How to Build an SEO Funnel That Mirrors Your Sales Funnel

The sales funnel shows you where your customer’s at in their buying journey, and that’s the lens you should be using to view and tailor your SEO.

Most often, we see businesses get stuck at the top of the funnel because that’s where the traffic spikes come from. It feels validating to see those numbers climb, especially when you’re ranking for big keywords. But volume without movement means nothing. And when your content strategy doesn’t evolve with your customers’ awareness, you lose them.

Say your SEO brings in a 10x bump in traffic from TOFU terms, people just starting to explore your space, with zero intent to buy. That spike might feel like a win, but then what? If that’s where your strategy ends, you’ve basically done the research legwork for your competitors. You educate the buyer, and someone else gets the deal.

To prevent this from happening, you need to be looking at a bunch of different but unique metrics for each part of the SEO funnel. Let’s break it down stage-by-stage.

The Awareness Stage

This is where the journey starts. People in the awareness stage have just realized they need something to solve a problem, hit a goal, or just explore a topic that’s been on their mind. They don’t know your brand yet, and they definitely don’t trust YOU yet. At this point, they’re not comparing vendors or ready to buy, they’re just trying to make sense of the landscape.

That means the content they engage with here should be purely educational – give them context, explanations, and answers.

How to grow the awareness stage of your SEO funnel

Depending on how useful you are in this early research phase, they’ll remember you when they’re ready to take action. So, just be very genuinely helpful to them at this point, and you’ll see how that pays off down the line.

Create high-level blog content that answers their first questions. Since people are trying to understand their options, compare approaches, and get the lay of the land, think of topics like “fibreglass vs concrete pools”. You see how these aren’t decision-ready searches, but they are where decisions START. When the right blog post here ranks, it brings you tons of traffic and makes you the one who helped them figure things out.

Use social to stay visible, even before they’re looking. Don’t wait for them to type something into Google. Push your content out on social with paid or organic, so you can start building familiarity earlier in the journey. That way, when they DO start searching, they’d have already seen your brand, and you’ll already feel more trustworthy than others.
Produce simple, helpful videos that break things down. Not everyone wants to read a long article. A quick video that explains a key concept or shows a basic how-to can stick in someone’s mind longer than you think. It’s also one of the fastest ways to humanise your brand and show up as someone worth listening to.

SEO metrics to monitor in the awareness stage

At this point in the funnel, you’re not measuring sales, you’re measuring reach. The goal is to see how often you’re showing up and if you’re starting to earn attention from the right audience.

Here are the key metrics you need to be tracking:

Impressions: This tells you how often your content appears in search results or social feeds. It doesn’t matter whether people clicked, what matters here is – are you even visible?
Rankings: Keep an eye on where your content is ranking for top-of-funnel terms. Are you getting closer to page one for those high-level keywords your potential customers are searching for? Simply because the higher up you sit, the more attention you get.
Share of Voice (SOV): In the awareness stage, you’re trying to understand: how much attention are we getting compared to others targeting the same top-of-funnel terms? And SOV tells you where you stand relative to competitors across a set of keywords. For example, if your target keywords get 100,000 monthly searches and your pages are ranking in a way that captures around 10,000 clicks, you’re holding a 10% SOV. It’s a solid way to gauge your competitive presence.
Visibility: This zooms out a little and looks at how many keywords you’re ranking for, and how well. The more page-1 results you stack up, the more visible you become in the market.
Non-branded search terms: Since this is the awareness stage, people are looking for solutions in general, and not particularly YOUR solution. So, focus on keywords that don’t include your brand name. You want to show up for general searches like “best project management tools for startups,” not just “[your brand] pricing.” That’s how you reach new people who don’t know you yet.
Impressions vs CTR: CTR (click-through rate) tells you how many people actually clicked after seeing your result. Impressions mean search engines are showing your content; CTR shows whether real people find it compelling enough to click. You need both working together.

