SEO's Keyword Assumption Problem (What customers actually search vs what you think they search)

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You've spent hours optimising your website for phrases that literally nobody

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types into Google, and I can prove it.

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This is SEO Fucking What.

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I'm Nikki.

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30 odd years in SEO.

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And today we're going to talk about the single most expensive assumption

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you are making about your own business.

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You think you know what your customers search for. You're almost certainly wrong.

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And that wrongness is why your website isn't bringing in the leads it should be.

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So let's fix it.

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Right?

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Here's how this usually goes.

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Business owner sits down with their web designer or their SEO

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person and they're asked, what keywords do you want to rank for?

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And the business owner thinks about it for a bit and they come up with a

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list that sounds very professional, very logical, and very much like how

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they would describe their own business to appear at a networking event.

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And that list is almost completely fucking useless because your customers don't

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describe your services the way you do.

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You think you're a bespoke financial planning consultancy

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for high net worth individuals.

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Your customers are typing in financial advisor near me, or

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how do I stop wasting money?

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Or do I need a financial advisor or can I just use my bank?

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They are not typing your company description into Google.

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They never were.

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And if your entire SEO strategy is built around the words you use to

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describe yourself rather than the words your customer uses to find

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you, you are basically setting up shop in an empty field and

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wondering why no one's coming in.

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I've been doing this for a long time and I promise you every

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single business owner I've ever worked with has had this problem.

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To some degree, it's not a stupidity thing, it's a proximity thing.

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You're too close to your own business to see it the way a stranger sees it.

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Let me give you a few more examples 'cause I want you

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to really think about this.

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We have an accountant who wants to rank for accountancy services leads.

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Her customers are searching,

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how much does an accountant cost?

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And do I need an accountant if I'm self-employed?

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And accountant for small business leads?

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Not the same thing.

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We have an HR consultant who wants to rank for human resources consultancy,

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but his customers are searching,

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do I need HR if I've got five staff?

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And how to fire someone legally in the UK and HR support for small businesses?

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Completely different to human resources consultancy. An IT company

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who wants to rank for managed IT services, but their customers are

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searching, my computer keeps crashing and IT support for small business.

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And how much should IT support cost?

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Can you see the pattern?

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You're thinking in industry language.

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Your customers are thinking in problems, questions, and panic.

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And look, I'm not saying the more formal phrases are worthless, some of them are

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genuinely what people search for, but most of the time there's a gap, sometimes

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a bloody enormous one between what you think people search for and what they

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actually type into a search engine.

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And I've talked about keyword research in previous episodes.

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In episode 13, I went through how to approach blog content properly.

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In episode 17, we covered why ranking for a single phrase can be a waste of time.

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What I haven't done is gone back to the very beginning and talked about

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why your starting assumption is broken before you even open a keyword tool.

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So that's what we're gonna do today.

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We're gonna talk about the assumption problem.

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Most businesses approach keywords by brainstorming.

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They sit there and they think, what would someone type if they wanted

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what I offer?

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And the answers they come up with are coloured by three things.

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One, how they talk about their own business internally.

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Two, how they describe their business to other business owners.

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And three, how they think their ideal client would describe them.

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None of those is the same as how someone who has never heard of them has a problem

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that needs solving and has just opened

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Google would actually phrase a search, because that person is not

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thinking about you at all yet.

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They're thinking about their problem.

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They're not searching for bespoke brand strategy agency.

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They're searching for why does my logo look shit?

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Or how to make my business look more professional?

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They're not searching for an occupational health consultancy.

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They're searching for how long can an employee be off

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sick before I can fire them?

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They're not searching for fractional CMO services.

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They're searching for, do I need a marketing director or how to grow a

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B2B business without a marketing team?

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The person who eventually becomes your client is almost

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never starting their

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Google with your industry's terminology.

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They're starting with their own pain, their own question, their own confusion.

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And your job, if you want SEO to work for you, is to show up at

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the beginning of that journey, not just at the end when they've

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already figured out what they need.

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And this matters more than you think.

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If you are only optimising for the final decision phrases, you are competing for

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traffic from people who are already close to buying, which sounds great until you

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realise that's also where every one of your competitors is trying to show up.

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It's the most competitive, most expensive, hardest to crack

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part of the search landscape.

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But the people at the beginning of the journey, the ones with the questions,

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the confusion, the vague sense that they have a problem, they're often

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completely uncontested territory.

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Nobody's fighting for, do I need a financial advisor if I'm self-employed?

