How Mid-funnel Content Can Be Your Secret SEO Weapon

4 months ago 36

Recent changes to Google’s idiosyncratic interface person affected the measurement and prime of integrated website traffic.

For instance, AI Overviews and the commoditized answers Google serves straight successful hunt results mean less top-of-funnel clicks scope websites.

There are besides less clicks for bottom-of-funnel keywords arsenic Google inserts itself successful the conversion process. For example, if you look for immoderate product-related search, it’s apt you’ll spot features that would typically beryllium connected an ecommerce merchandise class page, like:

  • Filters
  • Product tiles
  • Price information
  • Discounts and deals
  • Reviews
Product tiles appearing successful  Google hunt  results for the keyword "gardening tools".

What’s worse, clicks connected these merchandise tiles don’t spell to merchants. They unfastened up a sheet successful Google with aggregate sellers, including ample marketplaces, instead:

Product sheet  that opens successful  Google's interface directing searchers to a fig   of merchant's selling the aforesaid  product.

These changes mean that arsenic top-of-funnel and bottom-of-funnel opportunities diminish, the mid-funnel tin go your concealed SEO limb instead. I’ll explicate however below, but first…

What makes mid-funnel selling antithetic from top-of-funnel oregon bottom-of-funnel?

As a speedy refresher, top-of-funnel (TOFU) contented is acquisition successful quality and fulfills an informational hunt intent. This contented is the furthest from a merchantability successful a emblematic conversion journey.

Bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) contented is the contented a idiosyncratic interacts with instantly earlier a sale. It fulfills a transactional intent and typically consists of income pages and merchandise landing pages.

Middle-of-funnel (MOFU) contented is the murky in-between.

Defining top-of-funnel, mid-funnel and bottom-of-funnel marketing.

The goals of mid-funnel contented are to:

  • Transition searchers from being problem-aware to solution-aware
  • Help searchers marque a determination connected the close solution
  • Improve marque consciousness by expanding your brand’s touchpoints with searchers
  • Build spot successful your marque truthful that erstwhile folks are acceptable to buy, they deliberation of you first

It’s besides wherever searchers whitethorn similar accusation from different humans, not AI. For instance, successful the words of Eli Schwartz:

While [Google’s AI] answers could look connected these keywords, the idiosyncratic volition perchance inactive click hunt results due to the fact that those answers volition not beryllium satisfying enough.

Eli Schwartz

This is wherefore it’s an fantabulous accidental for SEO. It’s the benignant of contented that cannot easy beryllium commoditized successful galore industries, particularly B2B.

6 originative mid-funnel contented ideas and however to find them

When done well, MOFU contented tin present a higher instrumentality connected SEO concern than either TOFU oregon BOFU content.

Here are six ideas that volition spice up your strategy and leverage opportunities astir different SEOs don’t adjacent consider. I’ve utilized each of these with large occurrence connected lawsuit campaigns, particularly for B2B brands successful constrictive verticals.

1. Feature roundups

Roundups are a benignant of database post. They’re commonly utilized successful affiliate marketing to comparison products by antithetic brands for keywords similar “best aerial fryers” oregon “best wireless headphones.”

Sites similar The Wirecutter usage specified posts arsenic a staple successful their contented strategies.

However, astir affiliate sites lone absorption connected comparing products by antithetic brands, which is wherefore this benignant of contented is underutilized by different businesses, similar e-commerce and SaaS brands, that don’t privation to diagnostic competing products successful their editorial content.

The mid-funnel accidental for e-commerce and SaaS companies is to deliberation past marque vs. marque comparisons and alternatively make diagnostic vs. diagnostic oregon merchandise vs. merchandise roundups.

To find these opportunities, hunt for your main taxable oregon merchandise class successful Keywords Explorer and past use a filter to see words like:

  • Ideas
  • Best
  • Vs
  • And
  • Or
  • Types
  • Alternatives
  • Comparison
Using the "Include" filter successful  Ahrefs' Keyword Explorer tool.

Sidenote.

The nonstop words that volition beryllium applicable to your niche whitethorn differ.

Look for opportunities to comparison your ain products oregon solutions. For instance, the costume store Fancy Dress has a listicle targeting the keyword “group costume ideas,” and each thought is simply a merchandise they sell.

Fancy Dress' roundup nonfiction  for the keyword "group costume ideas".

You tin besides comparison features of your solution against each other. This tin enactment good for SaaS businesses. For instance, see a keyword similar “best mobile banking app features.”

Keyword metrics relating to "best mobile banking app features".

It’s not the lowest trouble people but rankings are achievable for a banking marque with immoderate authorization down it.

This is particularly existent erstwhile we see that there’s lone 1 station that’s loosely optimized for “best features” and a 403 station ranking successful presumption three:

SERP results for the keyword "best mobile banking app features".

In either scenario, merchandise vs. merchandise oregon diagnostic vs. feature, it’s astir positioning your marque arsenic the lone enactment truthful that erstwhile readers go acceptable to buy, they take you implicit a competitor.

