**by Patricia Hursh**
As explained in my last article
<http://searchengineland.com/valuable-customer-insights-via-search-engine-tools-26140>
, search engines can tell you a lot about your customers.
Specifically, I shared a few tools that enable marketers to identify
buyer needs, emerging market trends, and competitive threats.
Today, I�ll cover another (free) tool that can help you understand
your customers� entire search process, and the best ways to capitalize
on this data to improve marketing results.
Expand your keyword focus
One of the most common mistakes B2B search marketers make is
researching only those keywords that are directly related to their
company. A tremendous amount of time and energy goes into analyzing
keywords associated with their brand, products and services.
Perhaps it is not intuitive to think beyond your own keywords. But,
marketers should really be asking, �What else are my customers looking
for, and how can I address their broader set of needs?
Understanding the relationship between searches related to your
company and all the other things your prospects look for can provide
some valuable marketing clues.
The search funnel
One of my favorite tools, the search funnel
<http://adlab.microsoft.com/Search-Funnels/index.aspx>
, is part of Microsoft AdCenter Labs
<http://adlab.microsoft.com/Default.aspx>
. This type of tool shows what people searched for either immediately
before (incoming) or after (outgoing) a specific query.
Here is what the Microsoft Search Funnel interface looks like:
Search funnel data
Let�s take a look at some search funnel data related to Verizon, a
company regularly listed as one of the largest B2B advertisers.
By running a series of search funnel queries for outgoing searches,
you can see that the most common search made immediate after a query
for verizon is a search for verizonwireless . This makes sense.
People start with the brand name, and then move to a search for the
service.
Perhaps more insightful is the data for a search oerformed after
verizonwireless . Amazingly, four out of five of the most popular
next searches are for a competitive service. This type of data really
verifies that prospects do indeed use search engines for product
comparison purposes.
How can a marketer capitalize on this? Think about how to best meet
peoples� needs as they move through their search process. What about
promoting a wireless service comparison chart in your PPC ads and on
your landing page? This clearly seems to be what most Verizon wireless
prospects are looking for. This type of marketing message anticipates
prospects� needs and will likely boost response and ultimately,
conversion rate.
Another example
Let�s review some search funnel data for the popular small business
accounting software, Quickbooks.
By looking at outgoing search data, you can see that people who
search for quickbooks are also interested in these four things:
Learning about the parent company (Intuit)
Understanding the differences between various Intuit products
(Quicken, QuickBooks, Quick Books Pro)
Finding where to purchase the product (Staples, Office Depot, Office
Max)
Comparing Quickbooks to competitive software (Peachtree)
How could a marketer capitalize on this? My first thought is that the
PPC ads and corresponding landing page for the keyword quickbooks
should include items like: a table that allows people to quickly
compare features and functions of various Intuit products, a
competitive comparison chart, a retailer locator function, and a link
to information on Intuit.
Capitalize on the search process
Searching is (usually) a process. This is especially true for B2B
companies and firms with long, complex sales cycles.
Search funnel data can be used to anticipate needs, provide truly
helpful information, and associate your brand with prospects� needs as
they move through the process.
Marketers must strive to learn more about how their customers search.
In addition to keywords directly related to your company& what are
your prospects looking for?
Opinions expressed in the article are those of the author, and not
necessarily Search Engine Land.
Patricia Hursh <http://searchengineland.com/author/patricia-hursh/>
is president and founder of SmartSearch Marketing
<http://www.smartsearchmarketing.com>
, a Boulder, Colorado-based search engine marketing agency. You can
reach Patricia at patricia@smartsearchmarketing.com
<mailto:patricia@smartsearchmarketing.com>
. The Strictly Business
<http://searchengineland.com/lands/strictly-business.php>
column appears Wednesdays at Search Engine Land
<http://searchengineland.com>
.
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