How To Find Conversion Opportunities With Audience and Keyword Research – Moz

If your SEO dashboard is throwing a party (traffic! rankings! impressions!) but your revenue graph looks like it’s on a juice cleanse,
you don’t have a traffic problemyou have a conversion opportunity problem. The good news: you can fix it without lighting
your content calendar on fire or writing 73 blog posts titled “The Ultimate Guide to [Thing].”

The secret is simple (and slightly annoying because it requires thinking): marry audience research with
keyword research so you target the searches that come with real intentthen build pages that actually help people
take the next step. This is the playbook for finding high-converting topics, mapping them to the customer journey, and turning “visits”
into “visits that pay rent.”

What “conversion opportunities” actually mean (and why traffic isn’t one)

A conversion opportunity is any moment where a searcher’s needs line up with something your business can deliverand you can
present it in a way that makes taking action feel obvious.

Conversions don’t have to mean “Buy now.” Depending on your model, conversions might include:

• Ecommerce: purchase, add-to-cart, email signup for promos, account creation
• B2B SaaS: demo request, free trial, pricing-page visit, “talk to sales” form submit
• Local services: call, direction request, appointment booking, quote request
• Publishing/ads: newsletter subscription, membership signup, returning visits

Here’s the mistake: many teams treat keyword research like a scavenger hunt for high-volume terms. That’s how you end up ranking for
“what is CRM” (cute) while your pipeline still whispers, “Who are you?”

Step 1: Get uncomfortably clear about who you’re trying to convert

Keyword tools can tell you what people type. Audience research tells you why they type it, what they fear, what they’re
comparing, what they’re trying to avoid, and what “success” looks like to them. When you combine both, you spot the topics that
naturally lead to action.

Build audience segments that reflect real intent (not just demographics)

Skip the “Women, 25–34, likes coffee” persona. Useful segments are built around motivations, constraints, and buying context. For example:

• Problem-aware beginners: “I know it hurts, I don’t know what to do.”
• Solution shoppers: “I’m comparing options and I’m skeptical.”
• Switchers: “I’m leaving my current providerplease don’t make this painful.”
• Internal champions: “I need ammo to convince my boss.”
• Price-sensitive buyers: “I want it, but I’m not paying yacht money.”

Where to pull audience truth (fast) without scheduling 14 workshops

You don’t need a six-month research project. Start with sources you already have:

1. Sales calls & demos: objections, “why now,” deal killers, competitor mentions
2. Customer support tickets: confusion points, missing features, setup friction
3. On-site search logs: what visitors want after they arrive (often the highest-intent clues)
4. Reviews (yours & competitors): what people praise, hate, and repeat
5. CRM notes: industry, role, use cases, and what triggers upgrades
6. Analytics: pages that assist conversions vs. pages that politely entertain and then wave goodbye

Then translate what you find into a simple set of audience “jobs to be done,” like:
“I need to choose a solution I can implement quickly without getting yelled at by IT.”
That line alone can generate a small universe of high-intent keywords.

Step 2: Map audience needs to the customer journey (so you don’t pitch dessert to someone ordering soup)

A conversion-focused SEO strategy follows the path people actually take: learn → compare → decide → act. If you try to force a “Book a demo”
CTA onto an early-stage “what is…” query, you’ll convert roughly the same number of users as a billboard in the ocean.

Use journey mapping to find drop-off points that SEO can fix

Journey mapping doesn’t have to be fancy. List the steps your ideal customer takes from “I have a problem” to “I chose you,” and note:

• Questions they ask at each step
• Emotions (confident, overwhelmed, suspicious, rushed)
• Barriers (budget approval, unclear requirements, fear of switching)
• Decision criteria (price, trust, speed, integrations, outcomes)

Wherever people get stuck, you’ve found a conversion opportunity. SEO can bring them in and move them forwardif your content matches the moment.

Step 3: Build a keyword universe that’s organized by intent, not alphabet soup

Now we do keyword research, but with adult supervision. The goal isn’t “find keywords.” The goal is:
find the searches that signal readinessor at least meaningful progress toward readiness.

Start with audience-first seed topics

Take your audience segments and extract the themes:

• Pain points (“reduce churn,” “stop chargebacks,” “fix slow checkout”)
• Outcomes (“increase trial-to-paid,” “shorten sales cycle”)
• Constraints (“for small teams,” “HIPAA compliant,” “no-code,” “budget-friendly”)
• Moments (“switch from…,” “alternatives,” “best for,” “pricing,” “reviews,” “case study”)

These themes become seeds in your keyword tool of choice. From there, expand into long-tail variants and modifiers that reveal intent.