2. Solution hijacking

One of my favourite MOFU contented ideas is solution hijacking. It works by converting radical who are already solution-aware… but for the incorrect solution.

Your contented should power them to favour your merchandise alternatively of the solution they already decided on.

For example, Freshbooks utilized this maneuver to person radical utilizing Excel for accounting and bookkeeping. It created galore pages offering Excel-based solutions and templates but with calls to enactment to effort retired their instrumentality for free.

Freshbooks' contented  offering an Excel invoice template followed by a telephone  to enactment   to effort   Freshbooks for free.

In total, these pages present astir 6,400 monthly integrated postulation sessions.

Ahrefs' Top Pages study  for each  of Freshbooks' pages optimized for Excel-related keywords.

To effort this retired for your website, look for keywords that are astir an alternate solution to yours but bash not person a wide acquisition intent (e.g., “excel invoice template” if you tally a tally accounting app). The intent spot is important, truthful don’t skip it.

If you’re unsure of a peculiar keyword’s intent, cheque retired our AI-based “Identify Intents” feature. It volition springiness you a percent breakdown of the keyword’s ascendant intents successful the SERPs.

GIF showing however  to usage  Ahrefs' Identify Intents diagnostic   for immoderate  keyword.

Here’s wherefore intent is an important qualifier.

Let’s see Purple. It sells hybrid mattresses but besides erstwhile had the pursuing pages for different mattress types connected its website:

List of pages connected  Purple's website for matters types that they bash  not sell.

These URLs person since been redirected but the information remains, they wrote astir worldly they don’t sell.

At archetypal glance, these pages look similar a decent illustration of solution hijacking. However, they people commercialized intent keywords that are excessively acold down the funnel.

For example, let’s look astatine the keyword “waterbed.” When you cheque retired the SERP for it, it’s wide that Google treats this arsenic a bottom-of-funnel keyword. Shopping results are astatine the precise apical of the screen, and 92% of results are targeted astatine searchers looking to bargain waterbeds.

Ahrefs' intent recognition  diagnostic   for the keyword "waterbed" indicates 92% of results person  acquisition  intent.

So, looking astatine the show of these pages, including the caller ones they present redirect to, there’s a large decline.

Declining show  graph of Purple's contented  astir  antithetic  mattress types.

It’s improbable Purple volition beryllium capable to retrieve this postulation for these keywords unless it starts selling these types of mattresses.

Key takeaway: Find keywords for alternate solutions to what you offer. But marque definite they don’t person specified a beardown acquisition intent. Instead, you privation to spot a substance of contented types ranking, similar a fistful of blog posts and immoderate merchandise pages. That’s a decent accidental to consider.

3. Quizzes

Quizzes are a benignant of interactive contented that provides answers oregon recommends solutions to users based connected their responses to circumstantial questions.

Not each quizzes are portion of the mid-funnel. For example, see a skincare quiz.

It’s TOFU if it focuses connected identifying your tegument type. It’s MOFU if it recommends the cleanable skincare regular for your skin type.

To find applicable opportunities, travel the aforesaid steps arsenic above. Pop your main taxable into Keywords Explorer, but this clip filter for keywords including things like:

  • Quiz
  • Test
  • What’s my…
  • Find your…
  • Finder
  • Recommended

The fewer brands that bash make quizzes usually don’t cognize however to optimize them for SEO. For example, the existent top-ranking leafage for “skincare quiz” has less than 100 words of optimized content:

Barefaced's tegument  quiz

So optimizing the landing leafage is simply a precise speedy and casual triumph successful most cases.

As for creating the quiz itself, determination are truthful galore no-code platforms, similar Outgrow, that tin marque quiz-building a elemental process. Or you tin travel an infographic-style design, akin to this piece from Healthline.

Either way, quizzes tin pull thousands of visitors monthly and assistance them determine which of your products to buy!

The postulation   and keyword show  gragh for Healthline's skincare quiz indicating 5,537 integrated  traffic.

4. Niche calculators

Like quizzes, calculators are a large MOFU strategy that tin often beryllium created with no-code tools. They’re a large space for MOFU contented if the reply delivered by a calculator is indispensable for helping a searcher marque a acquisition decision.

Finding opportunities is straightforward, per the supra process. But this time, filter for words like:

  • Calculate
  • Calculator
  • Ratio
  • How much
  • Formula
  • Estimate
  • Estimator

It’s brainsick conscionable however underutilized this strategy is, particularly by tiny businesses oregon niche websites.

For example, the keyword “neck wounded colony calculator” has each the makings of a large SEO opportunity:

Metrics for the keyword  “neck wounded   colony  calculator” per Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer.
  • Very debased trouble score
  • Very fewer links are needed to rank
  • Loads of hunt volume, particularly connected mobile
  • Projected summation successful searches
  • Traffic imaginable is astir 6x the monthly hunt volume
  • Aaaaand the top-ranking leafage is not well-optimized for this keyword

What a find!

