In SEO, there’s no such thing as TMI for the same reason that cries of TMI in life are actually false, and I’ll show you why if you’ll permit me a graphic example.
Imagine you’re talking to a man, a virtual stranger that you’ve known for less than ten minutes. You’re telling him about your bowel movements, their frequency, consistency, perhaps even color. You might expect this man would stop you with repeated cries of “TMI,” but he’s not. Instead, he’s listening carefully, even taking notes. Why?
The man is a proctologist. He wants the information because he has a very specific need for it, and that’s why he asked.
You see, when people cry “TMI,” they aren’t really objecting to the amount of information per se, they’re objecting that the information you’re giving them isn’t appropriate to the context.
The nice thing about SEO is that, if you do it right, searches will bring people to your site when they’re looking for exactly the information you’re providing, and that information can lead them to decide they want your product or service.
A Search Is a Question
Whether explicitly phrased as a question or not, every person doing a search is asking an implicit question. When a person searches “used cars,”
they are really asking: “Who sells used cars in my area?” or “What used cars are available?” or “How much is it going to cost to get a quality used car?” If their initial question doesn’t get them the answer they’re looking for, they will make a more detailed search, either adding additional keywords (such as localizations), or actually phrasing it in the form of a question.
Make Sure You Have the Answers
Since searches are questions, the only way to deserve to show up in search results is to have the answers people are looking for and to have them clearly and coherently expressed. If you’ve been listening to your clients, customers, or patients, chances are that you already know many of the questions they want to ask.
However, there are also likely many more they want to ask but either forget or don’t know how to ask in your office. Your website should answer these questions as well, which means taking the time to look at not just search patterns, but the questions and answers that show up most frequently on popular forums dedicated to your product or service. It means not just putting content on your website, but updating that content regularly with new answers to new questions and current answers to old questions.
It takes a significant amount of time to do all the research and writing on your own, which is why you should have a dedicated writer for your website, or, better yet, a writer and an optimizer who can work together to ensure your content is meeting current needs.
Make Sure Every Page Serves a Need
How many pages should your website have? As many as it takes to respond to the searches and serve the education needs of your current and potential clients, customers, or patients. Before people come to you, they generally go through a process of information seeking that generally follows these steps:
- Awareness of a need
- Defining the need
- Decision to meet the need
- Selection of a solution for the need
At a minimum, your content should give information that takes potential clients, customers, or patients from the beginning to the end of the process, with a balanced approach that helps people understand yours is not the only possible solution to their need.
However, you should also devote content to maintaining relationships with current clients, customers, and patients. This should include offers of new services and products, but it should also include:
- What to expect during or after a procedure, especially if your service includes multiple steps or takes a long time
- Care, maintenance, or upgrades
- Positive reinforcement about the quality of your service or product
You don’t want your customers, clients, or patients to develop buyer’s remorse. Don’t assume that the quality of the product or service itself is a sufficient guard against second-guessing, and don’t assume that the conversations you have with your clients is sufficient, either.
Doubts creep up on people at any time, and when they come people will go looking for answers. If they don’t find the answers on your site, you may not be happy with the ones they find on a competitor’s site, or, worse, from people who believe your product is defective, your service is quackery, or your profession is corrupt.
In other words, until you are answering all the questions of potential and current clients–including the question of when they should stop looking at your website and contact you directly–you can never have too much information.