Keyword modifiers that scream “this could convert”

Not all modifiers are equal. The following often indicate higher conversion potential:

• Commercial investigation: “best,” “top,” “vs,” “compare,” “review,” “recommended”
• Decision-stage: “pricing,” “cost,” “quote,” “demo,” “trial,” “implementation”
• Switching: “alternatives,” “competitor name + alternative,” “migrate,” “replace”
• Fit checks: “for startups,” “for enterprises,” “for dentists,” “for Shopify,” “for remote teams”
• Local intent: “near me,” “in [city],” “open now,” “same day”

These are the queries where people are not just curiousthey’re shopping, qualifying, or preparing to act.

Step 4: Use the SERP as your lie detector

People say they want one thing. Search results reveal what Google believes users actually want. Before you create or optimize a page,
look at the search results and ask:

• Are the top results guides, product pages, category pages, or comparison lists?
• Do you see ads, shopping results, local packs, “People also ask,” or review snippets?
• Are results dominated by brands, publishers, or forums?
• Is the intent informational, commercial, transactional, or navigational?

If the SERP is full of comparison pages and you publish a 2,500-word history of the concept, you’re not “being thorough.”
You’re bringing a spoon to a sword fight.

Step 5: Create a Conversion Opportunity Matrix (your new best friend)

This is where audience research and keyword research finally shake hands and stop arguing.
Build a simple spreadsheet with these columns:

• Audience segment (who)
• Core job / pain (why)
• Keyword cluster (what they search)
• Intent type (informational / commercial / transactional / local)
• Funnel stage (learn / compare / decide / act)
• Best page type (guide, landing page, comparison, template, calculator, case study)
• Primary CTA (trial, demo, quote, email capture, store visit)
• Success metric (conversion rate, assisted conversions, leads, revenue)

When you fill this out, patterns jump out. You’ll see clusters that deserve:
a dedicated landing page, a “vs” comparison, a pricing explainer, or a “how it works” page with proof and next-step CTAs.

Quick example: B2B project management software

Let’s say your audience research reveals two segments:
Operations Managers (care about predictability) and Agency Owners (care about margins and resourcing).

• Ops Manager keywords: “project management workflow template,” “reduce missed deadlines,” “capacity planning tool”
• Agency Owner keywords: “agency resource planning software,” “project profitability tracking,” “time tracking alternatives”

Same product, different conversion opportunities. The pages should feature different outcomes, examples, and proofbecause the “why” is different.

Step 6: Prioritize opportunities by business value, not vibes

Once you have a list of keyword clusters and mapped page types, prioritize with a scoring system that blends SEO reality with revenue reality.
Consider scoring each opportunity (1–5) on:

1. Conversion potential: does the query imply readiness or meaningful progress?
2. Audience fit: is this your ideal customeror just “people with browsers”?
3. SERP match: can you produce what the SERP rewards?
4. Authority gap: can you realistically compete, or is this “Nike vs. a lemonade stand”?
5. Effort: can you ship a high-quality page quickly, with proof and differentiation?

Often, the best conversion opportunities are not the biggest keywords. They’re the ones with clear intent, clear next steps, and clear fit.

Step 7: Build pages that convertbecause ranking is not the finish line

Once you pick an opportunity, the page has one job: satisfy the intent and help the user move forward.
That means matching the expected format and making next steps easy.

Page formats that tend to drive conversions

• Comparison pages: “X vs Y,” “best tools for…,” “top alternatives”
• Use-case landing pages: “for dentists,” “for remote teams,” “for Shopify stores”
• Pricing & cost explainers: transparent ranges, what affects price, what’s included
• Templates & calculators: “ROI calculator,” “audit checklist,” “project plan template”
• Case studies & proof pages: specific outcomes, constraints, timeline, and how you did it
• Local service pages: service + city + proof + availability + frictionless contact

Make the CTA match the moment

A user searching “best CRM for nonprofits” might be ready for a comparison and a short list of evaluation criteria.
The CTA could be “Download the nonprofit CRM checklist” or “See nonprofit pricing.”
A user searching “CRM demo” is practically waving their walletdon’t make them read a novel first.

Don’t forget the “assist” content

Not every page closes the deal. Some pages assist conversions by building trust and removing friction:
setup guides, migration pages, security pages, integrations pages, and FAQs can all be conversion multipliers when
they answer real objections.