The Interest Stage

So by now, they know you exist, and not just that, you’ve actually HELPED them. They’ve read a few of your blogs, maybe watched a video or two. And somewhere along the way, they thought: These guys know what they’re talking about.

At this stage, they’re starting to take you seriously and are interested in how your solution stacks up. But this is STILL early. They haven’t committed to anything yet, and that makes this part of the funnel tricky – one wrong move, and they’ll bounce right back out.

So don’t switch gears and go full sales mode. That’s not what they came for. You’re still building a relationship here, and your job is still to keep delivering helpful, educational content that answers the questions they’re starting to ask next, ones that are a bit more product-adjacent.

You do this well, and you build the kind of trust that makes them think,

“If they’ve already helped me this much for free, imagine what they’ll do when I actually work with them.”

That’s what locks them in.

How to grow the interest stage of your SEO funnel

Now that they’re tuned in, you have to keep the momentum going. So to stay in their head and keep showing up in helpful, non-intrusive ways, here are a few things you can do:

Layer in educational videos across your content. It could be short explainers, visual breakdowns, or product walkthroughs. If someone’s spending time on your site already, give them more ways to engage and learn. And while you’re at it, guide them to your YouTube channel so they can subscribe and keep coming back on their own.
Make your social media links easy to find and actually worth visiting. Don’t just post sales messages but also share useful tips, stories, and behind-the-scenes stuff that continues the conversation they started on your blog.
Offer a genuinely useful newsletter. Not the usual “we’re so great, buy now” email. Share bite-sized insights, how-to guides, or even exclusive offers that feel like a reward for sticking around. The goal is to make them look forward to hearing from you.
Encourage real engagement with your content. If you allow comments, invite people to share their own take, ask follow-up questions, or tell you what worked for them. This isn’t just about driving time-on-page; it’s about deepening the connection and learning more about what your audience actually cares about.

SEO metrics to monitor in the interest stage

Ideally, people should be clicking more, poking around your site, maybe even searching your name directly. And the metrics below help you capture all of that movement.

Clicks: Pretty straightforward, this tells you how many times someone clicked on your website from a search result. It’s your first real sign of interaction, and more clicks usually mean your content is matching what they were hoping to find.
CTR (Click-Through Rate): This measures how many of those people who saw your link actually clicked it. It’s a percentage, and it matters more now than it did in the awareness stage. Because if your brand is starting to resonate, your CTR should start rising, especially for pages targeting topics people are researching seriously. Because, no brainer, you look into those you intend to purchase from.
New Users: Inside Google Analytics, you’ll see a breakdown of how many visitors are brand new to your site. This gives you an idea of how well you’re expanding your reach. If new user numbers are climbing steadily, it’s a good sign that your top and mid-funnel content is doing its job.
Branded Searches: This one’s key. As people move from awareness to interest, they start remembering your name. So if you notice searches like “Singularity SEO process” or “Singularity vs [Competitor],” it means you’re on their radar, and that’s exactly what you want. Google Search Console will show you impressions, clicks, and CTR for those branded terms, and tracking them over time is one of the most reliable ways to measure growing interest.

The Consideration Stage

By the time they hit the consideration stage, they’ve spent enough time with your brand to know what you do, how you talk, and what you’re offering. Now they’re not window-shopping, they’re weighing their options.

That usually means one of two things. They’re either comparing you directly to a competitor, or they’re weighing whether your product fits their budget, timing, or internal priorities.

This is where you want your content and SEO to support that decision-making process. So don’t give them general info anymore, give them a reason to say yes. And make them feel like they’re making the smart call.

