What is the audience funnel?

Here are the tactics SEO editors can employ for each phase of the audience funnel.

May 28, 2024

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Hello, and welcome back. Jessie here, reporting live from beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. The west coast really IS the best coast. Sorry to my home province of Ontario and the city of Toronto — you remain the centre of the universe, but, you simply do not have MOUNTAINS. Or a ferry, which I’ll need to take to journey to the gorgeous Salt Spring Islands for a yoga retreat this week.

This week: The audience funnel. We’ve mentioned the audience funnel on many, many occasions but we’ve never discussed it in detail or explained its relevance for news SEO. This newsletter covers how SEO editors can think about optimizing content for each phase of the audience funnel.

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Let’s get it.

In this issue:

What is audience development work?
What is the audience funnel?
SEO tactics and keyword thinking for each phase

THE 101

What is audience development work?

Audience development was once a little-known term used by marketers that is now a core discipline in most newsrooms. It is about understanding the needs of your audience, and using reader-first thinking to grow your base. There are three core pillars for audience work: Acquisition (finding new readers); retention (keeping them); and engagement (how readers interact with and value your journalism).

Audience editors employ tactics within each pillar to find, grow and sustain readership. Audience-first thinking will inform how you think about the audience funnel.

What is the audience funnel?

The audience funnel is a marketing concept that's also used in journalism. It’s a framework for thinking about the reader journey — moving people from not knowing anything about your publication, to recurring readers, to paying subscribers who engage with and advocate for your outlet.

In each phase — top, middle and bottom of the funnel — readers have different intents and behaviour. Editors must consider the specific reader needs at each phase of the funnel.

Top of the funnel: This is the awareness phase. Readers are first-time or irregular visitors to your publication. The goal is to bring in this audience — often from search or social — and find ways to ensure they return.
Middle of the funnel: This is the consideration phase. Readers are familiar with the publication and might actively seek out your content. Audience work in this phase is about building a habit and increasing loyalty, often by promoting newsletter sign ups or other products.
Bottom of the funnel: This is the conversion phase. Readers see the value in your work and are thinking about supporting it — or already have. The goal is converting readers to paying subscribers, donors, members or ambassadors.

The funnel will look different for every newsroom, but the overall objective is the same. At all phases, consider reader intent (why they’re on your site).

Indiegraf: What the heck is a marketing funnel and why should I care?

THE HOW TO

How does SEO help with the audience funnel?

SEO and the audience funnel work together. There are different SEO tactics you can employ to move readers through the funnel at the various stages.

📌 Remember: There are four types of keywords, each informed by a different search intent (the why behind a query).

Informational: Readers are actively trying to know something. They’re seeking information on a given topic or have a question answered (e.g., “where are the 2024 summer olympics?” or “trump trial news”).
Navigational: Readers are trying to go somewhere on the internet. They are looking for a specific website or landing page (e.g., “ezra klein nyt,” “reddit,” or “facebook login”).
Commercial: Readers are weighing the value of their potential purchase, or are shopping for a product (e.g., “is a dyson vacuum worth it?” or “which are the best stocks to buy now?”)
Transactional: Readers who are ready to make a purchase (e.g., “buy dyson vacuum,” “nyt subscription,” “guardian print subscription”) and are turning to Google to make that happen.

News SEOs are largely concerned with informational intent — because, well, news. However, other search intents are important at each phase of the funnel, especially if your publication has an affiliate vertical. Different intents impact how readers find and engage with your publication.

SEO considerations for top of the funnel (TOFU)

TOFU goal: Bring in readers who know little to nothing about your publication, and give them what they are looking for.

TOFU keyword types: Navigational or informational keywords are most common for TOFU audiences. Informational queries include terms like “donald trump trial update today,” “paris olympics medal count” or “eras tour setlist.”

TOFU SEO tactics: Editors can use Google Trends to identify trending stories in your editorial wheelhouse, then conduct keyword research to inform the piece. Ensure all content follows on-page SEO best practices before publication.

Once published, link the story from your homepage and in other relevant stories, too. Use real-time SEO tools to monitor ranking on the SERPs. Update the on-page elements to recapture Top Stories visibility, and monitor for changes in search intent. TOFU SEO might also include updating or re-optimizing evergreen content to bring in new readers.