If your calculator is adjuvant capable and provides a large idiosyncratic experience, you whitethorn not adjacent request to make each that overmuch supporting contented oregon physique galore links to assistance it rank.

For example, let’s cheque retired this flooring calculator:

Example of Highland Hardwoods' flooring calculator.

It’s simple, provides a large idiosyncratic experience, and is precise adjuvant since you tin cipher the level abstraction of aggregate rooms successful one go.

It besides doesn’t person overmuch contented by accepted SEO standards (~100 words) oregon precise galore links (only 16) and yet, it brings successful implicit 8,500 visitors a month.

The postulation   show  of Highland Hardwood's calculator indicating 8,531 integrated  postulation   per month.

A adjuvant calculator similar this gets radical 1 measurement person to purchasing, which makes it a large MOFU contented plus to consider. There are truthful galore untapped opportunities worthy looking into, adjacent for tiny oregon niche businesses.

5. Scorecards

Scorecards are different benignant of interactive contented designed to springiness the searcher a show grade.

For example, they commencement by asking questions, akin to a quiz, but the extremity isn’t to connection an contiguous solution. It’s to supply a people that helps a searcher place imaginable problems they whitethorn request to fix.

In different words, quizzes are large for processing solution-awareness, portion scorecards are for radical who whitethorn archetypal request to make problem-awareness and beryllium eased into uncovering the close solution.

Unlike quizzes and calculators, which some person precise evident hunt patterns, determination are much nuances for uncovering scorecard-related keywords. You often can’t filter for “scorecard” oregon similar. So effort things like:

  • Rate my
  • How bully is my
  • How atrocious is my
  • Checker
  • Grader

Anything that indicates the idiosyncratic wants their show rated volition suit a scorecard.

For example, see a keyword similar “rate my resume”:

Metrics for the keyword "rate my resume" per Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer.

It’s a large MOFU plus for a resume-building SaaS institution oregon a resume services marketplace.

If you person a PC-related ecommerce store, you could make a scorecard for “rate my PC” searches wherever you urge amended components oregon mods to amended the user’s existent computer.

Metrics for the keyword "rate my pc" per Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer.

The opportunities are close determination for the taking if you cognize wherever to look.

6. Alternative assets

It’s wide by present that contented tin instrumentality galore forms. In galore cases, the solution idiosyncratic is looking for can’t beryllium delivered successful a blog post, societal post, oregon audiovisual format.

That’s wherever alternate assets tin beryllium a large solution.

These are my favourite assets to make for astir B2B SEO campaigns, particularly if they’re successful a tiny vertical with fewer TOFU oregon BOFU searches. The mid-funnel becomes precise lucrative successful such cases.

For example, you tin see alternate assets similar spreadsheet templates for cognition workers, CAD blocks for engineers, oregon wiring diagrams for electricians.

There are galore ways to find these types of opportunities. You tin commencement by filtering your keyword list for:

  • Common record extensions successful your industry, similar .jpg, .svg, .png, .psd, oregon .ai for designers.
  • Words similar spreadsheet, diagram, file, oregon blueprint.
  • Industry-specific bundle similar Revit for engineers, Canva for designers, and so on.

For example, successful a constrictive B2B vertical similar idiosyncratic entree doorway manufacturing, accepted keyword probe techniques whitethorn not beryllium enough. This is the full database of keywords astir the product, for instance:

List of each  the keyword related to idiosyncratic   entree  doors successful  the United States per Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer.

We tin besides hide TOFU blog posts. Answering questions similar “what is simply a idiosyncratic entree door” that tin present beryllium handled by Google is often not worthy the budget.

And that’s wherever originative reasoning volition beryllium rewarded because, successful this example, there’s a hidden goldmine of accidental for CAD blocks and plan files for builders and architects.

They often request CAD blocks for doors and surrounding elements similar walls and windows.

Ahrefs' metrics for keywords related to door, partition  and model   cad files indicating 2,800 monthly searches.

Not lone are determination thousands of searches for worldly similar this, but these are assets a doorway shaper astir apt already has connected hand. And they whitethorn already stock them with architects successful their web anyway.

So wherefore not optimize its tract for specified opportunities with the extremity of connecting to much architects?

It’s each astir solving your audience’s regular frustrations and gathering aggregate touchpoints with them arsenic you bash so. When they’re acceptable to buy, they’ll apt deliberation of you archetypal earlier they adjacent crook to Google.

Key takeaways

SEO opportunities person fundamentally changed and volition proceed to germinate arsenic Google changes its interface.

With less clicks going to websites from top-of-funnel and bottom-of-funnel searches, there’s an untapped accidental for SEO professionals to usage the middle-of-the-funnel instead.

But, to bash truthful takes acold much creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, particularly if you’re seeking opportunities your competitors haven’t yet considered!

If you person immoderate examples of mid-funnel strategies that person worked wonders, consciousness escaped to stock them with maine connected LinkedIn anytime.

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