Understanding the micro-moment has become the cornerstone to the modern customer journey. For marketers to accurately reach their consumers, they must be able to interpret these moments and anticipate what visitors want to see.

For marketers to optimize their marketing and sales process, they need to track how people move through the sales funnel. The greater the insight they have into this process, the easier it is to gauge how well they reach their customers. They also gain a better understanding of the decision-making process that their customers go through before they make a purchase.

In the past, this journey used to be linear and relatively straightforward. People followed a predictable step-by-step process that allowed marketers to measure their success at each stage and therefore understand their weaknesses and strengths. This has changed, however.

The customer journey has splintered and it has become increasingly difficult to understand what triggers purchases. Even though digital marketing is no longer a new industry, it remains challenging for many -- even seasoned marketers -- to understand what triggers a lead or sale and understanding the micro-moment.

Instead, marketers must look at a variety of metrics to try and find certain behavior patterns, such as ads that bring in more engaged traffic or keywords that attract more people interested in making an actual purchase. It has become clear to those in the industry that the customer journey no longer follows a straight path. It is now a series of fragmented moments that do not always occur in a predictable order or timetable.

This is the result of the transforming way that customers interact with brands online. They now control these interactions. They can reach out to brands directly, easily share their opinions and reviews with others through social media, and they can investigate a plethora of options to solve their problem with just a few searches on the computer.

For brands to meet the needs of these customers, they must be willing to use cross-channel marketing that empowers them to build bonds with customers no matter the device they use and where they are on the customer journey. Understanding the micro-moment will enhance brands' strategies and result in greater returns for brands -- US retailers see a 16 percent increase in search ad conversions when they use cross-device data. Here is what brands need to know about putting this strategy to work for them.

Understanding the micro-moment

To build a successful marketing strategy and reach consumers on this modern customer journey, understanding the micro-moment is important. These high-intent touch points occur when customers have an immediate need that they want addressed.

Google has been increasingly encouraging brands in understanding the micro-moment and taking them into account throughout their marketing strategies. A paper the company released stated that nearly a third of smartphone users switched to another site or app because the original one did not meet their needs.

More than half of smartphone users have also made purchases from brands other than their intended company because of the usefulness, or lack thereof, of the information provided. These micro-moments also impact purchases made offline.

An estimated 87 percent of customers do research before entering a store. As a result, the information people access during micro-moments on their devices impact where they shop and what they buy. The ability of brands to serve customers during their micro-moments impacts the bottom line.

Marketing to customers in the micro-moment across multiple devices

Brands that want to succeed with understanding the micro-moment must also know the types of content that are most likely to attract consumers throughout the various touch points.

Google has divided micro-moments into four main categories:

• I-want-to-go moment
• I-want-to-know moment
• I-want-to-do moment
• I-want-to-buy moment

1. The I-want-to-go moment. During this particular micro-moment, customers are interested in going to a particular place. Content that provides them with information about how to get to the desired location, such as maps, addresses, and other location-specific information will be the most helpful.

2. The I-want-to-know moment. Customers in this micro-moment are more interested in information than making a purchase just yet. They want to find content that helps provide them with insight and suggestions. These customers are not interested in finding a sales page, they want blog posts, videos, or other types of helpful content that provides them with the information they need.

3. The I-want-to-do moment. Customers interested in the I-want-to-do moment  have a particular task in mind that they want to accomplish, and they want to see content that guides them. This could include material such as how-to videos, instructional blog posts and images, recipes, or similar content that helps the visitor achieve their goal.

4. The I-want-to-buy moment. During this particular micro-moment people prepare to make a purchase. They want to hear about deals or coupons, options to buy their desired items online quickly, and any information that would be helpful to them as they finalize their purchase decision.

For brands to effectively market to people across the new buyer’s journey, they need to create the content that their target personas will appreciate throughout the different micro-moments. This requires creating a variety of different types of material that addresses the different micro-moments and the unique needs that people have. Think about how each of these touch points relate to your customers and what they might look for at each moment.

