SEO Funnels – How To Develop A Roadmap of  Exceptional Content

What is an SEO funnel, and why do you need one?

An SEO funnel is a conversion funnel built with website content created around different keywords and topics that a customer searches for as she moves through the different funnel stages. The different stages of the funnel are Awareness (or top of the funnel), Interest and Decision (Middle of the Funnel), and finally, Action (bottom of the funnel).

You need a search funnel to capture more organic traffic, which leads to more sales and higher profit margins from your SEO efforts. Leads coming from organic search often have higher conversion rates and better ROI than any other marketing channel (related post here on the ROI of SEO) . We know the searcher is interested in our products and services because they had to type in search terms. No other marketing channel provides access to a steady stream of pre-qualified customers. Search funnels help reduce your reliance on Google Ads.

Benefits of Creating a Search Funnel

With a search funnel, you create a steady stream of organic “free” traffic that is on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With SEO-optimized content created at all levels of your sales funnel, leads and sales will grow far beyond a less organized SEO content strategy. And your ROI on investing in SEO will skyrocket and likely become your most profitable marketing channel. 

The Purpose of a Search Funnel

A search funnel guides prospects through the purchase journey, from awareness to decision. By understanding the various stages of the funnel, businesses can create targeted content and offers that speak to the unique needs of each step. And with lots of quality content, your website grows its authority with Google and its trustworthiness with consumers.

SEO funnels also help businesses track their progress and help to identify where prospects are dropping off so that they can make adjustments. But, most importantly, funnels provide a framework for consistent, repeatable sales. In other words, they turn one-time buyers into lifelong fans. 

Stages of A Traditional Sales Funnel

Sales funnel levels have distinct stages. A commonly used sales funnel in marketing is known as AIDA - awareness, interest, decision, and action. 

The AIDA model is often used in marketing and advertising to create a step-by-step path that moves potential customers from initial awareness of a product or service to taking action and becoming a paying customer.

So, Where Is SEO In the Funnel?

SEO is instrumental at all levels of a sales funnel, not just one specific area because it aligns with the customer's journey from discovery to decision. 

At the top of the funnel, SEO helps raise awareness and captures the attention of potential customers who are in the initial stages of seeking information.

In the middle of the funnel, SEO aids in consideration and evaluation by providing more detailed and comparative content that matches refined search queries. This can include product reviews, tutorials, or case studies, all optimized for relevant keywords.

Finally, at the bottom of the funnel, SEO helps drive conversion and purchase decisions by optimizing content that answers more specific, intent-driven queries. It ensures that when a customer is ready to buy, your product is easily found and favorably presented.

So, SEO isn't a one-and-done strategy; it's a holistic approach that supports the customer's journey at every stage.

In the case of SEO, however, this means creating content around the topics and questions people have at each customer journey level.

But in the world of Funnel SEO, a more effective way to categorize search terms along the customer journey is the following:

Here’s a simple example that illustrates how the search words and intent change as the customer moves from top to bottom of the funnel. 

Stay with me here…

Search Funnel Example

Let’s take the example of a customer avatar for a med spa that we’ll call Tattoo Tom, who lives in San Diego. 

When Tattoo Tom was young and in his early 20’s, he acquired numerous tattoos. But now that Tattoo Tom is in his 40s, has settled down with a family, and has an office job, he wants to remove the tattoos for various reasons. 

The Search Begins with Informational Searches

Tattoo Tom goes to Google to learn more about how to get tattoos removed. He begins his search in Google using Informational queries like “how to remove tattoos,” “tattoo removal before and after,” or “benefits of tattoo removal.” At this stage, Tattoo Tom is collecting as much information as possible to better understand his options. 

Commercial Searches - Mid-Funnel Searches

Now that he better understands how tattoo removal works, his searches shift to Commercial intent.

Tattoo Tom goes back to Google and types in “tattoo removal services near me” and “best tattoo removal in San Diego.”  At this stage, our future customer is making notes of the local med spa companies offering this service, along with checking prices and reading reviews. 

Transactional Searches - Bottom-of-the-Funell. The Final Stage To Conversion

And finally, Tattoo Tom searches using Transactional oriented keywords for specific companies he learned about higher up in the funnel. So he searches for “San Diego Laser Tattoo Removal Institute” and other similar searches and books an initial consultation. 

So as you can see it demonstrated in the above example, if you have content from top to bottom of the funnel, you can capture more search traffic and nurture prospects through to a conversion. You become the trusted guide on the customer’s journey (related post here on medical spa SEO).

How Search Volume and Competition Changes

As you go from the top to the bottom of the funnel, the search volume decreases, and the competition increases. Competition increases as you move down the funnel because the intent of the searches has more economic value. And thus, the keywords are more competitive at the bottom of the funnel and are harder to rank for. The bottom of the funnel is also where most companies spend the majority of their Google Ads (PPC) budgets.

Keyword Variations at Different Levels of the Funnel

Below are search examples for three different services at the different stages of the SEO Funnel. Notice how the searches change.

Hundreds of different types of searches for your industry fall into each level of the sales funnel.  And don’t forget all the various questions people ask Google daily. These questions can be used as FAQs and marked up in schema code to rank in position zero with a Google Featured Snippet (read more here about how to boost rankings with SERP features and another post on maximizing your exposure to zero-click searches). And remember that 15% of the searches Google sees in a day it has never seen before. So if you’re not producing content regularly, you will miss out on this goldmine of searchers. 

And by using internal linking between content at different levels of the funnel (read our related post on using internal linking for SEO), you boost your SEO authority, improve the rankings of pages, and capture more traffic from top to bottom of the funnel. You want to become the go-to source for as much information for your customers as possible. In addition, this strategy creates increasing mindshare and brand awareness with prospects that your competitors are missing out on.

How to create an SEO funnel for your business

Above I have searched using the topic of “tattoo removal.” And then filtered for terms at the Transactional stage of the funnel. However, I could have easily filtered for Informational, Commerical, and Navigational queries to identify topics to write about at each stage. 

And then, notice that I could click on Questions and filter this list by questions only - helping to generate even more content ideas. So, again, this is an invaluable tool.

But if you’re on a tight budget, there are free tools you can use. These include Google Ads Keyword Planner, Google Trends (related post here on how to use Google Trends for market research), Google Search Console, and regular Google searches. These free tools are not as comprehensive nor as deep on actionable search insights and will take more time, but it’s possible to create a plan using them. 

If you have an SEO tool like SEM Rush, you can create these blueprints quickly at scale. SEO tools save you enormous amounts of time, but the good ones are not cheap. 

Here’s an example using SEM Rush (our go-to SEO tool, affiliate link): 

And when you create content for your SEO funnel at all levels, you can link between articles and feed your visitors precisely what they are looking at each stage, increasing the likelihood they stay on your site and convert. Plus, you can drip out this content via emails and social media to potential customers. All your efforts in search marketing start with content - without content, you have nothing to say, no value to add. 

Tips For Optimizing Your SEO Funnel