5 Ways to Use SEO to Target Millennials

Born in the era of the most notable technological and digital advancements, millennials are famous for their unique ways of engaging with brands. They are comfortable making online purchases, both on desktop and on the phone, they feel perfectly at home with innovations like AR and AI-based chatbots, and not to mention their tendency to do research before committing to a purchase.

To top it all off, millennials really, really don’t appreciate pushy, loud, sales-focused ads. Although they do understand and appreciate the concept of advertising, and they do know when they are being sold even in the subtlest ways possible, millennials are much more likely to respond to organic, reputation-based efforts on your part. That includes a hefty amount of white-hat, location-specific SEO. Here’s how you can leverage this portion of your digital marketing strategy to win millennials over.

Value-driven content

Data-driven and eager to engage with brands that have well-defined values, millennials have a tendency to research not just the individual product you’re selling, but the overall image of your business. Although they’ll trust their peers and family members for recommendations, so word of mouth is very big for them, well-optimized, value-based content is the most effective way to get their attention and build their trust.

Keyword optimization and highly targeted pieces will help you position your brand in such a way to rank your website better, but even more so, millennials will appreciate the effort in and of itself. As soon as you grab their interest and get them to spend time on your site thanks to amazing content, your ranking will reflect that in search engines, too.

To get even more engagement through your articles and videos, share them through your social media so that you can gain even more traction over time.

Local SEO for your millennials

Brands working in specific regions with well-developed markets like Australia need to focus on localization, both in terms of the topics they cover in their content output, but also their overall optimization. For instance, for an effective Sydney SEO strategy, you should aim to collaborate with Sydney-based influencers and bloggers, post content on local news outlets, and the like.

Mentioning and tagging your neighborhood and local events also helps position your brand higher, and of course, build a reputation millennials can relate to. After all, millennials are inspired by local culture as much as they make decisions based on their intrinsic values (which are often shaped by that same local culture).

Reviews and testimonials

As we’ve mentioned earlier, millennials don’t work well with direct ads and spammy emails that push products their way. On the contrary, the modern millennial will rather spend time looking into reviews made by people like them, their friends and family included. They’ll visit your page to read the review section, they’ll go straight to Google to check out your star ratings as well as the written comments.

They will also not hesitate to share their experience with your brand, and your response will make a difference in how they perceive you moving forward. In all of that effort, remember that from that SEO perspective, reviews are the ideal source of organic, natural keywords that will help add “juice” for your brand’s website, but you’ll also be able to grow your reputation through this type of content.

Mobile is all the rage

As digital and tech natives, millennials not only know how, but they also love communicating with brands via mobile. That said, millennials are likely to shop online via their phones, download dedicated brand apps, and of course, visit your links via phones, even when you share them on social media. You’ll find them educating themselves, reading, and browsing while they commute, wait in line, even during actual events.

Google and other search engines have taken note of this trend, so the mobile-first index now dictates how well your site will rank based on how optimized the mobile version of your site is. In addition to those basic tech parameters, make sure that your mobile experience is absolutely exquisite, personalized, and smooth at every turn.

If you can win over millennials via mobile, you’ll win them over for good. Make sure that the design and content for your mobile site are consistent with your desktop version, and that they are engaging and interactive enough to keep millennials interested and inspired to come back for more.

Voice search is growing

Once again, the millennials’ love for all things new and advanced shines through as they begin using more voice assistants in their everyday lives. From recipe hunting, clothes shopping, all the way to tutorial finding, millennials will use voice when they’re driving or doing something else to learn and solve a problem.

Make sure that your site is voice search optimized in such a way as to incorporate natural phrases and keywords your audience uses. From your FAQ page to your blog content and interviews, you can slowly start optimizing for these new language forms that will change how millennials interact with content.

When you’re working on a brand that is meant to attract, impress, and retain millennials, these are the core SEO components you need to remember for your digital marketing strategy. Keep in mind that this generation of individuals is specific in that they quickly evolve and adapt. If new search trends arise, they are most likely among the ones bringing them to life and embracing them, so always be on the lookout for new SEO ways to position your brand and engage millennials effectively.

About Lilly Miller 

Lilly is a freelance writer, who focuses on the latest business trends, commercial design, and environmental issues. She also loves to experiment on daring new home decor trends and write about it as a regular contributor to Smooth Decorator. Settled in Sydney for the time being, Lilly shares home with two loving dogs and a gecko named Rodney. You can find her hanging out on Twitter.