How to grow the consideration stage of your SEO funnel

To tip the scales in your favor, you have to show real proof, solve real hesitations, and make the path to “yes” feel obvious. That means it’s time to put your strongest assets front and center:

Case studies that show real outcomes. Don’t just say you help people grow, prove it. Break down actual client journeys. What were they struggling with? What did your solution change? What results did they see? The more detailed and specific, the more convincing.
Testimonials that speak to experience. Try to go beyond the generic “great/experienced team!” quotes. You want testimonials that walk through before-and-after moments, something a prospective customer can see themselves in.
Google reviews with substance. A 5-star rating is great, but it’s the comments explaining your great service and its outcome that really sell. So if someone’s raving about how easy your product made their job or how responsive your support was, that’s gold. Pull that into your website content and don’t let it just sit on a third-party review site.
Feature content that answers the REAL questions. Whether it’s a video or a blog post, this is where you go deep into what makes you different. Pick one strong feature at a time, something you know matters to your audience, and show how it works and why it’s valuable. If your ideal customer has a common frustration, speak directly to that and make them feel seen.
Let them try before they buy. If it’s possible, this is the EASIEST way to build confidence. A free trial, free sample, or a free audit gives them a sense of what it’d be like to actually work with you or use your product, before they even spend a dime. And if your competitors are making people pay just to get in the door, you’ll shine even better.
Comparison content that’s actually helpful. When someone is choosing between two or three options, the last thing they want to do is sift through a dozen tabs. You can be the one who simplifies that decision. So, create comparison pages that fairly and clearly outline what makes each option different, yours included. If you’re honest and genuinely helpful here, it’ll earn you trust, even if they’re not ready just yet.

SEO metrics to monitor in the consideration stage

Let’s look at the metrics that will help you measure how close your audience is to saying YES.

Pages per session: If someone lands on your site and bounces right off, they probably weren’t that serious. But if they click through multiple pages, especially product, pricing, or comparison pages, that’s a strong sign of interest. It tells you your internal links are working and your content is doing its job, guiding them forward.
Time on site: This works hand-in-hand with pages per session. If visitors are spending real time reading, watching, or exploring, you know that they’re not just window shopping, but are going deeper to find cues that push them over the fence. They want to be sure that you’re the right fit – especially in B2B, longer visits often mean deeper research.
Micro conversions: Not every conversion is a sale. In fact, during this phase, smaller actions, like signing up for your newsletter, watching a full demo, downloading a PDF guide, or starting a free trial, can mean even more. These are all signs that someone is evaluating you seriously, so track them closely. If you’re seeing a rise in these actions, you’re doing something right (keep doing it).
Returning visitors: If someone comes back to your site after a day or two, that’s a powerful signal. Maybe they weren’t ready to buy the first time, but something you said stuck. When you start seeing more of these return visits, especially to key pages like case studies, features, or pricing, you’re in the right zone.
Pre-purchase content consumption: Look closely at what content they’re reading. Are they spending time on your pricing page? Watching product walkthroughs? Reading comparisons or FAQs? These aren’t just any old pageviews; they’re STRONG buying signals. When traffic to these pages goes up, it’s a good idea to double down on content that supports their final decision-making process.
Rate of returning visitors: This tells you how many of your total visitors are repeats. In B2B, a rising return rate often means your brand is becoming a serious contender. It also tells you your content is so good that not only is it attracting new people, but it also keeps pulling back those who’ve been here once.

The Purchase Stage

At this point, your audience has gone from “who are you?” to “this is interesting”, to “hmm, could they be the one?”, and now they’re ready to act. What that action looks like will vary depending on your business model. If you’re in SaaS, it might be a subscription. In e-commerce, it’s a checkout. And if you’re a service-based business, it could be a booked consultation, a phone call, or a filled-out contact form.

Whatever the action, the Purchase Stage is where that intent finally turns into a commitment.

But not everyone will make it to this point, and that’s okay.

This stage usually captures the smallest group in your SEO funnel, because each step before has filtered out the folks who weren’t ready, weren’t a fit, or just weren’t interested enough. That’s why it’s so important for you to remove any friction and reassure the user they’re making the right decision.

How to grow the consideration stage of your SEO funnel

Growth at the purchase stage has a lot less to do with adding new content and a lot more to do with tightening the experience. This is where your SEO efforts overlap directly with conversion rate optimization (CRO), because you’re not trying to attract new people now, you just want to convert the ones who are already here.

