Is Your Company Ready for Question-Based Search Queries?

Content is crucial to the success of your website – this is nothing we haven’t heard before. We can find everything we need to know just by opening our laptop. How can your business be a step above the competition during the very first research phases? While there are many ways to do this, establishing informative content and getting your website to rank for question-based search queries is a great place to start. Let’s dive right in…

First, what is a search query?

Let’s go back to the basics, what is a search query when it comes to digital marketing? A search query is anything a user types into a search engine when they are looking for information. Let’s say my business manufactures a variety of wires and cables and I’m looking to expand my market into more car audio. The user I’m targeting might head over to Google and search for the following terms:

• speaker cable
• bulk speaker cable
• buy bulk speaker cable
• speaker cable supplier
• speaker cable manufacturer
• cable manufacturers united states
• custom cable manufacturer

These terms are considered search queries. Now, when it comes to question-based search queries they may search for:

• How will speaker cable affect sound quality?
• What is the best speaker cable?
• What happens if speaker polarity is reversed?
• What size should my speaker cable be?

These types of searches likely mean they are in the research phase of searching for a supplier. If my business is able to answer these questions for them, they are more likely to continue to use my business as a resource as they continue their research.

Why your content should answer searchers’ questions:

When your prospect is looking for a new supplier or to make a large purchase, they will need to do initial research to determine what they need to buy. Similar to how we research for items in our personal lives, B2B goes through the same steps while researching, if not more. If a homeowner buys a product that ends up being faulty, there are fewer consequences than if the same person bought a faulty product for their business.

To capture your prospect at each phase of their research cycle, the content of your website should be a resource to all of their important questions. This creates a higher probability of them requesting more information from your company and making their way down the sales funnel.

Website Content That Answers Searcher’s Questions

Now the question becomes, how do I answer their questions within my website content? Here’s a good idea of where to start:

1. Talk to your sales team. What questions are they repeatedly being asked by their prospects?
2. Look at your competition. What information is on their website that is missing from your website?
3. What other industry related content can you provide that is a great addition to your product or service line?
4. Use “People also ask” boxes to your advantage. Often after typing in a search query, you will see a box like the one pictured below. If you start to read these questions and answers, it may spark some additional FAQs you can answer within the content on your website.

Optimizing Your Content for Question-Based Queries

After you have a solid list of FAQs, determine where on your website you should add content to answer these questions. Some options are:

• Additional information to product or service pages
• Including FAQ sections to different areas of your website
• Writing blogs to answer individual questions

While writing, always remember the following:

1. Truly answer the question with expert advice. If the user is curious for more information that seems to be missing, they’ll likely go back to Google and find a different website to get their answer. The goal is to keep them on YOUR website!
2. End your content with a clear call-to-action. Now that they have the information they were looking for, what should they do now?
3. Link to other pages on your website with related information.

Here are some examples of how Top Floor has implemented content for question-based queries:

• This Blog directly answers the question “Is Google Ads right for my business?”
• This service page has high-level information on a variety of topics related to this service offering (technical SEO, local SEO, etc.)

How do I know if it’s working?

So, you’ve written your new content and it’s live on your website. How do you know your new content is doing its job? One tell-tail sign SEO Specialists love seeing is owning an “answer box,” which is the very first organic result on the search engine results page. In the case of this search query, Cambridge Audio owns the answer box. The user will likely read this snippet of information and go to their website to learn more, potentially requesting more information from Cambridge Audio.

Another “win” for your new content is having your website rank on Page 1 of Google for the specific question you wrote your content on. Users are more likely to click on a result that is the most relevant to what they are looking for. If you can capture their attention and showcase expert advice on your website or in a blog article, you may have the chance to turn them into a prospect.

Use Google Analytics to Help with Metrics

In addition to these search engine wins, there are several different metrics available in Google Analytics to help you see if this content is useful.

1. Landing Pages report: This report works well if your solution was a blog or landing page specific to an FAQ. You’ll be able to see the amount of traffic that visited your blog, how long they spent reading your content if they converted, and how many other pages were visited after landing on the initial page.
2. Navigation Summary Report: This report will help you view the path your user takes on your website. Ideally, you’d like to see a user visit your new content and eventually land on a product/service page and request additional information.
3. Audiences: Audiences can be useful to watch users who may have read your content, left your website, and come back at a later date for more information.

Think about the last time you made a big purchase for your company. Was there a company that kept coming to mind throughout the whole process? They provided a good solution and always had the answers you were looking for, even from day 1. Showing your business is an expert from every aspect builds trust, keeps you top of mind, shows your business is an expert in their field, and ultimately drives results.

Content creation is nothing short of overwhelming. That’s why Top Floor has content specialists that live and breathe content strategy and creation. Have a project in mind or a division of your business you’d like to grow? Let’s talk!