Keywords are the foundation of a successful SEO strategy because they bridge the gap between search intent and content creation. The more your content aligns with search intent, the better the likelihood of ranking. Everything boils down to what keywords you use and how you blend them within the content. Not surprisingly, 78% of B2B marketers prioritize keyword research while creating content.

Since search intent can be informational, comparative, or transactional, brands and marketers should cover them all while choosing SEO keywords. However, that’s the conventional approach, emphasizing each part of the funnel equally. According to the modern SEO approach, prioritizing bottom-of-funnel content can give you better results than creating an even spread of content across all three stages.

We will explain the concept of bottom-of-funnel keywords and how they can enhance your SEO strategy.

Understanding the Stages of Marketing Funnels

Before touching on the topic of the bottom-of-funnel keywords, let’s refresh the concept of the marketing funnel. Here are the types of keywords coming in each part of the funnel:

Awareness: Top of Funnel

At this stage, potential buyers look for information regarding their problems and seek solutions.  Defining keywords correctly can get a large volume of traffic to your website and effectively generate brand awareness.

Evaluation: Middle of Funnel

The next stage is when buyers start evaluating their options for products and services to resolve their pain points. At this point, they compare providers with similar offerings and search for the “top” or “best” ones.

Conversion: Bottom of Funnel

At the bottom of the funnel, the buyer is close to the decision phase and searches for brand-specific factors such as pricing, reviews, ratings, and pros/cons. Action keywords such as “buy,” “order,” “call,” and “shop for” can be the winners at this stage.

Why Should Brands Be Selective About Funnel Keywords?

The UK has the largest share of digital ad spending in the European market, with an average monthly SEO spending for a business being around £2,000 to £6,000. That means resources are likely limited for companies, so they need to be selective while using them. Outsourcing is a good way to get cheap SEO services in the UK, but even your SEO partners should take a savvy approach to achieve more with less.

All SEO Service recommend choosing keywords wisely and tracking them consistently to measure their performance. The good thing is that you can rely on analytics tools to get insights into keyword performance. Once you dig deep, you will realize that bottom-of-funnel keywords have a far better conversion rate than the top and middle variants.

According to Ahrefs, almost 95% of keywords get 10 or fewer monthly searches, and just 0.0008% of them have more than 100,000 monthly searches to their credit. The statistics indicate the significance of being selective with your targeting plan. The best way to do it is by focusing on the ones that generate the maximum ROI. The transactional keywords at the bottom of the funnel are your best bet.

Why Are Bottom-of-Funnel Keywords Better Than Their Top-of-Funnel Counterparts?

SEO marketers often consider high search volume a valid reason to chase the top-of-funnel keywords. Apparently, they can get more traffic for your website. However, they are not great when it comes to conversion potential. Someone seeking information at the top of the funnel stage has a long way to go, with the following steps:

• Typing the query
• Clicking into your results
• Reading the content

Only a fraction of these users remember your brand to return later and move to the next stage. Even fewer of them subscribe or share their email to download a gated resource, and a small number will open subsequent drop emails. You can imagine how challenging scoring a conversion can be across these stages, regardless of the high search volume of top-of-funnel keywords.

With bottom-of-funnel keywords, you can bypass all these stages and take the user close to conversion right away. The chances of sealing a deal are far better when there are fewer stages to go through, and the buyer is ready for a transaction.

The ideal keywords for the transactional stage include.

• Category keywords
• Comparison keywords
• How-to keywords

All these have a high conversion potential because they drive the lead toward a closure.

The Bottom Line

SEO resources are finite, no matter how big your budget for the initiative is. Going too far with keywords may never get you the results you seek. Conversely, sticking with the high-conversion bottom-of-funnel keywords can empower your SEO plan with better outcomes. You can follow this simple guide to rework your keyword research and optimization strategy.