5 steps to successful marketing in 2017

• Identify the keywords that interest your customers
• Align content to the micro-moments
• Create content that addresses the needs of your targeted customers
• Measure your progress
• Continue to refine and improve your strategy

1. Identify the keywords that interest your customers. You need to look at consumer patterns on your website, do competitive analysis, and monitor trends within your industry to gain a better understanding of what customers want to read.

2. Align content to the micro-moments. Once you have identified your keywords, determine the micro-moments that these terms most closely align with and the types of content needed to address people in those moments. Remember that Google is heavily invested in the micro-moment and thus works to tailor the SERPs to the micro-moment of the customer.

Looking at the types of content that appear most prominently on the SERP for a particular term or phrase will provide you with insight into the user’s likely intent. The BrightEdge platform also provides you with clear intent signal functions to help you understand the micro-moment you must cater to with a particular keyword.

3. Create content that addresses the needs of your targeted customers. Create a variety of types of material so that you offer clear value for people across the variety of touch points. Also make sure that your content is ready for users regardless of the device they use to access it. This means employing mobile-optimization best practices.

4. Measure your progress. As you develop and publish your content, you want to carefully track how that material performs. Look at engagement metrics to see how well people find your content and how much they interact with it. Look at its impact on your conversions and revenue.

5. Continue to refine and improve your strategy so that it becomes more effective and efficient. Use the insights from your measurements as well as regular competitive analyses and trend monitoring to continue to improve your marketing strategy for the micro-moments along your modern buyer’s journey.

Marketers need to be able to track how people progress towards conversion on their websites. Since this journey has been fragmented, however, it has become significantly more challenging.

Understanding the micro-moment has become critical for brands so they can impact their ideal personas, and create content that maximizes the use of these touch points. This will be your key to successful SEO in 2017.

Google's changes to the SERP for local-related queries impacts how brands effectively boost their visibility online with a local search strategy. We want to draw your attention to some of the recent adjustments seen in the ad portrayal on local search so you can adjust your local search strategy accordingly. Local search strategy comprises a critical segment in the marketing for many businesses. It impacts both in-person commerce and e-commerce significantly. A huge 78% percent of local-mobile searches result in offline purchases and 50% percent of mobile visitors will visit stores within one day. Given the significance of search in the success of local businesses, when Google makes changes to the SERP for local search, brands need to prepare themselves and make the appropriate adjustments to their local search strategy so they can continue to have the rankings and visibility they need to grow their business.

Google’s experiments with ads in local search

Over the past few months, we have seen some experimentation from Google on the use of ads in local search. We had heard rumors that Google intended to start using ads in the local 3-pack, but we did not know exactly how the search engine planned on combining organic and paid results on the local pages. Last summer, people first spotted a local search pack that had one ad followed by 3 organic listings.

A few months later, in January, reports also emerged that Google shopping ads were appearing for purchase-related local queries on mobile.

In both examples, however, these ads have not been replicated everywhere and do not seem to be widely used, yet. These changes have been significant because customers do pay attention to ads when they make local searches - 60 percent of customers say that they have used information provided in ads. The increasing prevalence of ads in local search means that many companies will need to make adjustments to their local search strategies to maximize their ability to attract customers interested in patronizing their stores.

How Google’s new ads impact local search strategy

Given that such a significant portion of customers say that they pay attention to the information in ads for local search, it makes sense that this segment of optimization has been the subject of experimentation. This is all a part of Google’s trend towards ad visibility. We all remember Google’s changes to the SERP layout at the beginning of last year, when they increased the number of ads along the top of the results page while eliminating the ads that were once along the side. For many queries this change means that minimal organic results, and sometimes none at all, appear above the fold. Thus, brands need to pay closer attention to the intersection between PPC and SEO. Do not view hybrid marketers as a nice-to-have, but rather as an essential resource of the marketing team.

Using systems, like the BrightEdge platform, brands can quickly uncover which keywords that relate to their business have local 3-packs. They can also research the level of competition and the average search rates for these local results, empowering them to improve their targeting so they can focus their local search strategy on the terms that will provide the most return. Brands can use their PPC and SEO together to better target these important keywords. Since ads are incorporated closely into the standard local results, focusing your PPC efforts on the keywords that have high significance for your brand, but that you do not have the ranking you need, can help you gain the visibility necessary.

