Product-Led SEO Explained: Your 101 Introduction

Last Updated on 1 November 2024 by Stu Edwards

Most SEO strategies today focus on chasing search rankings, optimising keywords, and hoping for traffic. It’s a game of following trends and playing by the rules set by algorithms.

But here’s the problem: traditional SEO is just that — traditional.

It’s built on outdated practices that prioritise search engines over users.

If all your SEO strategy does is cater to Google’s algorithm, you’re playing a losing game.

Search engine algorithms are constantly changing, and sooner or later, your rankings will drop. Worse yet, the traffic you’ve been chasing might never turn into customers.

To thrive, you need to stop obsessing over rankings and start focusing on what really matters: building strategies that put your product and users first.

This is where Product-Led SEO comes in—a strategy that doesn’t just drive traffic but drives conversions by aligning directly with what your users are searching for.

What Is Product-Led SEO?

Product-Led SEO is an SEO strategy where the product itself drives organic traffic to a website.

Like traditional SEO, it aims to attract visitors from search engines, but it takes a different approach by focusing on the product’s features and value.

Rather than relying on keywords or optimising for search engine algorithms alone, Product-Led SEO aligns with the user’s needs.

This strategy prioritises the product’s functionality and user experience, building the entire SEO framework around what the product can offer.

It moves beyond keyword-driven content, allowing users to see the product in action and understand how it meets their needs right from the search results.

“The goal is not to generate traffic for traffic’s sake but to generate engaged users who will eventually become paying users of the product.” – Eli Schwartz

Traditional SEO vs Product-led SEO

The main difference between traditional (keyword-led) SEO and product-led SEO is how they attract users and drive conversions.

• Keyword-led SEO is keyword-driven and relies heavily on optimising for rankings, with uncertain conversion results.
• Product-led SEO is user-driven and builds the product around user searches, leading to more direct engagement and conversions.

Keyword-led SEO is focused on optimising content to rank high on search engines by targeting specific keywords.

The goal is to bring people to your website by creating articles or blog posts that contain these keywords, with the hope that the content will rank well on Google and lead to clicks.

But these visitors might not necessarily be interested in your product—they’re often just looking for information related to the keywords.

The issue with keyword-led SEO is that it fails to connect the content with user intent.

Many articles may rank well but fail to resonate with the audience or convert them into customers because the content is more about following SEO best practices than addressing what users really want to know.

As Amanda Natividad, VP of Marketing at SparkToro, puts it, traditional SEO often chases generic content that lacks real impact:

“No one ever becomes a customer from reading a blog post after having Googled, “how to choose a leather purse.” I certainly never have. Not with my consumer purchases and not with my work or B2B purchases. I’m not influenced by lowest common denominator advice that applies to everybody while actually appealing to no one. And neither are the smart people I’ve worked with.”

Product-led SEO takes a different approach. It starts with the user’s needs and integrates the product into the content from the beginning.

Rather than just optimising for search engine rankings, product-led SEO focuses on creating content that directly answers user questions and shows how the product solves their problems.

The product itself becomes the centre of the content, attracting users who are more likely to engage and convert because they see how the product meets their needs.

What makes Product-Led SEO so valuable?

Product-Led SEO directly ties your product to how users find solutions to their problems. It focuses on showcasing your product’s value to the right people at the right time.

Here’s why it matters:

• 👍 Early customer acquisition: When potential customers search for solutions, Product-Led SEO ensures that they encounter your product during their journey. Instead of reading general content about the problem, they’ll interact with features, tools, or demonstrations that show exactly how your product solves it. By seeing it in action early on, they’re more likely to choose your solution when it’s time to make a purchase decision.
• 👍 Improved customer retention: Once customers have purchased your product, Product-Led SEO continues to provide value by helping them discover new features or ways to maximise its use. This keeps them engaged and ensures they’re getting the most out of your product, reducing the chances of them leaving for a competitor.
• 👍 A more direct path to conversion: Traditional SEO can bring traffic, but it often leaves users far from the decision-making stage. Product-Led SEO shortens this path by giving users a firsthand experience of your product’s benefits. Instead of hoping they convert after reading a blog post, you’re showing them exactly why your product is the solution they need.

“A good salesperson targets their approach with a specific person in mind. Content also needs to be written with the end user in mind. If there is no added value for a user, the content should be deemed useless.” – Eli Schwartz

• 👍 Resilience to algorithm changes: One of the unique strengths of Product-Led SEO is its resistance to search engine algorithm updates. While algorithm changes can drastically impact keyword rankings overnight, a user-driven strategy remains stable because it prioritises creating value for users, not just appeasing search engines. Users’ needs stay relatively consistent, making this approach more durable in the long term.

3 tips on implementing Product-Led SEO

1. Start with customers

The foundation of any product-led SEO strategy is understanding what your users truly need. Successful SEO is tightly linked to user engagement, not just ranking high on search engines.

In a podcast, Eli Schwartz discussed IMDb’s approach, noting, “IMDb knows that users just want a score. They don’t want an entire review.”

So, IMDb zeroes in on delivering exactly what users want—no extra content, just the essentials.

Gather user insights by:

• Conducting surveys to capture broad feedback.
• Talking to a small group of users to get qualitative data.

This is what Amanda Natividad did. She attended HR conferences and blogged about the events. She writes, “I’d get to know HR leaders, ask them what keeps them up at night, and write about those things.”

This strategy helped her close deals and make HR leaders engage with her content. “None of this was driven by a keyword research strategy,” she adds. “It was all inspired by a single, audience research clue: ‘Did you know that HR leaders read Psychology Today and Entrepreneur Magazine?’ our PR agency told us. That told me everything.”

2. Consider branded content

When users search for information specific to your brand—like pricing or contact details—these queries might have low search volume, but they hold high conversion potential.

Ignoring branded queries can push potential customers towards your competitors.

Focus on creating content that answers these high-intent queries. Think of it as strengthening your brand recognition and building trust.

When a potential customer searches for your product’s price or reviews, providing clear, branded content gives them fewer reasons to seek alternatives.

3. Prioritise content with the highest business value

Product-led SEO should always focus on creating content that highlights your product’s unique features and how they solve your users’ problems.

Instead of chasing broad traffic through general SEO tactics, prioritise content that directly ties back to your product.

One effective method is to evaluate each content idea by how essential your product is in addressing the user’s query.

I first learned about assigning business value scores to keywords from Rand Fishkin’s Whiteboard Friday episode, where he shared how the Moz team prioritises keywords.

One of the five criteria they consider is Business Value.

Tim Soulo also talked about this concept in Ahrefs’ Blogging for Business course.

For every keyword, he suggests asking:

“What are the chances that a person, looking for that thing in Google and reading my article on that topic would become my customer?”

Here’s a visual from an Ahrefs’ article on assigning business scores to your keywords:

You may sacrifice large traffic volumes when you focus on high business-impact content, but you’ll gain higher conversion rates by targeting the right audience.

Quality conversions outweigh untargeted traffic, so it’s worth targeting smaller-volume keywords if they align directly with your product’s use case.

Final thoughts

Product-Led SEO is not a shortcut to success. It requires a deep understanding of your users and the ability to align your product with their needs at every step.

When you get it right, the results become measurable and impactful.

So make your product the centrepiece of your SEO strategy, and you will not only drive meaningful traffic, but also create an experience that converts and retains users.

Ready to see SEO drive real growth? Please feel free to reach out and arrange a strategy call with us to explore how we can accelerate your startup with product-led SEO.