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The human side to SEO: the power of personas

On a fundamental level, effective search engine optimization (SEO) is about creating connections with your target audience. Columnist Ryan Shelley shows how personas can help you achieve these connections.

Ryan Shelley on August 24, 2016 at 1:45 pm

Why do companies invest in SEO? Is it to generate more traffic? Leads? Brand identity? All of these are good reasons to invest in search, but I believe the reason so many invest comes down to something much more important.

SEO, at its core, is about creating connections. Connections are what fuel growth. Businesses invest in SEO for the opportunity to create a connection with their target audience — without these connections, there can be no traffic, leads, brand exposure or sales.

But how can we use SEO to create these connections? Furthermore, how can we use it to create the right connections?

Before you can reach an audience, you have to define it. Persona profiling is something that has been used for decades in the marketing industry, and mapping out who your audience is will give you a deeper insight into how to most effectively reach them.

We’ve all heard and read about the importance of “user-focused SEO strategies,” but how many of us are really putting them into practice? In order to deliver real results that make a lasting connection, we must learn to define our audience and create a strategy based on them.

[Read the full article on Search Engine Land.]

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Ryan Shelley

Ryan Shelley is the founder of Shelley Media Arts, LLC. He is passionate about helping and educating businesses owners and other digital marketers on how they can use inbound marketing, SEO and web design to grow their businesses.