Bottom of the Funnel Content: How to Create Conversion-Focused SEO Content

Bottom of the funnel (BoFu) content refers to all marketing resources that you use to persuade potential customers to make a purchase. At this stage, you have a list of ready-to-convert customers. But they need extra reasoning and assurance to buy the product.

Here are famous bottom-of-the-funnel content formats to use.

• Case studies
• Testimonials
• X Brand alternatives
• Competitor comparison pages
• Webinars
• Product demo
• Pricing pages

Follow these steps to create highly converting BoFu content that ranks on the first page of Google.

If you want to create content that turns readers into customers, you need to know the problems they're facing.

Putting yourself in your customer's shoes helps you understand their pains and replicate the actual conversion path they take.

The question is, how do you know your customers' problems?

Here's how to do it.

Say, for example, you have started an online accounting software. Your big rivals are QuickBooks Online, FreshBooks, and Zoho Books.

Head over to software review websites like G2. Then search for your biggest competitor, in this case, Zoho Books.

Then pay attention to the things customers are not happy with while using the software. By doing so, you'll collect small golden nuggets of ideas of who your ideal buyer is and what they're looking for.

In this case, Zoho Books has a bunch of weaknesses that you can leverage to your advantage. The unfriendly user interface and a buggy feature are something you could use to position your brand in your BoFu content. And there’re a couple more.

The good thing with customer reviews is that they come directly from consumers' mouths. This gives you a clear idea of what your ideal buyer expects from your product, which helps you create the bottom of the funnel content targeting their needs.

Surveys are EXTREMELY helpful. That's because they give you invaluable feedback from your customer that help you spot areas of improvement.

In your surveys, you can ask them questions like:

• Why did you decide to buy our product?
• What's the main benefit you receive from our product/service?
• Have you tried similar products?
• What was your experience using the products?
• What feature/option could we add to make your experience better?

While customer surveys are super helpful, the interviews, on the other hand, are priceless. You'll have a chance to dig deeper into your customers' pains with follow-up questions.

The responses you'll get will help your product position and, more importantly, help you create content that directly speaks to similar customers.

When creating content, it's easy to fall prey to choosing keywords based on their search volumes. However, these keywords are too broad and represent most of the top of the funnel content.

Basically, high-volume keywords have no purchase intent.

Think about it, when was the last time you googled a "what is X" or "How to X" topic that led you to make a purchase? I bet none. Why? Because at this stage, you're not ready to buy. You are learning.

However, when you search for information using specific branded keywords such as "Serpstat vs. Ubersuggest," you are more likely to buy or sign up for either tool's free trials.

Why? Because at this stage, you know what SEO is, its importance to your business, and why you need an SEO tool. And in this case, you're evaluating your options to see which product matches your needs and budget.

The question is, how do you find the bottom of the funnel keywords?

To find the bottom of funnel keywords, you need to put yourself in your customer's shoes. What topics are they likely to search for related to your brand that can lead them to make a purchase?

For example, say you created an SEO tool like Serpstat. What kind of content related to Serpstat will convince readers to buy?

Is it a topic like "SEO guide for beginners"? Well, not really. That's because most of the users with buying intent will be passed this stage.

And if you hop the keyphrase to the Serpstat keyword research tool, you'll realize that the keyword and its related terms don't have a high CPC.

What about thinking like a customer and searching for “Best keywords tools” and then sneaking in your tool in the masterpiece? The likelihood of getting a purchase is high. Just look at the keyword CPC.

Users who want to make a purchase use specific queries to find products that match their pains.

In finding the bottom of the funnel keywords, you can append a keywords modifier to indicate the action users want.

For instance, a person looking to buy hosting services will use keyword variations such as “cheap web hosting” and “buy web hosting services.” And a person evaluating options will use a keyword like “best Bluehost alternatives.”

Take a look at the illustration below and learn how to use modifiers to find the bottom of the funnel keywords.

When it comes to finding bottom funnel keywords ideas, Google autocomplete is a goldmine.

The good thing about these suggestions is that they are phrases that actual users search on Google. Just hop into the Google search bar and enter your query but don’t hit the enter button.

For instance, say you’re the head of content marketing of a brand like ConvertKit. If you plug in your brand name followed by vs. ( ConvertKit vs), you’ll see potential BoFU keywords used by your consumers.

Now let's not add any modifier and just type in the brand name. And there you have more keywords brought to you on a silver platter.

Writing SEO-optimized BoFU content is more than throwing keywords into your piece and then calling it a day. It's about writing for search intent.

SERP analysis allows you to understand what's expected of your BoFU content for it to rank on the first page of Google. Specifically, you'll discover:

• What themes and topics are being discussed in the content
• What's the expected length of those pieces
• The overall intention of a person searching for the query
• What to do to improve your piece
• The overall content structure of each content

For example, say you've just created a lead generation tool competing with tools like OptinMonster.

Most probably, your first bottom of funnel content idea would be "Best OptinMonster Alternative."

When you do SERP, one thing you'll notice right off the bat is that the posts are listicles.

Basically, the user expects to see different options in your content to make up their mind. If you read through each post, you'll notice that the post targets:

• Readers who are not happy with OptinMonster and are looking for alternatives
• Users evaluating different lead generation tools because OptinMonster does not offer a free trial
• Users wanting a cheaper alternative offering more features
• Users who want simple but robust lead generation tools

Keeping this in mind, you'll have tackled significant steps of creating your piece.