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The way they're fighting for financial advisor in London.

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And if you can answer that early question brilliantly, helpfully, and honestly,

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you've already built trust before they've even decided they're ready to buy.

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By the time they're ready, you are not just a random company

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that showed up in a search result.

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You're the people who already helped them.

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And that's what good SEO actually does.

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It gets you in front of people who don't know they need you yet.

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But I do wanna talk about something that I come across constantly, which is business

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owners dismissing keyword opportunities

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because the phrase doesn't perfectly describe their services.

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Oh.

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But we don't just do accountancy for self-employed people.

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We do full business accountancy.

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So fucking what if a self-employed person lands on your site because

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you've answered their question and then discovers you also do everything

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else that they might ever need.

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You've just got yourself a client.

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Stop being precious about it.

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Oh, but we don't just fix computers.

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We offer comprehensive IT solutions, right?

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And your customer is currently Googling, laptop

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keeps freezing.

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Fix it.

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Meet them there.

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The question is not, does this phrase perfectly describe us?

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The question is, do the people typing in this phrase need what we offer?

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If yes, you should be there in the results. But what do you do?

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Instead of guessing what your clients are typing in, start with Google itself.

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Go incognito so your search history doesn't mess things up.

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And start typing phrases into the search bar.

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Don't finish them.

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Watch what Google autocompletes.

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Those suggestions come from real searches by real people.

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That's data.

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Actual data right there for free.

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Look at the People

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Also Ask boxes.

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When you search for something relevant, expand them.

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Those questions are fucking gold.

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They're literally Google telling you what your audience is asking.

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Go to the bottom of the search results pages and look at related searches.

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More data, more free, more real.

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Now go and talk to someone who isn't in your industry.

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Your mum, your partner, your friend who definitely doesn't

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know what a fractional CMO is.

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Tell them what you do.

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Ask them how they'd search for it.

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Their answers will probably make you wince.

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Write them down anyway.

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And if you want to get into tools, which I've covered in earlier episodes,

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Ahrefs has a free keyword generator.

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AlsoAsked is brilliant and built by Mark Williams-Cook, who is one

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of the few people in this industry

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I'd recommend following without hesitation.

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You put in a phrase, it maps out the questions people are

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actually asking around that topic.

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It's not expensive and it'll change the way you think about content.

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But before any tool, the most useful thing you can do is interrogate your

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own assumptions, because you have them.

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I have them.

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Everyone has them.

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The keyword list you came up with off the top of your head is almost

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certainly shaped more by how you think about your business than by

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how your customers search for it.

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And that gap, that's where your SEO is disappearing.

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In a minute, I'm going to give you one genuinely practical

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thing you can do today.

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Right now, with no tools and no budget, to start understanding what your

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customers are actually searching for.

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It takes about 20 minutes.

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It'll make you swear a bit. It's coming right up.

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Here's your homework, and I promised you it'll make you swear.

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Open Google.

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Go incognito.

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Now think of the main thing you sell, not what you call it, what it does

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for people, what problem it solves.

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Type the beginning of a question

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someone with that problem might ask, something like, how do I, or do I need,

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or what's the difference between?

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And then the vague area of your business.

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Don't finish the sentence.

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Watch what Google suggests.

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Screenshot everything that's relevant.

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Then do the full search and look at the People

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Also Ask section, expand every single one of them.

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Screenshot those too.

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You now have a list of real questions that real people are typing into Google right

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now that are relevant to your business.

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Pick the three that match most closely what you actually offer.

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Go and check whether you have any content on your website that

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answers those questions properly.

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If you don't, that's your next three pieces of content.

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Not a blog about your company, not a post about national whatever day. Useful,

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actual useful search driven content that gets you in front of people

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who need you before they've even decided who they're going to call.

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That's it.

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20 minutes, no budget.

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You'll have more direction for your SEO content strategy than most businesses

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have after six months of guessing.

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Please do follow SEO Fucking What wherever you're listening, because these

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episodes come out every week, and I don't want you missing anything.

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And if you want to get your head around SEO properly, not just

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pick it up in 10 minute chunks.

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Everything I know is in the Non-Wanky SEO course at nonwankyseo.com.

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It's 200 pounds one off for the on-page version, 20 quid a month

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if you'd rather spread it out.

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No upsells, no rubbish, just SEO.

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Until next time, get found.

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Make money.

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Stop building your strategy around what you think people search for and start

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finding out what they actually type.