To maximize your opportunity, you should also pay close attention to how Google structures the local 3-pack. Google displays the information that customers want to find when they make a local query. Model your ads to include the same valuable information, such as hours, address, and phone number. This can help boost engagement with your visitors by ensuring that people have access to the information that they need and expect when they make a local search. Note also that when we first started hearing the rumors about the introduction of ads into the local SERPs, many marketers thought that we would see a 2-pack plus one ad. Although Google still seems to be in the early stages of introducing ads into local search, right now we are still seeing three organic slots open. This means that brands cannot neglect their standard local search strategy.

Brands that want to grow in local search need to focus on building their Google business page, including adding clear, appealing images, and by cultivating reviews. You also want to pay close attention to your Name, Address, and Phone Number, or NAP, as this has been shown to have a sizable impact on your rankings within Google. For more tips on optimizing for local search, visit NAP and Local. As you build your local search strategy with both organic and paid search, you want to make sure you continue to monitor your progress to make sure that you use your resources effectively. BrightEdge offers you measuring capabilities to ensure that you can look at your performance on a local level. See your rankings improve with local search optimization and monitor keywords in specific geographic areas to ensure your efforts match the needs of your local consumers.

Google continues to experiment with the SERPs to better serve the end user, and this includes their efforts to balance both paid and organic results. They have been experimenting recently with including ads in certain local searches, which is a trend that cannot be ignored by brands interested in developing a strong local search strategy. At BrightEdge, we will continue to help you remain on top of the latest developments and how you can use the platform to maximize your performance in the face of the ever-changing industry. 

By Kevin Bobowski and Erik Newton

On 1/31 BrightEdge SVP of Marketing Kevin Bobowski and VP of Demand Generation Erik Newton hosted a webinar that generated a lot of interest from the BrightEdge community. You can view an on-demand version of the webinar.

We did not have time to answer all the questions, so we will address them in this blog post. The webinar topic was using customer journey analysis and micro-moments to approach and succeed in the Universal Content area of the Google SERPs.

The webinar explained the thought process and then went into detail on 4 micro-moments: I want to know, I want to go, I want to do, and I want to buy.

We combined a use case with a sample SERP, showed the BrightEdge reporting that gives insight, and then did several quick how-tos to help achieve those positions. We followed that with a review of competitive analysis and assessment.

There were 6 live polls during the webinar, the results of one included below:

What is the best way to show revenue growth from SEO initiatives targeting Quick Answers?

The Quick Answer pages you rank for are likely to be specific and longtail style, meaning you will have a unique landing page for each topic. As you earn the Quick Answers, add them to a Page Group in BrightEdge Page Reporting to assess total traffic. Subtract the traffic to that page from before you had the Quick Answer and that will indicate the lift.

Here is the URL for the Quick Answers white paper we mentioned in the webinar.

How do I view my Quick Answers performance?

Go to BrightEdge Data Cube, type your URL, click on Content Strategies, select Quick Answers.

I see my competitors (personal injury law firms) listed in our local place listings as well as in other local searches in google, but they don't have a local office here at all. Why do they rank in so many local searches and page-one results of organic as well?

It is possible they are paying for the position in Local - look for the ad mark. It is also possible they have a shell office in your area and have done the footwork to register that location with Google My Business. As to why they rank well in general, I would have to guess that they are doing a decent job of content marketing, SEO, and generating backlinks.

What are the B2B stats regarding micro-moments? and Do you find the Local 3-Pack or the "I Want to Buy" or the Google Places queries are relevant for nationwide B2B firms?

This blog from Greg Sterling lists the data and the sources.  While B2B data for Local and Places may be less relevant in B2B, the Quick Answers opportunity is highly relevant as customer journey analysis shows B2B buyers are doing extensive research online before even contacting providers.

