to all that effort? Why so much diversity? Today’s SEOs may not remember, but a term coined in the first years this level of diversity was introduced in search, was Query Deserves Diversity AKA QDD. This is because aggressive SEOs back then were forcing their commercial results to rank for single KW phrases and were dominating with mostly commercial queries. Which of course, wasn’t ideal for meeting user intent.
You dont see QDD mentioned much, but we saw it as far back as 2007/2008 and this post by Rand Fishkin was one of the earliest widely spread posts on the subject, and even then it was more of an observation, rather than proof that QDD existed.
The introduction of Google Suggest, FAQs, People Also Asked, People Also Searched are all mechanics that search engines have been developing to deal with discovering intent.
Optimising For Intent – Why Does it Matter?
Understanding User Intent: User intent can be broadly categorized into informational (seeking information), navigational (looking to go to a specific site), transactional (aiming to make a purchase), and investigational (researching before making a decision). Intent measures how well the search results align with these intents.
With the highly competitive realm of search and the cost of acquiring each visitor, its an obvious strategy to work with. Some reasons are outlined below.
Why Focus On Intent?
- Relevance and Satisfaction: When search results closely match user intent, users find what they are looking for more quickly and efficiently, leading to higher satisfaction. Poor intent proximity results in irrelevant results, frustrating users.
- Efficiency: High intent proximity reduces the number of queries a user has to make to find the desired information, making the search process more efficient.
- Engagement and Retention: Users are more likely to return to a site that consistently provides high intent proximity because it saves them time and effort. This builds trust and increases user engagement and retention.
- Conversion Rates: For transactional queries, high intent proximity can directly impact conversion rates. Users who find exactly what they’re looking for are more likely to complete a purchase.
- Behavioral Metrics: Improved intent proximity can positively affect behavioral metrics like click-through rates (CTR), dwell time, and bounce rates, which in turn can influence search engine rankings.
What Is Intent Proximity?
Intent allows us to understand what the user is possibly looking for – intent proximity takes us to the most likely next step (or query) that the user may apply to get even closer to their required answer.
Why am I focusing on Intent Proximity? Well of late I have found significant success working on both large and small business clients by organising their content in clusters, and pushing pillar pages up, while still ranking well for related, deeper searches via the cluster subpages. I have found higher success when I cluster content based on Googles suggested questions as cluster satellites.
The Art of Topic Clustering
Imagine your website as a bustling city. At its heart stands a towering skyscraper—your pillar page. This architectural marvel offers a panoramic view of a specific subject, inviting visitors to explore its depths. But a city isn’t just its centerpiece; it’s the network of interconnected neighborhoods surrounding it that truly brings it to life.
Enter the topic cluster: a digital ecosystem where content thrives through connection.
The Anatomy of a Topic Cluster
- The Pillar: Your content’s crowning jewel, a comprehensive guide that paints the big picture of your chosen topic.
- The Satellites: Orbiting the pillar are numerous subpages, each a specialist in its own right. These cluster pages dive deep into specific aspects of the main theme, offering focused insights and expertise.
- The Neural Network: Just as neurons fire signals across synapses, internal links create pathways between your pillar and its satellites. This web of connections not only guides your readers but also signals to search engines the cohesive nature of your content universe.
Using Intent Proximity to Build Clusters
Taking this post back to Mark’s example, tools such as Also Asked are much better at identifying topics based on Intent Proximity, rather than traditional keyword research tools.
Why?
The first and most important reason to differentiate between KW research tools and data from People Also Asked is that KW tools mostly focus their effort on questions that have discernible search volume. On other hand People Also Also Asked suggestions are based on a mixture, mid, low and ultra low volume phrases that may not even have recorded search volumes.
This is where the biggest complication comes in: Convincing clients that it is worth generating content that actually may have almost no search volume. This is why a cluster strategy is easier to get buy in.
So how do I build the clusters?
Take Marks example of “Dog Poisoned”, usually using the tool you get four or five forks which then expand into other questions:
If my primary keyword was “Dog Poisoned” – I would build a four page cluster around it using each of the primary prongs. I would then expand each prong and treat that as a sub cluster and build content around that.
So in the example above, “What is the most common poisoning in dogs” becomes my secondary cluster, surrounded by the second layer of questions:
The Results
What about the results?
The below is a B2B sites results. The first set of pillars and supporting content went live early May 2024 and traffic is up 100% (and still growing). The commercial value? $250,000 in closed business.
The below is a small business client working on a very low budget, that has one cluster complete in June 2024 and visibility is up 100%, and traffic is gradually growing. they have had a 5% uplift in leads, and as we carry on building their clusters, we expect this to go up much much higher.