Here’s how to do that:

Add schema markup to reviews and comparison pages. When you add structured data (schema) to pages that include customer reviews, Google can pull that data into the search results and show your star ratings directly in the snippet. That extra visual helps build instant trust and gives you a leg up over competitors who don’t show any social proof in the SERPs.
Track on-site behavior to find and fix friction. At this stage, small hiccups in the user journey can cost you real revenue. So you need to have tools like heatmaps or session recordings to understand how users are interacting with your site. It’ll tell you if they are hovering and hesitating on the pricing page, or if they keep bouncing from the checkout. Once you spot the friction, you can fix it, whether that means clarifying your value props, streamlining a form, or adjusting layout and design for clarity.
Share more social proof. Increase the number of recent reviews, testimonials, and case studies for them to find on the site, especially the ones that mirror your ideal customer’s situation. Because when they see others finding solutions in your product/services, they envision themselves having that too, and it goes a long way in sealing the deal.
Strengthen your EEAT. Google’s EEAT principles are a solid guideline for how to show up credibly, but beyond SEO, it’s also about the perception of your brand. So, publish content written by subject matter experts, link to third-party sources when appropriate, and keep your site updated. Worth noting there that EEAT is not a direct ranking factor, but it does lead you toward indirectly strengthening the content you produce.
Work on your “Surround Sound SEO”. This is to create a perception that you are the OBVIOUS choice wherever they turn. So when someone googles your brand, they shouldn’t just find your homepage, they should see you mentioned on comparison blogs, review sites, marketplaces, podcast transcripts, YouTube videos – everywhere.

SEO metrics to monitor in the purchase stage

Regardless of what “purchase” looks like for you, these are the metrics that tell you if your site is doing its job right at this critical stage.

Conversions: This metric tracks the exact actions that matter most to your business, like purchases, sign-ups, contact form submissions, demo bookings, etc. In your analytics platform (like GA4), these are typically custom-defined events. Make sure each meaningful action is tagged and monitored so you can clearly see how many users are reaching that final step.

MQLs: An MQL is someone who has shown a high level of interest; they’ve interacted with your marketing in a way that signals potential to buy. This might be someone who attended a webinar, downloaded a guide, or visited key conversion pages (like pricing or demo). Tracking MQLs helps with 2 things: how many people are converting, AND how many are getting close. If your MQL count is rising, it means your SEO is pulling the right kind of traffic.
Conversion Rate: This is the percentage of users who actually convert out of all who visited. A rising conversion rate means your site is doing a better job of turning visitors into customers, not just pulling more and more of them. Now, if you’re getting more traffic but your conversion rate is dropping, it could mean you’re pulling in the wrong audience or there’s friction in the final steps. So tracking this metric will help you balance both volume and quality.
Total Revenue: This is where SEO meets business growth in black-and-white numbers. Total revenue from organic traffic (often tracked through your ecommerce platform or CRM integrations) tells you how well your SEO efforts are performing financially. You can even break this down by product or page to see what kinds of content are driving your biggest wins.
AOV: It shows the average dollar amount people spend when they convert, which is VERY useful for spotting upsell and cross-sell opportunities. If your AOV is rising, that means people are trusting you enough to buy more, or buy bigger.
Order Quantity. Also, more relevant to e-commerce brands, order quantity tells you how many individual items users are adding to their cart and purchasing. Like AOV, it’s a great signal of how compelling your product mix is.