Another thing to do in your SERP analysis is to find a weakness in the content from the top-ranking sites and figure out what you can do to make the piece better to outrank them.

From our analysis, we noticed that some of these top-ranking pages employ some top of the funnel methodologies in the BoFu content.

For example, if you look at this post by Astra, you'll notice that they've included topics like "what is lead generation" and "why email marketing is so powerful." These sections are not helpful at all to a reader who's ready to convert. You know why you need a lead generation tool. You don't need an explanation for that.

With such topics, it indicates how less you understand your audience. The goal is to appear as an industry expert, not a typical beginner trying to jolt down an article to convince a buyer to convert.

Instead of focusing on such irrelevant topics, why don't you introduce your audience by showing underperforming features that may make them forego your competitor and choose you.

Now you know what customers want and what kind of content ranks on the first page of Google. What's next is to choose the content format that matches your search intent as well.

The bottom of the funnel comes with different content formats. But not all content forms can be a great deal to create a piece that ranks. Of course, you won't expect your user testimonials and even case studies to rank high on the first page of Google.

However, some bottom of the funnel content formats like "your brand vs. competitor" or "X brand alternatives" have a higher possibility of ranking. That's because they contain the keywords that your customers are actively using.

After choosing the content format, structure your content. By this, I mean using formatting such as headers and bullet points to cover relevant subtopics needed for your content to rank.

The last thing is finding a content angle to communicate your brand's unique value proposition.

When a user evaluates a solution, they want to know what product is right for them. Sometimes it's difficult for them to tell how different a particular product is from your competitors, and it's your job to show how different it is through positioning.

I love how a company like Cloudways communicates its value proposition for you to see how different they are from their competitor. Look at this post that ranks for the keyword "Best Kinsta alternative."

Instead of concentrating on why you should choose Cloudways, the company shows you how different and better they are than Kinsta. They offer that unlike Kinsta, where you can only select WordPress CMS and Google Cloud server, Cloudways supports other CMSs and servers such as Digital Ocean and AWS.

I wanted to start with this, but I was afraid you would roll your eyes, click, sigh heavily and then leave this blog as if there's no tomorrow. I know it's something that every content marketing expert is preaching out there.

Even Google launched an update to scrape off websites creating content for ranking. To cite one of the requirements, Google says you need to create content demonstrating first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge.

This is no different for the bottom of funnel content. Thin content can cost you a lot of customers. Readers are getting smarter nowadays and will quickly spot a high-level fluff piece a mile away.

In creating BoFU content that ranks on Google and converts, you need to show high-level experience. You need to clearly show industry expertise to craft a masterpiece that weaves in and sells your product.

The more you write something that resonates with them, the more it's like captivating them to make a purchasing decision.

A bottom of the funnel content without a call to action is like Facebook without a visual. It works but is not as effective as the one with an image already.

Because, let's face it, the bottom of the funnel content is tailored to persuade readers to convert.

You don't want your readers to finish reading your content and wonder, "Okay, what should I do then?" Instead, you want to direct them to the following action that will lead them to their next buying process.

For example, in their CrazyEgg vs. Hotjar comparison, Hotjar doesn't leave you there to figure out what you need to do next. Instead, they convince you to take action and try out their product.

In all seriousness, you don't want to spend hours crafting perfect BoFu content only to find out that it's not friendly for search engines.

Instead, you want to ensure that search engines can easily understand your content.

Here's how to optimize your bottom of the funnel content for search engines.

In an apparent SEO writing word, it's easy to forget that the reader comes first. Just because you need to put a particular keyword doesn't mean you must include it.

Never jeopardize your reader's capacity to be engaged, educated, and enlightened by your content to have keywords included multiple times in your content.

But does it mean there's no better way to include keywords in your content? Not really.

Here's how you use keywords naturally in your content.

The title tag

Your blog's title, aka headline, is the first step both search engines use to understand the relevance of your content. Make sure to include your focus keyword in your headline.

Your introduction

Google uses your intro to get the overall picture of your content. From a reader's perspective, the first 100-200 words of an article are often where you establish the context for what will be covered. Because most readers would only read on if the opening is strong, it makes sense that including a keyword in your opening paragraph can help with your SEO ranking.

Meta description

Meta descriptions are often overlooked but hey, hear from us. Although they have no impact on your rankings, they are a pitch that convinces readers to click on your content on SERP. Adding your keyword here helps readers filter through results and choose the piece that perfectly matches their needs.

From a purely visual standpoint, headings allow you to break vast paragraph chunks and make your content readable. This will enable readers to skip to the essential points or the ones they are most interested in.

When it comes to SEO, headlines are significant. That's because Google uses HTML elements to designate H1, H2, and H3 title tags to better understand your content.

Your content headlines are a perfect opportunity to rank for multiple keywords in your content. In this case, I would recommend adding long-tail keywords into your headings.

Visuals are super important in creating SEO-optimized content. That's because they provide your readers with easy-to-digest information, allowing them to stay longer and engage with your web content.

In creating SEO-optimized bottom of funnel content, visuals allow your audience to understand your product better and persuade them to take action.

In that case, consider using a ton of multimedia in your content. From screenshots to videos, don't be afraid to add them to your content.

Creating bottom of the funnel content is one of the best ways to gain organic growth and generate more users for a brand. That's by creating content that addresses your customers' pains and positioning your product as the best solution to their problems.

At this phase, your customers are ready to convert. What they want is a nudge and extra assurance to take action. Creating content that offers them value will push them to convert.