Step 8: Measure like you mean it (or at least like someone might ask you about it later)

If you only measure rankings and sessions, you’ll keep producing content that’s popular but not profitable.
Instead, track:

• Primary conversions: purchases, leads, bookings
• Micro-conversions: pricing-page clicks, email signups, tool usage, scroll depth (carefully), video plays
• Assisted conversions: pages that appear in journeys that end in conversion
• Segment performance: which audiences convert from which keyword clusters

Then iterate: update content to match changing SERPs, improve CTAs, add proof, refine internal linking, and prune content that attracts the wrong audience.
A conversion-focused SEO program is part research, part publishing, part continuous improvement.

Common pitfalls (a.k.a. how conversion opportunities get left on the table)

• Chasing volume: targeting “big” keywords that bring in the wrong stage or wrong audience
• Intent mismatch: writing a guide when users want a comparison, or making a landing page when users want education
• Generic content: saying what everyone says, with no proof, point of view, or differentiation
• One-size-fits-all CTAs: asking everyone to “Book a demo” like it’s a universal love language
• Not using audience data: ignoring sales/support insights that literally tell you what to write
• Measuring the wrong thing: celebrating traffic while your conversions quietly move out and block your number

Conclusion: The shortcut is alignment

Finding conversion opportunities with audience and keyword research is not about “more content.”
It’s about better alignmentbetween what your audience needs, what they search, what the SERP rewards,
and what your page helps them do next.

Start with audience truth. Map it to the journey. Build intent-driven keyword clusters. Validate with the SERP.
Prioritize by business value. Publish pages that match the momentand measure outcomes, not applause.

Do that consistently, and SEO becomes less like a traffic lottery and more like a conversion engine.
(The kind your CFO will tolerate discussing at dinner.)

Real-World Field Notes: What “Conversion Opportunities” Look Like in Practice (Extra Experience Section)

In real marketing teams, the best conversion opportunities usually don’t announce themselves with fireworks. They show up as quiet signals:
a sales rep repeating the same objection, a support team answering the same “how do I…” question, or a pricing page that gets plenty of visits
but mysteriously few form submits. When you treat those signals as research inputsnot random noiseyou start finding opportunities that feel
almost unfair (in a legal, ethical, very-please-don’t-sue-me way).

One common pattern: teams rank for informational queries that attract the right industry but the wrong stage. The fix isn’t to delete the content
it’s to bridge it. Add a short “next step” section that matches the reader’s likely trajectory: a checklist, a template, a simple calculator,
or a comparison link. This is how you turn “helpful” into “helpful and profitable.” The content stays educational, but it now offers a logical
path forward for people who are ready to move.

Another pattern: “alternatives” content converts like crazy when it’s honest. The internet is full of “X alternatives” posts that are basically
your product wearing a fake mustache pretending to be neutral. Users can smell that from three tabs away. A better approach is to acknowledge
who the competitor is best for, where they shine, and where they strugglethen show precisely who you’re best for. When you do that,
you earn trust and you pre-qualify leads. Fewer tire-kickers. More people who fit.

For ecommerce and local businesses, “near me” and “best in [city]” searches can be conversion goldif the landing experience doesn’t sabotage you.
People with local intent are often in a hurry. They want hours, availability, pricing cues, clear location info, and proof (reviews, photos,
before/after examples). If your page hides the phone number, buries the address, or makes users click through three menus to find “book now,”
you’re basically telling them, “We don’t actually want your money today.”

A high-impact (and oddly overlooked) source of keyword ideas is your own site search. When visitors search your site for “pricing,”
“refund policy,” “integrations,” or “setup,” they’re telling you what’s missing or hard to find. Those terms can inspire both navigation fixes
and new SEO pages that capture similar intent from Google and Bing. It’s the digital version of a customer walking into a store and asking,
“Where do you keep the thing I came here for?” You don’t respond by handing them a brochure about your company values.

Finally, conversion opportunities often live inside small wording choices. If audience research says buyers fear switching, the page should
address switching. If they fear implementation time, show timelines and onboarding steps. If they need internal approval, provide a one-page
summary, security documentation, or an ROI explanation they can forward. Conversion-focused SEO isn’t just “rank for buyer keywords.”
It’s “build the page that removes the next obvious doubt.”

The overarching lesson: keyword research is the map, but audience research is the compass. The map tells you where paths exist.
The compass tells you which direction leads to revenue.