Share your knowledge with the newsroom. Train your staff on Google Trends so that — even if you’re the only SEO in your newsroom — everyone has an eye to trending searches.

In news, navigational queries can also be new audience searches — readers looking for your content or publication. Perhaps someone heard about a specific story or have an interest in coverage you provide. They don’t have a subscription or your site bookmarked, but have a budding interest. Key landing pages (including the homepage) should be optimized for this.

Frame SEO content for TOFU as:

“If this is the first story from my publication a reader consumes, what reason are we giving them to stick around?”
“Are my landing pages optimized to bring in readers?”

SEO considerations for middle of the funnel (MOFU)

MOFU goals: Building habits and keeping readers on site. Readers may be thinking about subscribing, so we want to give them every reason to do so.

MOFU keyword types: Commercial/transactional keywords are common for MOFU audiences. Ensure sign up or registration pages — for newsletters, or podcasts — are ranking in search and are linked to on key pages (i.e., in the navigation and on the homepage), and have great UX. If a sign up page is poorly designed, readers are more likely to leave.

Think about top-referring keywords, or search terms that are the most important to your publication, then pair that with external keyword research. Consider how you can create 10x content — coverage that is 10 times better than your competition — as that’s key to retention.

It’s MOFU content if it:

Is 10x better than the competition;
Has great internal links to keep readers on site, and move them deeper into the funnel;
Includes a CTA for another product, like a newsletter, podcast or event. These editorial products are a connection between your publication and readers when they are not directly on your website. They’re key to building habit.
Has a module with engaging content — like a calculator, photo galleries or video — to keep readers on the page longer.

Frame SEO for MOFU as:

“Now that a reader is on my site, how do I convince them we’re worth supporting?”
“What other products, pages, promotion or internal campaigns do readers need to know about?”

SEO considerations for bottom of the funnel (BOFU)

BOFU goals: Getting readers to support your publication. “Conversion” will vary across newsrooms; it's straightforward for paywall publications (buying a subscription), but non-gated news sites likely have a “supporter” tier model.

BOFU SEO tactics: Making subscription- or support-worthy content is always the goal — but it's also key to getting readers to the bottom of the funnel. Paywall optimization, on-site recirculation efforts and the homepage experience are BOFU tactics.

There are several paywalls formats and each has merit. Google isn’t explicitly biased against paywalls, as long as they are implemented correctly.
Read our paywall newsletters, an interview about paywalls or
Barry Adams
’s best practices guide for more.

BOFU keyword types: Includes transactional keywords, for example, “subscribe to the globe and mail” or “support propublica.” These readers are actively looking to contribute to your publication. SEO editors should ensure all supporter/paywall pages are ranking for relevant keywords and have a seamless user experience.

If support pages are unclear (i.e., if they don’t outline the perks or benefits), or the checkout process is annoying, people will leave — a waste of all your efforts. Test these pages like a reader: Go incognito mode, or ask a non-news person to visit the page and go through the process. Get feedback from supporters via surveys or focus groups for potential improvements.

BOFU content: At the bottom of the funnel, think about what your publication does best. What content creates the most value in people’s lives — and that they can’t get anywhere else? That’s what people are most likely to subscribe for.

Paywalled sites: Be strategic in what you put behind a gate. In free stories, link to paywalled content (so readers see what they’re missing). On the paywall module itself, make the benefits for subscribing obvious (i.e., unlimited access to all content, subscriber exclusive perks, etc.).
Non-paywall sites: Ensure the CTA to subscribe or support the publication is highly visible on key pages. Make sure the why for supporting the publication is meaningful (i.e., make your editor the face of the plea, or explain how the money supports your journalism).

Recirculating high-value content — which could include interactives, guides, investigations or exclusives — on the homepage and in modules on article pages is a useful tactic, too. Show people what you’re best at, and give them an easy way to support the work.

Frame SEO for BOFU as:

“These readers want to support us, how do I make that easy?”
“Are we engaging with our most valuable audience to keep them coming back?”

The bottom line: The audience funnel is a framework for thinking about your readers and building a pipeline for subscribers. There are different SEO tactics and ways for thinking about keywords for the top, middle and bottom of the funnel. Approach the funnel in a way that makes sense for your publication.

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