Additional metrics for SaaS brands to measure in this stage:

ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): If you’re running paid campaigns alongside your SEO, like branded PPC, remarketing, or even YouTube ads, ROAS shows how much revenue you’re making for every dollar you spend. While technically ROAS is an advertising metric, it becomes very useful when you start comparing how organic and paid traffic support each other. For instance, if branded search traffic is rising with SEO, your paid ads might start converting better too, and ROAS will show that synergy.
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost): CAC tallies up everything you’re spending to acquire a new customer, including ad spend, content creation, sales team salaries, software, and the whole picture. While it’s not an SEO-only number, SEO has a major influence on this because the more effectively your content brings in qualified traffic, the lower your acquisition cost becomes over time.
CAC payback period: This one tells you how long it takes for a new customer to “pay back” what it cost to acquire them. In SaaS, where monthly recurring revenue is the goal, you want to make sure customers are sticking around long enough to cover that upfront investment. With a strong SEO strategy, you can shorten your payback period by bringing in better-fit users who convert faster, churn less, and engage longer.
Pipeline Generated: Your pipeline is the total value of sales opportunities currently in motion. When you can attribute pipeline value back to SEO traffic through form fills, demo bookings, or intent-based pageviews, you start to see SEO’s role not just in top-of-funnel awareness but in revenue generation.
Pipeline velocity: It measures how quickly users are moving through your sales funnel, or how fast your leads are progressing from awareness to consideration to purchase. Are users taking 3 months to make that buying decision, or are they committing within 48 hours? That tells a lot about the kind of traffic your SEO is pulling and the website experience they encounter on your site in the final decision-making phase.

The Loyalty Stage

Retaining a customer will almost always cost less than acquiring a new one, and the longer they stick around, the more profitable they become. Especially in SaaS, where customer lifetime value is tied directly to retention, loyalty is a non-negotiable part of your growth strategy.

This doesn’t mean bombarding them with promotions or trying to upsell at every turn. It means staying helpful, relevant, and easy to engage with.

Check in with them post-purchase. See how they’re going. Ask what’s working and what’s not.
Keep offering value with tutorials, updates, best practices, templates, checklists, anything that helps them use your product better.
Offer ongoing support and make feedback loops easy. Sometimes, just listening to your customers can turn them into your biggest advocates.
Let them know when you launch something new or when there’s a sale that’s relevant to their needs.
Reward their loyalty with referral bonuses, exclusive access, or personalized recommendations. All these small gestures go a long way.

How to grow the loyalty stage of your SEO funnel

When we talk about loyalty, there’s a LOT to do in terms of general retention tactics, but let’s keep it grounded in SEO. Because even after the purchase, your content and visibility efforts still play a major role in keeping customers engaged and invested in your brand.

Here are a few SEO-specific ways to nurture loyalty post-purchase:

Follow up for reviews or testimonials. Once someone’s had a chance to use your product or service, ask for a review. It boosts your recent review count for new users, and also makes your existing customers feel heard and valued.
Share product updates and new features. Use your blog, help docs, or even SEO-optimized changelogs to showcase improvements over time. It shows your customers that the product they bought is still evolving, and that they’re part of that journey.
Create new case studies regularly. Sharing and highlighting how others are succeeding with your product can spark ideas for existing users, too. It keeps your brand top-of-mind and shows off what’s possible, which encourages deeper adoption.
Build a strong knowledge base. Creating a well-structured, SEO-friendly support hub helps customers find answers fast. Also, these articles often rank for long-tail queries too, helping both users and prospects, BOTH at once.
Deliver on support. While not always tied directly to SEO, great customer service often leads to more positive branded searches, referrals, and online mentions. So don’t make people wait for weeks to resolve a simple pain point; tend to it ASAP. Because if people know they can trust you after the sale, that goodwill carries forward into search behavior, too.

SEO metrics to monitor in the loyalty stage

The key metrics you need to track at this stage:

