At My Webworld, when dealing with luxury brands, we realise quickly that ranking well on Google goes beyond having the correct keywords; it is important to understand why customers are searching in the first place. Most customers who buy luxury products spend considerable time researching before making their purchase and they will read reviews, compare prices and read many different types of stories about each brand, before actually deciding how to proceed.
As such, when we develop a sound SEO strategy, understanding the intent of the individual searching is extremely important. This article will outline how the intent of an individual searching influences luxury brand SEO, and how businesses can use this information to create an online presence and connect with valuable customers.
What Is Search Intent?
Search Intent is simply defined as the purpose of the user conducting a search on Google, and the reason they use a particular term or terms while performing that search. The past couple of years has seen tremendous growth in the way Google evaluates what people are looking for when they conduct searches.
When conducting a search, Google evaluates not only how many times keywords are used but also what someone who conducts a search expects to find based on what they are searching. When you provide answers for these types of searches in your posts, it is much more likely that your posts will rank at a high level in the rankings.
When creating SEO for a brand, we always start by determining the intent behind a search as well as an analysis of the actual keyword(s). Search Intent can typically fall under one of the three primary categories.
Informational Intent: When People Are Researching
Many luxury customers begin their journey with research.
They might search for things like:
- “How luxury brands build brand value”
- “Luxury real estate market trends”
- “How to choose a luxury watch”
People search with an intention to just learn more about something they are curious about. This is not necessarily going to be a purchasing decision at this point, but more of a data collection period for them.
Luxury brands have the opportunity to build trust and authority by providing quality creative content such as guides, articles, and insights. Content can also be used as part of an effective SEO strategy for luxury brands to promote credibility-based purchasing decisions.
Navigational Intent: When People Look for a Specific Brand
Search engines can help users find the website of the brand they are searching for; this is known as navigational intent. However, they may also use search engines as a methods of finding out about a brand or company prior to actually going to the physical location.
For example:
- “Chanel official website”
- “Luxury property agency London”
In these scenarios, it is imperative that your luxury brand’s main website appear at the top of search engines. Especially if you are working with an SEO agency focused on real estate or using an SEO strategy catered toward fashion.
Commercial Investigation: When Buyers Compare Options
When buyers are in the commercial investigation stage of the purchasing process, they may begin to evaluate all of the available options.
Typical searches include:
- “Best luxury fashion brands”
- “Top luxury apartments in London”
- “Luxury watch brands comparison”
Potential customers will be considering and comparing points of interest before coming to an end decision.
Based on our experience at My Webworld, this is one of the most meaningful phases in SEO for luxury brands. Using well-designed comparison content / brand storytelling / and in-depth guides can have a tremendous impact on how a potential customer will view a brand.
Transactional Intent: When People Are Ready to Act
Eventually, buyers reach the decision stage.
Searches may look like:
- “Buy designer handbags online”
- “Luxury apartments for sale London”
These types of searches show a strong intent to buy.
Customers expect a clear, well organised webpage that allows them to easily perform a purchase action when they reach this point in the buying cycle. Optimised product / service and landing pages are essential to converting visitors into customers.
Understanding search intent is important for luxury brands in SEO
Luxurious shoppers tend to operate differently to those identified as average consumers, typically taking longer to complete their buying journey. As a result of this longer buying cycle, search intent can help luxury brands:
Attract qualified traffic
Connect with people who are searching for luxury products or services, rather than random visitors.
Build brand credibility
Build trust through producing high-quality content that answers questions.
Improve conversions
Increase sales because visitors who are contacting your website via high-intent queries are more likely to perform an action.
Guide customers through the journey
Support your buyers throughout their journey by way of content that will deliver to users from the beginning to the end of the buying research cycle.
As we create online visibility strategies for luxury brands, we continuously prioritise synchronising content with consumers’ search intent.
SEO Strategies for High-End Brands by Intent of Search Query
We have observed that luxury brand SEO strategies have some basic principles in common over the years we have been conducting research.
High-Intent Long Tail Keywords to Target
High-end consumers usually look for very specific items or services.
Instead of broad keywords like:
- “designer handbag”
More effective searches might include:
- “handcrafted Italian leather handbag”
- “limited edition luxury watch”
- “luxury waterfront apartments in London”
Long-tail keyword searches provide focused website traffic and are a major component of advanced strategies for search engine optimisation of high-end brands.
Content Creation for the Consumer Purchase Process
- High-end brands should create a range of content throughout the purchase process.
- At the first physical contact (Awareness stage) educational-content and how-to articles are good.
- At the second stage (Consideration stage) comparison content and story telling about the brand enable the consumer to make an educated decision.
- At the final stage (Decision stage) strong web pages about the services offered, product pages and landing pages will help turn an individual into a consumer, thus being a major part of a comprehensive SEO strategy for high-end brands.
Providing an Outstanding User Experience Online
Experience is closely linked to branding of high-end products and also applies online.
A luxury website should be:
- fast and responsive
- visually elegant
- easy to navigate
- mobile friendly
As search engines rank websites, user experience will be increasingly considered in the search ranking process. Strong user experience positively impacts search engine optimisation results and branding.
Creating Authority Through Storytelling
Luxury brands have the best stories! These brands provide great opportunities for brands to tell a story through their artistry, lineage and tradition, and for each of the luxury consumers, this is very important to create an emotional connection to the brand. Utilising storytelling elements in your SEO content will enable you to create both an emotional attachment and visibility in search engines at the same time. This strategy is especially beneficial in the fashion industry, where identity and stories significantly impact people’s decisions to purchase luxury goods.
Quality Backlinks is Priority #1
For luxury brands, the quality of backlinks into a site is more important than the number of links. Being mentioned in; luxury lifestyle magazines, fashion publications, and/or high-quality industry websites all increase the organisation’s domain authority and credibility. These backlinks send a strong signal to search engines about the brand having trustworthiness and being an authority.
SEO Strategies For Luxury Brands
Luxury brands often need to utilise more advanced SEO strategies, compared to their competition, in highly competitive markets. Examples of more advanced SEO techniques include; Structured website architecture, Providing search engines with simple methods of crawling and understanding a company’s content. Optimising images in the metadata and descriptions to allow for visual search optimisation. Technical SEO (e,g., page speed, mobile optimisation, Core Web Vitals) all contribute to increased ranking of a company’s web presence. Local SEO optimisation for luxury real estate firms, boutiques, or showrooms, local search visibility can bring highly valuable traffic.
Conclusion
The way SEO works has changed as a result of search intent becoming more and more important. Just focusing on keywords that are popular is not enough for the luxury brand market anymore. Businesses must understand what their customers are looking for and why they are searching for particular items and develop a strategy to create relevant content at the time their customers are looking for it.
At My Webworld, we help businesses develop effective SEO strategies within the luxury brand market and other industries, such as SEO for fashion brands and other specialised solutions like SEO agency for real estate services, and we consistently align SEO strategies to real customer behaviours so that brands connect with the correct audience and continue to grow. If search intent is the basis for your SEO strategy, your brand will have visibility in the search results, as well as connect with those people who matter most.
