Here is a tip that will help you understand how to better develop SEO content for your business website:

What a searcher wants and what a customer wants are not always the same thing.

This is easy to get wrong because as a business, you inherently focus on your customers.  They are the people you really want to reach, the people who will pay for your services.  Naturally, you want your content to speak to their needs.

But the problem is that there are many people doing searches online that would make great customers for you – someday.  They just don’t know it yet.

In fact, this is the basis for a workable definition of what SEO is in 2016.  It’s content designed to connect with online searchers who need to learn (from you) why they should become your client.

This is such a vital distinction because you have to understand what searchers want so you can create content that will engage and help them complete their task.

An important concept to consider here is what is called a “long click”.  These are search queries selected by searches for longer, more engaged visits in a set of search results.

In a nutshell, this means that when visitors do a search (your target keyword) and then spend time on your site, ultimately completing the task they set out to accomplish, data on user experience can rank your content higher in organic search.

Google is always on the lookout for “satisfied” searcher, who display behavior consistent with finding useful, interesting content.  At the same time, they are also on the lookout for content that does the opposite, which they’ll drop from rankings over time.

This continues to relate to what – content wise – comes down to a difference between informational, branded marketing content and promotional, call-to-action based advertising content.

Searches tend to look for informational content.  But moreover, many of the search algorithm’s ranking factors tend to favor it.

You’d like to advertise to get customers to convert.  Do so with your PPC campaigns and landing pages.

In many cases you need different content not just to reach searchers, but to create engagement that proves to search engines your content is fulfilling the needs of the users.  This is often the only content you’ll be able to competitively rank in organic search results.

Moz’s Rand Fishkin does a great job of explaining the two algorithm world, where you must understand machine learned algorithms as well as the way people interact with your content.

There is also a world of two content types.  Promotional, direct-response focused copy that advertises to a customer base ready to buy, and informational, useful content that educates or entertains to make a brand-level connection with consumers.

All indications are that the machine learned algorithms are not looking to rank promotional ad copy.  Sales material doesn’t satisfy the needs of the large percentage of non-transactional searches.

Optimize your SEO content for search intent.  Then funnel them in to get earn the opportunity to present your sales material.

It’s the only way to organically rank for most of the queries you’re likely to target.