LTV (Lifetime Value): Your LTV helps you understand how valuable your average customer is over the full span of their relationship with you. For example, if your product costs $10/month and the average user sticks around for 12 months, your LTV is $100 ($10×10). Knowing this gives context to your SEO investment, especially if retention-focused content or support pages are contributing to that lifespan.
Customer Engagement Score: CES is an aggregate score that measures how actively and positively your customers interact with your product or service. It is usually calculated on a scale from 1–100, which accounts for all things like return website visits, product logins, content usage, or support tickets. A rise or decline in this score will help you predict the upward/downward trends in retention time, LTV, etc.
Repurchase Ratio: This is your proof that loyalty content is working. It shows how many customers are returning to make another purchase (or renew their subscription). If your SEO efforts are helping guide people back to new offers, upgrades, or support content, it should reflect here.
Retention (in months): This is especially relevant for SaaS businesses because it tells you how many months customers stick with you on average. The longer they stay, the more likely it is that your SEO content is working..
Churn Rate: On the flip side, churn tells you how many people are walking away. A spike here might mean something’s off. Maybe customers are struggling post-purchase and can’t find the support content they need, or they’re unaware of recent product improvements? How much you monitor it (monthly, quarterly, or annually) will depend on your business type and model.

The Advocacy Stage

This is the top of the mountain, the stage where customers become champions for your brand because they’re genuinely excited to tell others about you. These are the people who recommend you on LinkedIn, leave glowing reviews, send referrals your way, or casually name-drop your brand in Slack groups and industry forums.

Most of the time, advocates are happy customers who’ve had a consistently good experience with your product or service. But sometimes, these brand advocates ALSO come from your wider network. They’re content readers, industry peers, or folks who simply admire your thought leadership.

Advocacy, however, has a lot of crossover with Loyalty, but the key distinction here is “who else your customers are influencing.”

How to grow the advocacy stage of your SEO funnel

Advocacy doesn’t just happen because your product works, it happens when people feel connected to your brand and appreciated for their loyalty. Here are a few ways to help that happen:

Create content worth sharing. This is not the usual blog posting we’re talking about. Run original studies, produce in-depth guides, or share success stories that others in your audience want to pass along. When your content helps someone look smart or helpful by sharing it, advocacy becomes effortless.
Offer real perks to your most loyal customers. It could be early feature access, exclusive webinars, or thoughtful swag – anything to make sure your best customers feel seen.
Make referrals simple and rewarding. For your customers to spread the word, you NEED to make finding the referral link, with meaningful rewards (not the $5 discount next month), very simple and quick.
Have real conversations with your power users. Instead of sending another feedback form, reach out for a genuine conversation. Talk to them about their goals, their pain points, and their business, not just your product. When you act on their insights and follow up to say “we implemented your suggestion,” that’s the kind of gesture that turns a customer into an advocate.

SEO metrics to monitor in the advocacy stage

While not every share or recommendation is easy to track, there are a few key indicators you can monitor to see if your SEO efforts are helping fuel that momentum.

Social Share Count: This is a very simple but telling metric. If your content is being shared across platforms like LinkedIn, X (Twitter), or niche communities, it’s a good sign that people find it valuable enough to pass on.

Net Promoter Score (NPS: One of the most popular ways to measure loyalty, NPS is based on a single question: “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?” Customers who score you 9 or 10 are your advocates. The more you have, the more your brand is being promoted through trust, easily the best kind of marketing.
Word of Mouth: It’s not always easy to track, but sometimes all it takes is asking: “How did you hear about us?” If more users are coming through recommendations, that’s a strong sign your existing customers are doing your marketing for you.
Earned Link Count: Organic backlinks from blogs, product roundups, and resource pages are a great sign that your content or product is making waves. People are linking to you because they genuinely think others should see (and try) what you’ve built.

Final Thoughts

We strongly believe that SEO should be working WITH your sales funnel, not as a separate idea.

Instead of just chasing traffic or rankings, you need to start seeing SEO as a way to meet your users at every stage of their journey, from the moment they first realize they have a problem to the moment they’re raving about your product to someone else.

That means shaping your content, your metrics, and your strategy around what your audience ACTUALLY needs at each stage and not just what keywords have the most search volume.

When you approach SEO through a funnel-first lens, you stop publishing content for the algorithm and start building real momentum for your brand. And that momentum is what turns impressions into revenue, and revenue into long-term, loyal customers.

Author

Chris Ashton
Chris is an SEO manager with 10 years experience in SEO. A former agency owner himself Chris has deep experience working with sites from small businesses to national chains and recently SaaS.