Secondly, B2B buyers often use desktop for their queries, but peer-based reviews and recommendations or even social-targeted ads or account based marketing could cause them to make mobile queries. Younger generations are more mobile and sometimes entirely mobile, so micro-moments are an opportunity in all segments.

Do you have an example of good B2B content marketing?

Yes, there are many within the BrightEdge community. The asset types are: site, blog, white paper, research paper, e-book, case study, infographic, images, and audio. Take a look at the BrightEdge Resources Center for ideas.

How would a national or regional service provider compete with local providers?

If the national provider has local locations, the customer journey analysis says that you would optimize the location pages of the site aggressively. If it is an online national then I suggest content marketing to rank well generally and go for How-to as we showed in the Home Depot example in the presentation.

What if you're national with many local locations?

You will need to track and optimize each location separately to get those local store pages to rank.

What's a best practice for using real search queries for web or blog content?

Targeting demand is the best first step for content generation. Target high demand queries to "fish where the fish are". It increases your chance of generating traffic that impacts your business. This process is why more than 22,000 users love BrightEdge and the Data Cube.

Our web site is horrible. We sell nearly 100mm via Home Depot.com, Amazon, wayfair, etc. How can SEO up rankings inside those portals?

Well, congratulations on doing such great volume through your channel partners. Channel strategy and execution are always tricky. We are planning to cover shopping platform optimization in a future webinar, so watch for the webinar invites.

What kind of recommendations do you give for the existing content that is ranking - if you've done meta data/headline changes as well on-page?

If your meta data, H1 and H2 are tuned, then work on content depth and density. We are guiding to 1500 words and 2-4% keyword topic density. Then consider schema data. If that is on target then it is backlinks.

On the Share Insights Roadshow, we had audience members advocate for their cities.

The 4 cities we have announced are New York 5/8, Chicago 6/8, San Francisco 6/21, and London 10/5. We plan to add many more events across the US and internationally, so check back on the Share page.

Is there a suggested dashboard or report in BrightEdge that can display overall impact from applying some of these recommendations?

There is not a pre-formatted template, but the Data Cube is easy to view and from there you can save the reports to a dashboard. If you would like help with that, please let your CSM know. We will pass along your idea to the product management team.

I recently got access to BrightEdge. Do you have a webinar or recorded training for learning on how to use BrightEdge?

Yes, we do! Please contact your Customer Support or Onboarding Manager to view this.

What is AMP?

AMP is accelerated mobile pages, a markup defined and supported by Google to make content appear more quickly in mobile devices. Kirill Kronrod from Adobe sent all of us these links about AMP.

• https://www.ampproject.org/
• https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/10/introducing-accelerated-mobile-pages.html
• https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/opinion/2430844/google-s-amp-project-what-will-be-the-impact-on-publishers

I would like to do a blog with BrightEdge on an AMP case study.

Great, customers are always welcome to propose and deploy blogs and case studies with us.

Is AMP just for news pages and local pages for now? Or do you see other possibilities?

Google is advocating for AMP strongly and has indicated it will become a factor in other types of content ranking. We believe the community should keep an eye on it by tracking AMP Preferred pages in BrightEdge and consider using BrightEdge Content to find and create content because it automatically creates AMP-enabled pages for our customers.

Thanks for the comprehensive presentation! Do you still consider Striking Distance terms, terms in positions 3-20?

Thanks for joining us. Yes, we think that is a good range because positions 3, 2, and 1 get disproportionate exposure and traffic, especially in mobile. Given the mobile-first push, we are recommending customers to track mobile and desktop separately as we are seeing different results on 73% of queries already and rising each month.

The care micro-moment is for the moment that a customer has the product and is using it. I think this is a really important.

Good point. At BrightEdge we see marketing as a vertical function across the whole customer lifecycle, and SEO plays a role all the way along. We focused on know, go, do, and buy in this webinar and could expand the micro-moments in a future webinar.

What else did Kevin buy at The Home Depot besides the dimmer switches?

I picked up light bulbs, grass seeds, and fertilizer with my 3 dimmer switches. Nice add-on sale from their successful I-want-do micro-moment how-to video.